Tips for Immediate Dreadlock After-Care

 

Washing

We recommend waiting 1 to 2 weeks for your first washing to give those locks time to get really knotted up, and to palmroll as often as you can. After this initial waiting period, washing once a week is a good guideline for most folks. Those of you who started your locks with our Knotty Boy Starter Kit will find our Dread Shampoo Bar in the bag, along with a shower cap to keep your new locks dry those other 6 days of the week.

Reapplying Product

Wax: For the first 6 weeks or so after locking up, sit down and check over your locks every few days to see how they're holding together. If some are falling apart, backcomb, twist and use a little more Wax here and there to get them back in line. Once again, LESS IS MORE. Use your judgment and don't over-wax. You will notice that after applying product things will feel a bit tacky and sticky up there, but as your dreads start to mature and aren't as soft anymore, they dry out a lot. After they've started to form into real locks (anywhere after about 2-6 months), you can use the Wax less frequently but still on occasion to get the loose hair back into the main locks and give them a bit of grooming whenever you feel it's necessary. When you're at that stage of maturity, the waxiness lasts for only about a day after you reapply it. You may still use your comb to backcomb loose hair into locks again, switch to the Tightening Gel for increased lock-acceleration or simply palm roll, palm roll, palm roll. Do whatever works best for you and your hair type.

NOTE: You never, EVER want to apply Wax to wet or damp dreadlocks. Doing so seals in the moisture, which in turn begins to start a colony of mold and mildew growing inside those spongy locks. Know that wet-dog, old-musty-towel smell emanating from some dreadheads out there? Yep, you guessed it. That's either coming from locks that have not been allowed to dry thoroughly between washings/washing too frequently, waxing wet locks or all of the above. More about this below in the Ongoing Dreadlock Care section.

Tightening Gel: Gel on the other hand is PERFECT for applying to damp locks, or mixing with water 1:3 and spritzing on dry locks for some accelerated lock-tightening action. You can do this up to twice a week ongoing, or sparingly apply Tightening Gel directly to damp locks after washing, then dry thoroughly.    

Sleeping with Locks

A very good thing to do for sleeping after you've just waxed is to either find an old pillow case that you don't care about to put on your pillow for the next while, or pin a towel to the pillow. Knotty Boy isn't slimy or anything, but it may get your pillow a bit waxy after just having put it in your hair. If your hair is long enough, tie it back, and if it's short you can always wear a Knotty Boy tam or hat, or nylon stocking to keep it away from your face when you sleep. Doing this will also help keep them from rubbing apart and getting really fuzzy when you sleep.

Ongoing Dreadlock Care

Anytime you feel that your dreads need to be washed, just wash them. If you're using Knotty Boy Dread Wax and you've just done

See the five-year dreadlock progression of our littlest Knotty Boy, Ozzie, here!

your dreads up with it for the first time, try to not wash for at least a week to give them some time to dry out a bit. After that you don't have anything to worry about when you wash - you can always rewax the loose pieces back into the main dreads. And in fact, washing them actually helps them develop faster, as it's removing the natural oils from your hair that cause those new knots to slip out!

When you wash, give your scalp a really good scrub with the Knotty Boy Dread Shampoo Bar or Liquid Shampoo (see section below called The Itchies or the Dread Shampoo page for reasons why you should use this 'poo!). Don't use regular shampoos from the drug store or salons - they contain conditioners and other chemicals that soften and detangle hair, not knot it up! And don't worry about washing the dreads themselves, the soap that runs down from your scalp will clean them just fine and you don't really want to mess with them too much anyway. Just keeping your scalp healthy is the super important part. Also check the Dread Shampoo page for more detailed instructions on how to use our Knotty Boy Shampoos to wash your dreads. 

And here's a little tip for drying your dreads after you shower: if they're new dreads, carefully squeeze them dry with a towel, or if they can stand up to the abuse, whip out the excess water by headbanging to any good 80's metal tune. Hey, anything by Cinderella, Slaughter or Ratt will do in a pinch. And be sure to get your dreads completely dry every time you get them wet or wash them - this is very important! If you swim or wash them a lot (more than once a week usually), your dreads can start smelling very funky and musty if you do not dry them out properly in the sun, with a blowdryer, etc. Mold can actually grow inside your locks if you leave them damp most of the time, so get them dreadies dry, dawg!

Just always remember to use your common sense to keep your dreads as clean as possible. If you work at a job like dishwashing or with other smelly things, wear a hat to keep the smells out. If you're camping in the woods or sleeping outside, always make sure you wear a hat then, too, so no dirt or bugs get trapped in there. Some people like to give their head a quick dip in the ocean because salt water helps to dry them out and tighten them up a bit better, but if you find your hair smells fishy after that or you're not sure how clean it is in there, DON'T DO IT. You don't want to come up with fishy, oil-slicky hair, do ya. Just use salt water in a spray bottle, it'll do the same for your dreads and keeps them cleaner. (Although dipping your dreads in a CLEAN part of the ocean can be a nice ritual.)

And on that note of tightening dreadlocks naturally , after a few weeks of starting your locks and you notice they're beginning to come together a little more each day, picking up a jar of our Knotty Boy Tropical Tightening Gel is a great way to get them dreadies tighter, faster, without the use of harsh and damaging salts. Yet another Knotty Boy product our retailers can barely keep on the shelves and Knotty kids haven't stopped raving about since its launch!

THE ITCHIES

Everyone's had itchy scalp or dandruff at some time or another. It's normal. Anything from switching shampoos to swimming in a chlorinated pool can do it to you. No biggie, except it can be very uncomfy and especially hard to deal with when you have dreads.

The first thing to determine is whether it's just dandruff due to oily buildup, dry scalp... or bugs. Like I said before, use your common sense about cleanliness - don't do dirty stuff like tree-planting, dirt-biking or smell-related work without a hat on, DON'T sleep next to someone if you suspect they might have lice or some other funky thing going on in their own hair, and DON'T let animals sleep next to your head ever. If something weird has crawled into your dreads, laid eggs and is having a party in there - please, don't go into denial because you're afraid you might have to chop your dreads off... DEAL WITH IT IMMEDIATELY. Check out our mighty dreadlock FAQ pages for help from other people that have dealt with lice and bugs in their dreads, but don't wait to deal with the problem. Lice is highly contagious and you'll give it to others - that's not very cool at all, right? OK. Not a good way to make friends.

Now, if it’s definitely not bugs and is just dry scalp or dandruff (itchy, flaky, white, irritated, you know it...) and it’s driving you crazy, you need to get your grubby little hands on some Knotty Boy Natural Dreadlock Shampoo— stat! These shampoos kick arse for getting rid of the dandruff, flakies and killing the itch that seems to be something that many people with dreads just live with and accept. Chock full of tea tree, rosemary and peppermint oils, they also have no conditioners and are truly, completely natural, which makes them very acceptable for dreadlock use. You don't have to have a dirty, itchy scalp just because you have dreads! It’s GOOD to wash your dreads, not only to keep them clean but it helps get them tighter and stronger, too. Read our many customer testimonials; they'll tell you these shampoos do nothing but make your dreaded scalp tingly and healthy — no more itchies — and, baby, it be the sweetest, mintiest stuff you ever done smelled...! Mmm!

One other thing we've made JUST FOR HOT, ITCHY SCALPS is our ridiculously popular all-natural Knotty Boy Peppermint Cooling Moisture Spray, another pep-o-minty treat for unhappy scalps and dreads that need a boost in the fragrance department (yeah, you KNOW what I'm talkin' ‘bout). Since we've launched this bottle of love, the feedback has literally poured in from dreadheads in every corner of the earth fairly exploding with happiness over the scalp relief they're experienced since using this powerful spritz. Try it and let us know what you think!

Now, we do understand that sometimes not everyone has the extra cash to grab the stuff you need, SO if you are too broke for our Knotty Boy Shampoos or Peppermint Moisture Spray, we'll still help you out as best we can. Remember how we said Knotty Boy ain't all about the money, honey…? That's right. Read on…