Splitting dreads

[espresso]

I didn't really pay much attention when I sectioned my hair about two years ago. Just grabbed some hair and let it do it's thing. Looking back though I wish I had made the sections smaller.... Or at least made a semi conscious choice about size. Think I have about 38 locks now. Some have congoed, some have split, and some new baby dreads have just turned up out of nowhere.
I've come to learn to love the uniqueness of each dread.... But some of them are really thick!! It takes for ages to dry them!

The cool thing is some of the largest ones are starting to split by them selves. I split one with just some careful ripping, didn't have to cut at all. And it seemed to be fine...

My question is will it hurt my hair if I split some of the really thick ones?

[Dreadlocktruth]

No, you're fine to split so long as the halved dreads are thick enough to survive it. The only problems you might run into are if a split dread is too thin and begins to weaken at the root. But so long as you keep an eye on that, you should be fine (and you can always combine the roots again later if you change your mind).

[Deleted]

Curious: how do you split a mature dread? Is it easier when wet? Do you start at the root and slowly work toward the tip?

[Dreadlocktruth]

From the root to the tip is the safest way, without cutting. Just just have to work an opening in the root and then try and move that up towards the tip... it can take a long time!

[espresso]

Thanks for replying!
I've been working on splitting mine over days and weeks... Starting from the roots. The tips are definitely the hardest to split. Mine didn't end up quite even... One half turned out longer and thicker in the tip, and one a little bit shorter. I really don't care though, since nothing in my set is even anyway. Don't know if it's possible to split one thick into two perfect even ones?