Did you or do you......crochet?

[twistroot]

Howdy, folks!

My dreads are almost a year old. I started them with twist and rip, and have done zero maintenance. I live in a super small town and almost never encounter others with dreads, and the nearest salon that does natural dread maintenance that I can find on the web is more than six hours away.

When I do travel out of town (rarely), I talk to everyone I see with dreads. I met someone yesterday who had a set that were 20 years old! Anyway, the people I encounter all seem to maintain theirs with crochet, but some of my dreads are so tight I'm not even sure I could get a tiny steel hook in there.

So....do you use crochet for maintenance? Have you in the past? Did it make things tidier? Did it last? how often do you do it? How much is "too much"? Any good or bad stories? Just wondering if I should give it a go, or just keep relaxing.......

Thanks! Love to you all!

[dave]

Nope.. I had them lightly crocheted by a former DT member once at around 2 years old, but never again. My experience was painful, but they looked a lot more dread-like after. It lasted maybe 3 months? I personally prefer the natural look.

The needle suggested (0.5-1mm) should easily slip through any dread.

If you leave them, they will eventually tighten up to resemble that of the ropes associated with crochet, without any damage, but if you are after a speedy way of getting that look, go ahead ^^ Just be aware it CAN be damaging.

[Dreadlocktruth]

Yeah we mostly recommend against using the crochet hook.

[Deleted]

But, some of us have tried it!


Yeah, I think there are a few people on here who might have something to say about it. I am going for natural ones myself now, but...had been working on a few partials with the crochet method...not too far in my journey, but they still got very stiff very quickly. Obviously you want that to some degree, but you also want them to bend too. Did YOU do any crochet yet? Yours actually look similar to my few partials!...idk if you saw it yet, but I was curious, in your 10 month, how much, if any, shrinkage you had experienced?

[signature420]

There's a lot of mixed info about crochet hook maintenance out there. Everyone seems to stick to what they like, most people that say crochet hook maintenance causes damage, don't really understand how to properly use the crochet hook and what size is right, but not all... There are crochet hooks specially made for dreads that when used properly will never damage or rip your hair.

Some people also have super silky fine hair and the first month after back combing it will be really tough to crochet because of how silky your hair is still, within the first few months your hair will be easier to crochet and will stay in place a lot more and start to actually lock up where you crochet it properly.

The best advice I can give you about crochet hooking, is get your self some synthetic hair to practice with.. Make dreads out of synthetic hair by back combing them, and then go at it with a .5 mm crochet hook, or you can message me and I'll tell you where to buy a crochet hook designed for dreads.. Or just watch my crochet hook video... You can see how quick it works in your hair after a shower. It's tedious and requires patience and time. In my opinion it's magic. But to each is own, some people like to go a year before their dreads actually start to look like dreads... Proper crochet hooking and a strict dreading routine can make amazing dreads in a couple of weeks, and fully lock up in about 3-6 months. Some peoples dreads even lock up in the first two months with a proper routine.

[Deleted]

hey, signature,

.5mm?!!! Well, no wonder! I just looked at mine and it's 1.00mm. So...yeah, where can I buy the correct hook? hehe


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(i mean, 1mm will work in the beginning, when it's all lose, but I can't do maintenance really with it. Just the new growth, but not much.)

[signature420]

A 1mm crochet hook is rather stil on the big side.. You can go on Amazon and purchase a .5mm hook, OR you can go on dreadheadhq.com and purchase their loc sculpta tool it basically a perfectly modified crochet hook for dreads. The way the hook is shaped makes for perfect use in dreads, easy in easy out with out damage, as far as the scalp and root tightness, well that's all up to you how tight you make your roots, as you've seen in my video I prefer slightly loose roots that are not tight to the scalp and do not pull on the dread or the scalp. Don't really use anything bigger than a .5mm crochet in your dreads..

[signature420]

Remember all your doing is cleaning up your lose hairs..

[twistroot]

May 8, 2016 22:26:21 GMT @haircare said:

But, some of us have tried it!


Yeah, I think there are a few people on here who might have something to say about it. I am going for natural ones myself now, but...had been working on a few partials with the crochet method...not too far in my journey, but they still got very stiff very quickly. Obviously you want that to some degree, but you also want them to bend too. Did YOU do any crochet yet? Yours actually look similar to my few partials!...idk if you saw it yet, but I was curious, in your 10 month, how much, if any, shrinkage you had experienced?

Thank you so much for responding, everyone! To answer your questions.....nope, no crochet yet, and the picture is from way back when I first twist and ripped and I was only like a week in! Since that time I have had MAJOR twists and bumps and my nice wispy ends are currently being eaten by the rest of my dreads and are all getting a blunted look.....despite my hair growing for a year, my dreads are only to my jaw line.....eek, I guess I better take a more recent picture, huh?

My hair is absolutely wild....since it is so short, there's not much weight holding the dreads down, and I have curly hair to begin with....so my crochet curiosity was just about wondering if I should try to discipline these babies a bit since it looks like a dreadparty on my head 24/7!

[danzia]

I love my loose hairs, and my bumps as it makes my set unique to me. I encourage anyone to enjoy their dreadlock journey. It is a practice in patience and mindfulness. But if you're locking for more aesthetic reasons, you may not choose this type of journey.

[twistroot]

Lol I am technology challenged....last 2 paragraphs of above response were me......sorry for confusion!

[Dreadlocktruth]

Edited the post for ya!

Here's the video that LazyDreads did on the subject of crocheting dreads, last year. It's pretty thorough on the arguments so it might be worth a watch:

[MirandaJoy]

I've been trying to decided if I want to crochet too. My hair is pretty silly so my T&R partials are not staying together super well. And my roots are super loose. I'm not even a week into my dreads yet and I'm going to be making more. So, I'm thinking of doing a bit of crocheting just to give my dreads a head start. And then just kinda let them do their thing on their own.

[Deleted]

twistroot,

Ok, so if you are planning to add pics, I would really like to see how they look now. Yeah, my main observation was about the length...because mine was like mid-upper back level and have now shrunk to about that chin-length. Can you believe it!!?? (lol so frustrating!...but I shouldn't complain, because I am stubborn and not going to add extensions) But they look like dreads, just very mini ones in a forest of undreaded hair.

Like danzia says, patience...and you just have to learn to live with how they are...or you can explore the crochet method or extensions. (i've learned to live with the mess. eh! )


also, that LD video is awesome!


Miranda,


I would worry less about the roots. They will adjust (I guess it's harder to have faith with short hair/less hair tho). But, in my experience, you can easily make the mistake of doing this TOO close to the scalp and wishing you made them loser when they don't grow out!

[twistroot]

Thanks, everyone, for your input! I will try to get some pics posted of the current state of my wild little monster dreadies......tried yesterday but I had them up in pigtails and the photos didn't really come out! Y'all are so nice to answer and share what you know!