Half a year is a major milestone!

Your dreads should be really starting to mesh at this point, and you're finally beginning to see them felting together. Instead of thousands of individual hairs held together with wax and constant work, your dreads are starting to form one unified texture, like fabric. Now is when your focus shifts from keeping the hair knotted to helping your dreads continue to thrive.

Maintenance Techniques

Now that you aren't having to spend all your energy feverishly trying to keep your new knots together, you can devote a little of your routine to any undone ends you might have. Tips are among the most frustrating things for the newly dreadful, as they seem to take so much longer to stay knotted! You aren't alone, and we have some simple tricks for speeding this along. Take the ends of one single dread and (with a comb or your fingers) backcomb the loose hair, pushing the tangle up into the body of your dread. Grasp the new end and give it a rub around in the palm of your hand until you've got a solid knot. Followup with a regular ol' palm roll, and finish with wax if you so desire.

Helpful Products for This Stage

 

 

Dreadlock Wax Roll-Up Stick

For hassle-free grooming in seconds, the roll-up stick makes spot application easy

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Dreadlock Hats & Bands

For showing them off or tucking them away, we have a dread hat for every season and every style!

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TIPS

1. You'll always have a certain amount of loose hair at the root, but until your dreads are totally felted up there'll be loose hair on the dread itself as well. Grooming your dreads is super simple, just add a very small amount of wax, and smooth it over your lock. The key is to knowing when enough's enough - you aren't trying to bind anything here, just tamping down the flyaways. The Wax Stick is really great for this stage of maintenance; it's easy to spot apply, and the new container makes application way less of a sticky hassle.

2. Running out of ideas for styling your dreads? We've got your back! Check out our awesome galleries for instructions and inspiration from Knotty Boy and your fellow dreadheads!