The process of dreading is different for African and Caucasian hair. Whereas African hair can be twisted with a drop of wax and left to knot itself, white hair needs a bit more attention.
Although it may be tempting to approach an African hair specialist, many are inexperienced with white hair and there are regular horror stories of people leaving the salon with over-waxed candle tapers that fall apart in a couple of months. Unless you’ve had somewhere recommended to you, you’re better off going to a white-hair specialist like DreadWorxUK whose entrepreneurial young director, Edd Smith, has cornered the UK market in recent years and runs a network of dreadlock specialists across the country.
The other option is to invest in a kit. This is a ready-made selection of everything you should need to make knatty dreads at home. But how good are they?
Well, we gave it a go. Using one of the best-known brands on the market: Dread Head HQ (DHHQ), we took one willing participant and got to work. It is possible to dread any type of white hair provided it is long enough, shoulder-length is recommended and you may lose quite a bit of length in the process.
First Off
You have to wash the hair with a special ‘residue-free’ shampoo. Most hair products contain perfumes and conditioners which can lead to unhygienic dreads because the residues build up inside. There are a number of products on the market and the kit comes with a bottle of DHHQ soap, but dreadheads we spoke to strongly recommend either Dread FX soap bars or the Dr. Bronners range (which is also vegan friendly!).
Next, separate out the hair with elastic bands into even squares and spray with ‘accelerant’ – basically salt-water, which helps make the hair a little brittle.
Dreading-Up
Starting from the back, take one section of hair at a time. Remove the elastic band and start back-combing like crazy! Make sure you get a strong knot-ball at the root before working your way down. An instruction leaflet comes with the kit. However, experimenting with products, we decided that it is absolutely essential to invest in DHHQ Lock Peppa, it is some amazing magical formula that fills the hair with friction and can halve the length of time it takes to make each dread.
To Wax or Not to Wax?
The kit comes with a big tub of wax but we weren’t all that sure you need it. We tried one or two – smoothing a tiny bit of wax down a dread then using a hair-dryer to melt it in, but to be honest it didn’t seem to make much of a difference and vegans will be happy to know that you can dread up perfectly well without it. We were also warned that if you use too much wax it can slow down the maturing process because the hair needs to move around to knot-up.
Finishing-Up
Well, it took us about twelve hours from start to finish! This was a first attempt so maybe you get quicker with practice, but the results seem to speak for themselves: one head of very knatty dreads. Thumbs up for the DIY approach to dreadlocking – but don’t forget the Lock Peppa! Essential.
One final note is that white hair does need a lot of attention to dread-up properly and it can take between six to twelve months for them to fully mature. During that time you may need help from a professional loctician to maintain them.
