lightening dreads, how to?

[euphillia]

Hey all,

its been a long while, so long I totally missed the forum change over! 

I want to lighten my locks up. Ive got dark brown hair.  Best ways to do this? Anything that doesnt require a box and chemicals?  Wasnt sure how lemon juice or peroxide would work on dreads.

Thanks
Christine

[MirandaJoy]

I don't have my dreads yet, but I have tried natural hair lightening techniques in the past. I've not tried lemon, like you mentioned, because I read that it is pretty harsh on your hair. And using straight peroxide cane worse on your hair then using bleach meant for hair. But I have tried honey, olive oil, and cinnamon. Also I tried chamomile. In theory, any lightening technique you use on normal hair should also work on dreads. I did not see any significant lightening of my hair by using these techniques. So I did eventually give in and go ahead with bleaching my hair. I've used the coconut oil method of bleaching my hair, which greatly reduces the amount of damage done to it. I've bleached my hair using this method three times now, and my hair still feels strong and healthy. I actually made two different videos on my youtube channel talking about my experience with these methods if you are interested. Again, I don't have my dreads yet, but dreads are still hair so it should apply to them too.

"Natural" Hair Lightening Techniques: 

Bleaching Virgin Brown Hair at Home with Coconut Oil Method: 

[dave]

I lighten mine with lemon juice ^^ very recently started doing it again and seen results in less than a week (my tips are now naturally highlighted due to it) Its even now managing to lighten the henna I stupidly put on it which is great.
It does dry your hair out but that makes it more knotable anyway which is great for dreads

Examples (old) of the lightness lemon can give you (I was a bit sporadic with the lemon juice spray I made... Better results would come from soaking the parts you want lightened):



The tips did turn almost blonde as can be seen ^^

[kells]

Yeah, buy like a summer lightening spray, it works really well. If you hair is super dark (like mine) lemon juice usually isnt enough to cut it.