It's always a pleasure to see Kate and catch up, and it's a treat to see how rad her dreads are after just a few months! They're felted up tight, and they look great - if I do say so myself ;)
Showing posts with label maintenance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maintenance. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Did You Just Flip Me Off?!
Chances are, if you don't live in a cave, you know that New Years is the time to be making resolutions. This month, health clubs and gyms all over the world are the busiest they will be all year, only to have new membership drop off in two months when people realize that working out is hard. And it's not fun. And it totally sucks! In all the excitement of starting over, I'd like to ask a teensy favour of you. While you're making a list of Stuff to Quit in 2011, do me a solid and stop flipping your dreads!
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, flipping dreads at the root is sometimes called interlocking, latch-hooking, or crocheting. It's essentially the practice of threading a dreadlock through itself, sometimes using a large gauge hook, sometimes using no tools at all. It's a method that's often used to start dreads, and as long as it's done properly (flipped loosely, all holes woven closed) it's totally viable and with palmrolling will yield nice results - but that's not what I'm talking about here. What I'm talking about is using flipping as a stand-alone maintenance method.
When folks hear about this technique (usually on the web), it sounds too good to be true - because in 99% of cases it is. It certainly does tidy up the look at the scalp, but it's ultimately short-lived. If you're looking for more textured, almost geometric dreads from repeated flipping, this is fine - but you will not wind up with felted, cylindrical dreads. There are really three main problems I have with flipping, or interlocking dreadlocks, and here's a little show and tell:
I can immediately spot a flipped dread. In some cases, it's flat and feels thin in spots. In the worst cases it's bunched up and twisted, most of the time from doing it until there was no more slack at all. Yes, the loose hair is now tidied away, but those coils you see in the picture are not going to just dread themselves magically; they'll stay tightly twisted. They become rock hard and have no give whatsoever, meaning there's no friction with neighboring hair, meaning no knots. No knots = no dreads. If you were ever to decide to have me help you out with maintenance, my hands are somewhat tied. Those coils can develop into lumps so hard, I can't get my hook through. (Almost every time my crochet hook has gone through my thumb it's been in the process of repairing flipped dreads. That's a wicked bummer, lemme tell you.) I've never had to turn someone away for a Repair, but I've definitely been frustrated by not being able to do more.
Another major cause of concern is what happens between those tight coils of hair. When you flip a dread through itself, you are left with a hole. Even if you keep flipping until you can't see the hole, it's still there - and you still have a weak spot in your lock. If you are getting salon maintenance and they flip your dreads, be sure they are following up by weaving the hole closed behind them! There's nothing wrong with this technique done properly, but done poorly it will lead to breakage. We already know that those tightly twisted sections won't dread, so we also know that the gap you've created will not magically fill in. If one of those coiled sections breaks, you run the risk of losing your lock.
Here's a picture that shows the last of my big problems with interlocking, or flipping - the wrong hair going through the wrong section. It happens all the time, especially in the back. When you get even a little bit of hair from an neighboring section flipped through, you've got a problem. While those coils themselves won't start felting, the hair growing out at the scalp of the joined section will. In the pic above, you can see the mat that's started to form under two dreads accidentally flipped into each other. Sometimes, if the flip has only been done once, I can undo it - but most times, I will need to cut into the locks. Without shop work, you'll probably just need to be ok with having one really big dread where you used to have two.
Bottom line, you need to be careful, and you need to do your homework. Like I said earlier, this can work for some people if done properly and followed up with frequent palmolling. Unfortunately, this technique gets presented in the same way as a crash diet, or a get-rich-quick scheme - and when's the last time one of those worked for you?
So enough with the doom and gloom, already! What's the alternative?
Luckily, the alternative to maintaining your dreads at home is way easier than root flipping. It doesn't yield such immediate results, but it does work - and it keeps your locks strong and healthy. I highly recommend adding this to your maintenance routine after you've washed and damp palmrolled (with Tightening Gel, if you want to speed up the process.)
Start out by isolating the dread you want to work on. As time goes on you won't have to use clips, but it really helps in the first few months when you've got loose hair everywhere. Trust me on this! Once you've identified your section's boundaries, grab the loose hair and the dreadlock. (If you have long loose hairs, it's a good idea to backcomb it before you move on to the next step.)
I admit, it's tough to describe what's going on in these pics (I promise I'll get video dialed soon!) Once you've got a good grip on the loose hairs and the dread they belong in, start rubbing it into your scalp. Some advice says to rub in a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion, but that's kinda bunk - rub it every which direction! Go crazy! (Try not to hurt yourself, keeners.) Remember, what we're trying to create here is knots. When you've got a good knot starting to form at your root, go ahead and give your dread a good palmroll to the tip. I like adding a very small bit of wax at this point to keep it looking groomed, but that's up to you. The best thing you can do for your dreadlocks is palmroll! palmroll! PALMROLL! If you want a little help, call me at Knotty Boy anytime. I'll get you sorted ;)
Again: this isn't an overnight solution, but I do think it's a better long-term one. There is a lot of info out there and I'm just giving you the best advice I can based on years of creating and maintaining dreadlocks, pro-styles. Day in, day out - dreadlocks is what I do. If you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comments!
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, flipping dreads at the root is sometimes called interlocking, latch-hooking, or crocheting. It's essentially the practice of threading a dreadlock through itself, sometimes using a large gauge hook, sometimes using no tools at all. It's a method that's often used to start dreads, and as long as it's done properly (flipped loosely, all holes woven closed) it's totally viable and with palmrolling will yield nice results - but that's not what I'm talking about here. What I'm talking about is using flipping as a stand-alone maintenance method.
When folks hear about this technique (usually on the web), it sounds too good to be true - because in 99% of cases it is. It certainly does tidy up the look at the scalp, but it's ultimately short-lived. If you're looking for more textured, almost geometric dreads from repeated flipping, this is fine - but you will not wind up with felted, cylindrical dreads. There are really three main problems I have with flipping, or interlocking dreadlocks, and here's a little show and tell:
I can immediately spot a flipped dread. In some cases, it's flat and feels thin in spots. In the worst cases it's bunched up and twisted, most of the time from doing it until there was no more slack at all. Yes, the loose hair is now tidied away, but those coils you see in the picture are not going to just dread themselves magically; they'll stay tightly twisted. They become rock hard and have no give whatsoever, meaning there's no friction with neighboring hair, meaning no knots. No knots = no dreads. If you were ever to decide to have me help you out with maintenance, my hands are somewhat tied. Those coils can develop into lumps so hard, I can't get my hook through. (Almost every time my crochet hook has gone through my thumb it's been in the process of repairing flipped dreads. That's a wicked bummer, lemme tell you.) I've never had to turn someone away for a Repair, but I've definitely been frustrated by not being able to do more.
Another major cause of concern is what happens between those tight coils of hair. When you flip a dread through itself, you are left with a hole. Even if you keep flipping until you can't see the hole, it's still there - and you still have a weak spot in your lock. If you are getting salon maintenance and they flip your dreads, be sure they are following up by weaving the hole closed behind them! There's nothing wrong with this technique done properly, but done poorly it will lead to breakage. We already know that those tightly twisted sections won't dread, so we also know that the gap you've created will not magically fill in. If one of those coiled sections breaks, you run the risk of losing your lock.
Here's a picture that shows the last of my big problems with interlocking, or flipping - the wrong hair going through the wrong section. It happens all the time, especially in the back. When you get even a little bit of hair from an neighboring section flipped through, you've got a problem. While those coils themselves won't start felting, the hair growing out at the scalp of the joined section will. In the pic above, you can see the mat that's started to form under two dreads accidentally flipped into each other. Sometimes, if the flip has only been done once, I can undo it - but most times, I will need to cut into the locks. Without shop work, you'll probably just need to be ok with having one really big dread where you used to have two.
Bottom line, you need to be careful, and you need to do your homework. Like I said earlier, this can work for some people if done properly and followed up with frequent palmolling. Unfortunately, this technique gets presented in the same way as a crash diet, or a get-rich-quick scheme - and when's the last time one of those worked for you?
So enough with the doom and gloom, already! What's the alternative?
Luckily, the alternative to maintaining your dreads at home is way easier than root flipping. It doesn't yield such immediate results, but it does work - and it keeps your locks strong and healthy. I highly recommend adding this to your maintenance routine after you've washed and damp palmrolled (with Tightening Gel, if you want to speed up the process.)
Start out by isolating the dread you want to work on. As time goes on you won't have to use clips, but it really helps in the first few months when you've got loose hair everywhere. Trust me on this! Once you've identified your section's boundaries, grab the loose hair and the dreadlock. (If you have long loose hairs, it's a good idea to backcomb it before you move on to the next step.)
I admit, it's tough to describe what's going on in these pics (I promise I'll get video dialed soon!) Once you've got a good grip on the loose hairs and the dread they belong in, start rubbing it into your scalp. Some advice says to rub in a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion, but that's kinda bunk - rub it every which direction! Go crazy! (Try not to hurt yourself, keeners.) Remember, what we're trying to create here is knots. When you've got a good knot starting to form at your root, go ahead and give your dread a good palmroll to the tip. I like adding a very small bit of wax at this point to keep it looking groomed, but that's up to you. The best thing you can do for your dreadlocks is palmroll! palmroll! PALMROLL! If you want a little help, call me at Knotty Boy anytime. I'll get you sorted ;)
Again: this isn't an overnight solution, but I do think it's a better long-term one. There is a lot of info out there and I'm just giving you the best advice I can based on years of creating and maintaining dreadlocks, pro-styles. Day in, day out - dreadlocks is what I do. If you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comments!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
One Month Check-In
When I start dreads for someone, I typically won't see them until their first maintenance appointment - usually at around the three month mark. Today I had the opportunity to poke around in Kate's lovely locks, only one month old. (This was especially nice of her, since she actually showed up to get her bangs trimmed.) I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you folks an update on salon-started dreadlocks, 30 days later!
.
If you click the link above to Kate's first-day locks, you'll see that just like I always promise, they're laying much flatter to her head than when just completed. The areas in between the dreads have filled in as well - no more soccer-ball grid! With a bit more damp palmrolling, these are going to felt up beautifully - they're halfway there, at just a month! Best of all - she loves them! Doesn't get any better than that.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
3 Month Update
Three Month Maintenance Time for Dom!
On the left she's looking freakin' stunning for someone who's spent the last 6 hours sitting on their butt and getting their hair pulled into brand spankin' new locks. And over on the right is Dom after our maintenance appointment yesterday. You can really see the size difference. When I say they're gonna get bigger with time, I ain't lying! Proof positive, right here. Her dreads are approximately doubled in size, and she's obviously been having a good time with colour. (I asked for the recipe for that awesome teal she achieved, and it's half manic Panic Midnight Blue and half MP Bad Boy Blue on bleached-to-yellow hair.) Fridays are cool.
On the left she's looking freakin' stunning for someone who's spent the last 6 hours sitting on their butt and getting their hair pulled into brand spankin' new locks. And over on the right is Dom after our maintenance appointment yesterday. You can really see the size difference. When I say they're gonna get bigger with time, I ain't lying! Proof positive, right here. Her dreads are approximately doubled in size, and she's obviously been having a good time with colour. (I asked for the recipe for that awesome teal she achieved, and it's half manic Panic Midnight Blue and half MP Bad Boy Blue on bleached-to-yellow hair.) Fridays are cool.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Super Saturday
All Maintenance, all the time! All the time I had for the day, anyways. 3 back-to-back appointments make for a very, very sleepy Lockafella.
It's always nice to see Chance and his gorgeous locks. Started by Becca about 4 years ago, and maintained by mostly me since. He takes great care of his locks and is a pretty kickass ambassador for Knotty Boy and dreads in general! We spent pretty much this entire appointment debating about various superpowers. FYI, we both choose Regeneration over Invincibility, though for different reasons.
Sarah's appointment was actually for yesterday, but she kinda misjudged how crazy Canadians would be for US Black Friday deals and got stuck in the northbound lineup. Luckily today worked out a little better, and we managed to finish up all her seven million locks in two hours. Fingers crossed that she's already back home south of the border! As per usual with our American clientele, I pulled out the DVD player and schooled Sarah in a little classic Degrassi Jr. High. Spreading the gospel one head at a time..
.
Last but so not least on this marathon maintenance day is Catherine, who came over from the Island. She had approximately the same amount of hair as Sarah, but much less interest in Canadian children's programming circa 1987. This chick actually managed to read a book while I ripped apart her locks! I'm always so impressed by that! Hey, I had dreads - I know what maintenance feels like. This lady here is a total badass - watch out!
It's always nice to see Chance and his gorgeous locks. Started by Becca about 4 years ago, and maintained by mostly me since. He takes great care of his locks and is a pretty kickass ambassador for Knotty Boy and dreads in general! We spent pretty much this entire appointment debating about various superpowers. FYI, we both choose Regeneration over Invincibility, though for different reasons.
Sarah's appointment was actually for yesterday, but she kinda misjudged how crazy Canadians would be for US Black Friday deals and got stuck in the northbound lineup. Luckily today worked out a little better, and we managed to finish up all her seven million locks in two hours. Fingers crossed that she's already back home south of the border! As per usual with our American clientele, I pulled out the DVD player and schooled Sarah in a little classic Degrassi Jr. High. Spreading the gospel one head at a time..
.
Last but so not least on this marathon maintenance day is Catherine, who came over from the Island. She had approximately the same amount of hair as Sarah, but much less interest in Canadian children's programming circa 1987. This chick actually managed to read a book while I ripped apart her locks! I'm always so impressed by that! Hey, I had dreads - I know what maintenance feels like. This lady here is a total badass - watch out!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Whatcha Do? Wednesday
Just a short post to rub in how awesomely fun my day was...
This here's my new friend Nick. He's a fellow Metalocalypse enthusiast, and totally brightened my morning! His dreads are also pretty rad, just a bit messy at the roots.
Here he is all maintained! (I'm totally using that photo on the right for advertising purposes.)His dreads make a serious case for leaving your ends loose - those curls are seriously hot.
Speaking of hot...
Lara cruised by and snagged an open spot in my afternoon, and I'm so glad. It's always a blast to hear what's going on with this new mom on the serious go! (Plus, she forever earned a place in my heart by naming her daughter the coolest baby name ever.) This was a 100% collarborative art project ;)
Cody here is new to me. He's had his dreads done at Knotty Boy before, but never by me. I'm so glad we got to meet, and his dreads were a pleasure to work on. Poor guy, I had to really reef on a few of his bigger sections. Props to him for not axe murdering me during those ones - he didn't make a sound, and assured me that I wasn't hurting him. What a gentleman! Not to mention a pretty decent liar ;)
I'm off to round out this totally-packed-with-rad day by rollerskating around outside in subzero temperatures! Lucky for me I have so many warm fuzzy memories of the day to keep me toasty (and Sock Monkey Mittens will help.)
This here's my new friend Nick. He's a fellow Metalocalypse enthusiast, and totally brightened my morning! His dreads are also pretty rad, just a bit messy at the roots.
Here he is all maintained! (I'm totally using that photo on the right for advertising purposes.)His dreads make a serious case for leaving your ends loose - those curls are seriously hot.
Speaking of hot...
Lara cruised by and snagged an open spot in my afternoon, and I'm so glad. It's always a blast to hear what's going on with this new mom on the serious go! (Plus, she forever earned a place in my heart by naming her daughter the coolest baby name ever.) This was a 100% collarborative art project ;)
Cody here is new to me. He's had his dreads done at Knotty Boy before, but never by me. I'm so glad we got to meet, and his dreads were a pleasure to work on. Poor guy, I had to really reef on a few of his bigger sections. Props to him for not axe murdering me during those ones - he didn't make a sound, and assured me that I wasn't hurting him. What a gentleman! Not to mention a pretty decent liar ;)
I'm off to round out this totally-packed-with-rad day by rollerskating around outside in subzero temperatures! Lucky for me I have so many warm fuzzy memories of the day to keep me toasty (and Sock Monkey Mittens will help.)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Andrea
Last Saturday afternoon I had a sit with Andrea, who came all the way from Campbell River! Andrea had been a client of another dread stylist, so the pressure was on. She was expecting a lot outta me... and on a Saturday, too.
The Mission: Andrea has about 30 locks, and she loves them. What she wasn't so keen on was the level of coverage she was getting as they grew out. So our mission this day was to start with the basics and maintain her roots - then pull on our fancypants for adding volume and density by filling in those gaps!
Step one: fulfill client's Rapunzel fantasy! Just kidding... I think. Look at that face! Clearly someone's enjoying themselves here. We're done the maintenance and just finished installing the superridiculouslyhighquality kanekalon fiber at the root of every one of Andrea's locks, some in her natural colour, others in subtle (and not-so-subtle) highlights. I back away so that she may bask in the synthetic glow...
And Ta freakin' DA! Mission :Accomplished! A few hours of steamy action later (stop right there, gutterbrain...) and all that loose hair is twisted up nice and tight in Synth Dreads, sitting snugly between Andrea's natural locks. Each individual section now has 3 dreads springing from it, bumping her total up from 30 to 90! That is a seriously full head of hair!
With a few washes, those synth dreads lose their New Lock Shine - they blend in really well with natural dreads. As her hair continues to grow, I'll move those locks up to the roots again and again - the quality of the hair is so good, you can keep using the same locks for years. When she gets tired of the turquoise, we'll switch it up, easy as a snip of thread! (That's easy, yo.) Should Andrea choose not to reinstall her synth, she can instead put them onto an elastic fall and tie them in when it suits her.
Thanks for hanging out, Andrea - it was a wicked time! Looking forward to seeing you in the spring :)
The Mission: Andrea has about 30 locks, and she loves them. What she wasn't so keen on was the level of coverage she was getting as they grew out. So our mission this day was to start with the basics and maintain her roots - then pull on our fancypants for adding volume and density by filling in those gaps!
Step one: fulfill client's Rapunzel fantasy! Just kidding... I think. Look at that face! Clearly someone's enjoying themselves here. We're done the maintenance and just finished installing the superridiculouslyhighquality kanekalon fiber at the root of every one of Andrea's locks, some in her natural colour, others in subtle (and not-so-subtle) highlights. I back away so that she may bask in the synthetic glow...
And Ta freakin' DA! Mission :Accomplished! A few hours of steamy action later (stop right there, gutterbrain...) and all that loose hair is twisted up nice and tight in Synth Dreads, sitting snugly between Andrea's natural locks. Each individual section now has 3 dreads springing from it, bumping her total up from 30 to 90! That is a seriously full head of hair!
With a few washes, those synth dreads lose their New Lock Shine - they blend in really well with natural dreads. As her hair continues to grow, I'll move those locks up to the roots again and again - the quality of the hair is so good, you can keep using the same locks for years. When she gets tired of the turquoise, we'll switch it up, easy as a snip of thread! (That's easy, yo.) Should Andrea choose not to reinstall her synth, she can instead put them onto an elastic fall and tie them in when it suits her.
Thanks for hanging out, Andrea - it was a wicked time! Looking forward to seeing you in the spring :)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Dreadlock Maintenance: Oxymoron?
Yeah, don't think I haven't heard that before. And yeah, some people are content just letting them do their thing, but don't feel like that's your only valid option. Fact is, dreads don't start out perfect. More accurately, they don't stay perfect. They move, they change, they bunch up, they shrink, they expand. All the time! That's totally fine, and 100% normal. If you got your dreads started with me, I know you've gotten the palmrolling spiel and I've put the fear into you about not doing your homework... but we're just rolling into Fall around here, and for those folks who've neglected their noggins for the sake of sun and fun? It's time to pay the piper. (Psst - the piper is me!)
So, why do you want to come in and see me? (other than my sparkling wit and dazzling smile?) Root Maintenance is like the cleaning lady you only shell out for once a season. Sure, you're not getting out of doing the dishes or vacuuming - but it's nice to hand the heavy lifting to the pros once in a while, right? Maintenance is especially helpful to the newly dreadful, but I've got plenty of long-time clients who come in when they need to spruce up a bit. When I put in a set of locks, I recommend seeing that person once every 3-4 months for the first year, and as needed after that. When you come in, I'll be working in 3 key areas:
* re-sectioning dreads at the scalp and tidying up joins
* re-tightening undreaded roots
* re-incorporating loose hair at the scalp
These 7 year old dreads belong to Sylvia, who hung out in my chair yesterday. They look amazing (on the way to her knees!) and she maintains them well herself. She wasn't looking to reinvent the wheel here - she just wanted to clean up the sections and tighten up the roots. (We also touched up the greys on top, but that's a story for another piece.) So, a couple hours later, here she is - same dreads, just tidier and easier to maintain at home.
You don't have to "just deal" with messy dreads! So, if your boss is looking at you sideways, if you're a bridesmaid in your sister's wedding, if you don't wanna look like Sideshow Bob at Prom?
Come hang out in my chair! I'll leave the GameBoy out for ya.
So, why do you want to come in and see me? (other than my sparkling wit and dazzling smile?) Root Maintenance is like the cleaning lady you only shell out for once a season. Sure, you're not getting out of doing the dishes or vacuuming - but it's nice to hand the heavy lifting to the pros once in a while, right? Maintenance is especially helpful to the newly dreadful, but I've got plenty of long-time clients who come in when they need to spruce up a bit. When I put in a set of locks, I recommend seeing that person once every 3-4 months for the first year, and as needed after that. When you come in, I'll be working in 3 key areas:
* re-sectioning dreads at the scalp and tidying up joins
* re-tightening undreaded roots
* re-incorporating loose hair at the scalp
These 7 year old dreads belong to Sylvia, who hung out in my chair yesterday. They look amazing (on the way to her knees!) and she maintains them well herself. She wasn't looking to reinvent the wheel here - she just wanted to clean up the sections and tighten up the roots. (We also touched up the greys on top, but that's a story for another piece.) So, a couple hours later, here she is - same dreads, just tidier and easier to maintain at home.
You don't have to "just deal" with messy dreads! So, if your boss is looking at you sideways, if you're a bridesmaid in your sister's wedding, if you don't wanna look like Sideshow Bob at Prom?
Come hang out in my chair! I'll leave the GameBoy out for ya.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)