Separating issue?

[cammym]

So today my friend who has very nicely crocheted and maintenanced dreads was checking mine out and commented on how matted the roots all are. Now I'm wondering if that's normal for someone who's doing a more laid-back approach to dreads, I do seperate them but I have little bits of hair that crisscross between each dread, and when I pull two dreads apart all the way there s still quite a bit of hair that stays at the bottom, and you can't see my scalp. Is this ok? Should I be separating better? It just got me a bit worried that I'm doing something wrong!

[taoistlocks]

It's my very limited understanding that they should be separated all the way to the scalp.

[alethionaut]

I did pull mine all the way to the scalp when I could...

[Deleted]

cammym, sooo...this is what came to mind (i THINK this is the one I heard). btw folks, I am realizing there is another, like the creator or something of this site, that has videos or something, no???

anyway, here's my two cents! (oh that's American slang, I guess)

[cammym]

Apr 30, 2016 1:30:34 GMT @vacantalleyways said:

cammym, sooo...this is what came to mind (i THINK this is the one I heard). btw folks, I am realizing there is another, like the creator or something of this site, that has videos or something, no???

anyway, here's my two cents! (oh that's American slang, I guess)

Thanks! Right now I'm seperating like he does in the video, and the "matted" hair I'm talking about is like he shows when he's pulled two dreads all the way apart, where he literally can't pull anymore, and there is still a bit of hair in between thats close to the scalp.

[jxbx]

This is a good thing. With young dreads, if everything is going good, they just like to eat each other. Just keep separating when you can and go as far as you can. Today they may not separate all the way to the scalp, but eventually, as you keep working it and the dreads "solidify", they eventually separate with less and less resistance. Don't be afraid to poke through this matte closer to the scalp and work it the other way as well. Worse case, you can cut to help separate...I don't highly recommend it, but I've done it to a stubborn few.

[lipstic]

Apr 30, 2016 2:59:11 GMT jxbx said:

Worse case, you can cut to help separate...I don't highly recommend it, but I've done it to a stubborn few.

I've had a few that I have had to cut, and some have worked out and the loose hairs became their own dread and other times it hasn't worked and not only are there loose hairs rying to find a home but the base of the original dread is thinner.  So be advised that cutting should really be an absolute last resort (in my opinion anyway)

[cammym]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm not gonna cut them unless it's the only option, I don't think any of them are at the point of needing scissors thankfully! I spent a little while last night kind of picking out some of the webbing of hair that's between some dreads and it was fairly each, but my scalp is quite sore, so I'll probably give it a rest for today. As long as it's not something that's going to develop into a massive Congo overnight I guess I'm ok

[kells]

What I usually do when something is too far down to rip apart or too far dreaded to pull apart Ill usually go and break the individual hairs until the dreads are fully separated. Like slowly breaking up a spiders web, if you get what i mean. It takes longer, but you get much cleaner results and less chance of it congoing without you realizing.

[cammym]

May 1, 2016 19:33:09 GMT kells said:

What I usually do when something is too far down to rip apart or too far dreaded to pull apart Ill usually go and break the individual hairs until the dreads are fully separated. Like slowly breaking up a spiders web, if you get what i mean. It takes longer, but you get much cleaner results and less chance of it congoing without you realizing.

Thanks, I'll try that!