4 Ways To Maintain Your Dreads And Keep It Looking Neat
- Ayo AL
- June 28, 2018
- Beauty
- best care for dreadlocks, best ways to care for dreadlocks, Dreadlocks Maintenence Tips, how to maintain dreadlocks, Important Dreadlocks Maintenance Tips For Women
- 0 Comments
Like other natural hairstyles, dreadlocks need to be kept clean. Contrary to popular belief, clean dreads lock up and tighten faster than dirty dreads. While other natural hairstyles require combing to put stray hairs back in place, dreadlocks need to have stray hairs tucked back into the dread so they can dread up and lock with the rest of the hair.
You’ll also notice that dreadlocks look better and better over time. As they continue to mature they become tighter and smoother and they require less maintenance.
Below are some ways to maintain dreads
1. Keep your dreadlocks residue free
The tighter the locs are, the fewer stray hairs you will have and the smoother the locs will look. Washing locs with the proper soaps and shampoos is essential to keeping them tight. The problem with the majority of shampoos, natural or otherwise, is that they leave residue in the hair after they are rinsed out.
You can easily detect this residue by smelling the hair, or your hands, after you have used the shampoo. If the shampoo has left a scent, it has left residue behind.
These residues can cause itching when they build up inside your locs and they can make it hard for thicker locs to dry properly. Above all, the residues act as a lubricant making it very hard for the hair to lock and the locs to tighten. This is why it is highly recommended that you use only residue free soaps and shampoo’s on your dreadlocks.
5 Different Ways To Rock Dreadlocks In Style
2. Wearing a Head Scarf
Dreadlocks do tend to pick up lint and fuzzy’s even if they are very clean. This is usually a big problem when you are sleeping. Pillow cases and sheets that don’t shed a lot of lint will help.
Wearing a headscarf on your head will keep lint and feathers out of your locs while allowing your dreads and scalp to breathe. Headscarves also have plenty of room for longer dreads to stretch out and they can be bought larger so they don’t squish your dreadlocks down too much.
3. Washing Dreadlocks
Whenever you wash your dreads get them as dry as possible afterwards. Don’t leave them covered in such a way that they can’t dry completely. It is good practice to squeeze as much water out of them by hand as possible before wrapping them with a dry thirsty towel for about 10 min and then finally letting them air dry or drying them with a hair dryer.
This will ensure that the dreadlocks dry all the way through. Leaving them wet will cause them to smell like a stinky wet towel. Ensure shampoo residues are not permitted to build up inside your dreads and slow the drying process. Choose a residue-free dreadlocks shampoo.
4. Using Rubberbands
Rubberbands can be very useful when you are starting and maintaining dreadlocks. While putting rubber bands on too tight can hurt your dreads, wearing them snug, to gather the hair at the roots of your dreadlocks, can help your dreads tighten faster than they normally would.
Rubberbands are also handy for keeping new dreadlocks separated. As a general rule, if you are not able to roll the rubber bands up and down the dread they are on too tight.
