How to Make Dreadlocks!

Hello! It's Adrianna here, the Goddess of All Knottiness, whom many of you have spoken to, written to and gotten to know over the many years now that we've been doing this crazy dread thang! I'm generally known as the resident lock expert around here (even though I don't CURRENTLY have dreads doesn't mean I never have!) and, because I've been running the Knotty show since way back in 1998, I'm seen as a bit of an *ahem* authority on the subject - and rarin' to tell you all about how you can make dreadlocks, too!

Before we begin, please take a moment to note that this everything-you'll-ever-need-to-know-about-how-to-make-dreadlocks information is provided to you FREE OF CHARGE and we don't expect a single dime in return. Empowering individuals who are ready to take a chance on their external appearance, and hopefully helping these same people make good changes to themselves on the inside, is the name of the TRUE Knotty Boy game. Believe it or not, we're not all about selling you dreadlock products! True, the products we've developed are, in fact, helping hundreds of thousands of people out there achieve healthy, happy dreadlocks easily and naturally, and we would never produce or sell our beloved Knotty kids a product that was all hype and no results. But what's also important for you to know is that the proceeds from the sale of our dreadlock products go to the charities we support, the Knotty Boy team we fairly employ, and the perpetuation of open-mindedness, tolerance and dreadlock culture on a global scale through other initiatives in which we are actively involved.

SO, enjoy this information, use it well, pass it along to others and allow your dreadlocks to initiate good things for you and the people you connect with - inside and out!

All right, sheesh, let's get on with it already!

Wait! Just a quick note to all the Knotty girls out there...

Hey! Our products are in no way intended for use specifically by the male population even though it's called Knotty Boy - we just liked the name. Girls are capable of being just as knotty as boys are, if not more so, right? And I'm a girl that's telling y'all how to use this stuff, so there!

One more thing and then on to the info, promise! If after reading all this stuff on how to make dreadlocks all by your lonely self, you still feel like, "Oh crap, I reeeeally don't want to do this and totally mess up my hair - oh, how I wish there was an expert out there that could do it for me!". Well, there is! Check out our Dread Services page for everything you could ever want to know about getting your dreads done professionally at the Knotty Boy Lock Shop and Salon, and start planning a trip to gorgeous Vancouver, BC, Canada ! We'd LOVE to see you!

OK, now for the real dirt! First and foremost, we have some bad news and some good news for you, so read this stuff carefully...

The BAD news is, super-awesome dreads do NOT just happen overnight. You must understand that, unlike a haircut you get in a salon, this new 'do takes a lot more patience than any other - sometimes even years of patience. You must be willing to deal with uncooperative hair for a little while, at least until they actually start growing into dreads by themselves, and especially if your hair is quite short. (Short dreads tend to work their way out faster than long, tangled locks, so they take a lot more maintenance - but, on the other hand, it's good to start them when they're short, as they tend to turn into stronger, tighter dreads in the end.)

So that's the bad news. But have no fear - the GOOD news is that Knotty Boy Dread Wax helps speed up the whole process of "letting them come together" in a BIG way, binding those locks together so they don't come apart in the soft, new dready stages, and lets them get a good head-start. After about 3 weeks or so, you'll start to find that your new locks are getting tighter and harder - yep, they're turning into real locks, baby! You still have a long ways to go...gotta have a lot of patience and keep working on them all the time, even when you're just sitting at school, working, on the computer or reading a book it helps to keep twisting them up or back combing them tighter when you have a minute. But Knotty Boy keeps them together a lot better than if you were using nothing at all and just letting them mat up randomly over the years. And that's the good news!

All ready to get Started?

Click here for Stuff You'll Need and Step By Step Instructions »