Decorating your Dreadlocks

Dreadlocks are a blast to have. I’m sure you all have come to understand by reading my previous blogs that my dreads are definitely my life. Some people may look at dreads and think how funky they already are, but one of the most liberating parts to having dreadlocks is being able to make them your own.

Dreadlocks are already so individual, but decorating them really places your personality into your hair. There are plenty of ways to help your dreadlocks define who you are, not to mention it’s a blast!

You can begin making your dreadlocks your own by adding beads! Dread beads are a great way to personalize your locs. Some people even go as far as making their own beads out of clay or sculpted wood. Glass, wood and metal are usually the best materials to put in your hair, although, I also have a plastic bead in my hair. Instead of just collecting beads and placing them in your hair all willy-nilly, I like to think of beads like tattoos. I wont put a bead in my hair unless it means something to me. I have gotten almost every bead I own from a friend. My favorite thing to do is request beads as souvenirs when people I know travel. I even have beads in my hair from Poland! Another neat fact about using beads to personalize your hair is that you can constantly interchange them, or take them out when you need to be a bit more presentable.

Aside from using beads to personalize your locs, dying them different colors is also another option! Unless your hair is already blonde, it will be necessary to bleach the hair before you add any color to it in order to get the results you are looking for. When bleaching your dreads, you go about the process like you would with any other hair. The difference, is that when dying dreads, you do not necessarily need to massage the dye into the center of the loc. This is a bit dangerous, as it will be harder to rinse the chemical from your dread. Also, bleaching the dread about a quarter-inch away from the scalp is important for a couple reasons. A) You do not want the root of other dreads to be bleached, and B) it may be harder to rinse the scalp when you are dying individual dreads. Of course, if you are bleaching all of your hair, you wont have that problem. To utilize the natural options, many people prefer to use Henna-based hair dye. Whether or not the color takes well to your hair will differ based on the individual, but it is a safe alternative to chemical-based hair dye. For best results, you will still want to bleach the dread before dying it with henna.

Another way to make yours more personalized is to wrap them! You can use thread, or hemp to do this. It is important to stay away from wool, as it often embeds itself into your dread and is nearly impossible to get out. Wrapping your dreads is a fun and semi-permanent way to make your hair colorful and exciting! This diagram will help you understand how to wrap your dreads yourself! J Don’t get frustrated! Practice makes perfect!

There may be a break in posts between now, and the next few weeks. I am finishing up the second to last semester of my undergrad career, and things are a bit hectic. I plan to return to this blog in the near future. Thank you for reading my blog! Please give me feedback, or ideas for further posts you may like to see!

Until next time, folks!