19 days to go....

[suzysu]

Hey, it's my first post here. I'm so excited to be getting my dreads in a little under 3 weeks. I say 'getting' because they're being crocheted. Yes....I know. But - I'm up against a few barriers that would make it difficult to get them otherwise.
1. I'm a teacher so they NEED to be neat from the outset.
2. I live in Hong Kong. A very conservative and judgemental place.
So...my question is what can I do to minimise the damage?
Will they ever look like 'real' dreads? I've read a lot of negative comments about crocheting (which I understand) but please tell me some positive stories/experiences. Ta Suzy

[jxbx]

Any hair will look like "real dreads" given enough time
People have had some great success crocheting, I'm not one of them so I can't really comment.

[suzysu]

Thanks....good to know!

[grassman]

Hi suzysu! Im not sure there's much you can do. I think the less is more usually applies to dreadlocks.

I might be able to give you a kind of positive story. When I started mine I didn't know much about dreadlocks. I watched a video on crocheting then got a hook & did it. I later down the road wish that I hadn't done that but it was too late. I believe at the time it did made them look a bit better (maybe?)or maybe just different but not perfect along with them being young & going through a lot of changes. It may have made the changes slower & more consistent looking, I didn't get a whole lot of loops either. It also made them really stiff which I didn't like.

I feel like because of what I do for work I needed them to look good just like you. I've ended up wearing a hat for a lot of the 1st year regardless of making them look better so to speak. People that already like dreadlocks would make cool comments no matter how they looked & the ones that don't like or understand it is going to hate on it anyways. But do it for yourself, not others!

I don't know how long your hair is but maybe getting extensions would help. I don't know? Maybe there's someone else that has thoughts on that. Not that I recommend it, just an idea.

[suzysu]

Hey Grassman, thanks. I know crocheting can make them look more uniform (which I want) but scratchy and stuff (which I obv don't!) I don't want synthetic extensions as they don't last long Ive been told. My hair is around 8" and very curly.
Did yours ever soften up?

[grassman]

They may have a little but they also got way thicker than I anticipated so I ended up splitting some. They also eventually shrank 50% or more which is partially why I brought up the extension. They'll last if you don't put them in too early & you can remove them if you ever wanted to.

Did you look through every ones timelines? Maybe you can find someone with hair close to yours & get ideas for how yours might go about.

[suzysu]

Yeah I've been having a look at lots of photos. My hair is really curly so I experience shrinkage on a daily basis.
I might consider extensions down the line but I want to see how mine look first.