Above: The process over four days. Below: 12 dreads removed, still blonde. Above: 30 dreads removed, still blonde. Below: The final product, back to brown. | Just as it takes patience and effort to get your dreadlocks to maturely lock up, it takes the same to attempt to brush them out. Personally, I just refuse to shave my head or cut my locks. I wanted to earn my hair back, after earning the locks. Of course, I kept 11 gnarly and large dreads, with the point of removing the others being a more feminine look. One thing you are going to need a lot of is conditioner. Also, get your favorite hair oil that's packed with nutrients ready- I chose coconut oil. Make sure you have plenty of combs/picks/(a lot of people mentioned forks?) because I broke three combs with the metal pick tip. I was down to just the metal pieces (essentially a long, skinny nail) for about the last 30 of the 40 I worked out. I broke three combs only 10 locks in and broke off so many teeth, it was too embarrassing to take a picture of. Finally, clear your schedule for a few days or pick out a couple cute headbands for public encounters because this is going to take awhile. Roughly estimate 1 hour per dread. I took a total of 34 hours, over 4 days. Nice arm work out. I have truly been itching to go back to my natural brown hair color. I loved my purple color from when I first started my locks and looking through old pictures made me want to go another crazy color. The blue and green was fun, but did not last long. I still wanted to go brown, so waited until after I combed out my locks to do so. I added a bunch of pictures of how my hair changed over the four days. I do miss having a full head of dreads and will probably do so again in the future. But for now, this look better captures my needs and wants. I cherish the dreadlocks I still have and continue to give them love and care. |
Below Left: I'm keeping 11 of my dreadlocks. I kept a bunch of long ones in the back of my head and they turned out to be some of my favorite locks anyway, so I'm pleased.
Below Right: Really excited to be back to brown.
Below Right: Really excited to be back to brown.
Below Left: That's the hair from removing 1 lock.
Below Right: I used "Coconut Milk," a nourishing serum with coconut oil.
Below Right: I used "Coconut Milk," a nourishing serum with coconut oil.
- Before attempting to brush out my locks, I spent some time shampooing and conditioning. First I shampooed for 10 minutes. Then, I used a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner for another 10 minutes. Finally, I used a boat-load of conditioner on my locks. I let that soak in for 15 minutes and partially washed it out. From there I began the brushing out process.
- I used cheap conditioner and the shampoos that were already in my mom's shower (I did this at her house, she helped me dye my hair). I began on each dread by pulling the dread apart with my fingers and then picking at clumps of hair with the pick.
- I tried to get back as much hair as possible, so I tediously picked out a foot of dreadlock. Times 40. My hair is in surprisingly better condition than I thought it would be.