Yes, white people can have dreadlocks in fact, if you don’t brush or comb your hair in time it will dread on it’s own. To some, wearing dreadlocks is a styling decision, a religious statement, or a lifestyle change. It is now an acceptable hairstyle amongst people in the entertainment business and all walks of life. Dreading straight/ Caucasian hair is a bit harder to dread compared to African-American hair.
Because African-American hair is curlier and has a lot of texture, locking our hair is easier, less time consuming and lock faster than straight hair. In this post, I’ll show you how to dread straight hair as well as give you the best techniques to lock your hair
Preparing Straight Hair For Dreads
Anyone can wear dreadlocks since our hair dreads naturally if we don’t comb and brush our hair. When starting dreads, wash your hair with clarifying shampoo also don’t use conditioners until your hair is locked.
Conditioners are meant to soften and detangle hair, which is opposite to what we are doing.
There are tools needed to dread Caucasian hair: A fine teeth comb or teasing comb, clips to separate hair and a small crochet hook usually 0.05 in size. You can find this on Amazon.
Before dreading your hair choose a method, there are a few techniques you can try like backcombing, twist and rip, crochet, and freeform. Each method has its disadvantage and advantage however, not everyone can wait until their hair dreads on its own because it’s a very lengthy process.
What Is Best Method to Dread Caucasian Hair?
Preparing hair Mature Dreadlocks Freeform dreads
Backcombing
This method and the twist and rip both begin with sectioning your hair and starting from the bottom.
- Sectioning size depends on how thick you want your dreadlocks to look, the standard size is one inch.
- After sectioning your hair clip the rest of the hair above the section.
- Start with one section, hold the piece of hair horizontally from the head.
- Take your comb and tease from almost the end of the hair.
- Push the hair with the comb towards the scalp. It should look matted and frizzy.
- Crochet the previously tease hair starting from the scalp.
Crochet Hook
To crochet: hold the crochet hook horizontally in your hand and insert it into your new locs.
- An eight movement is used to pull hairs from outside into the locs.
- Turning the dread while crocheting helps you get all the sides, however, untwist it when you finish ensuring that you don’t “strangle” the roots.
Twist And Rip
Sectioning is the same as crochet and backcombing.
- Take one section in your hand and twist.
- After twisting, grab the separate pieces and rip upwards towards the scalp.
- Grip the ends of the hair, separate it in half, twist and rip upwards to create the matting.
Neglected/Freeform
Wash hair with clarifying shampoo, then leave hair uncombed and separate hair regularly to prevent hair from matting into one.
How To Care For Dreads?
Wash hair regularly because dirty hair doesn’t lock properly and you will experience oil buildup. With starter locs wash your hair at least once a week. Some people can go longer without washing while others can’t.
Dreadlocks tend to soak up water. My advice is to wrap your hair in a towel and gently squeeze out the water (don’t wring). You can blowdry your dreads, air dry or invest in a hood dryer because it is important to dry your hair thoroughly to prevent dread rot.
Once in a while, you’ll need to crochet loose hair into your dreads if you can’t do this visit your loctician
You will have bumps, zig-zags and frizz. Embrace the frizz and curvy because it will get better after your hair has mature.
Products To Use In Your Dreads
You shouldn’t use wax in your hair since it leaves behind buildup in your dreads because it doesn’t wash out easily.
Other products to stay away from includes white or black gel and thick leave-in conditioners as they change the colour of your hair and make your locs heavier. A good shampoo such as Knotty Boy and Dollylocks aid in the locking process of your hair. Shampooing your dreads don’t deter the process.
Here are all the information needed for dreading strength/Caucasian hair. As I mentioned above every hair type can dread so if you are planning to lock your hair be patient.
My name is Penny Thomas, I love blogging, and the founder of HTW dreads. I had dreadlocks for the past tens years. However, I cut my hair off to grow them with natural oils and no wax. Apart from my hair, I love reading and swimming.
