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Starting dreads, but just not sure what you'll need?

We've done the hard work for you by putting together the bare essentials for starting locks from scratch (and in larger Kits, a few fun extras), at a discount!

Incredible locks
in weeks, not years.

Create and maintain beautiful locks in any hair type easier, faster, and cleaner with Knotty Boy Natural Dreadlock Care products.

Pure ingredients, simple instructions and limitless customer support. Think Dreadlocks, Think Knotty Boy - the Original Since 1998!

Can the removal kit take down my matted hair?

 

Maybe.

The Emergency Dreadlock Removal Kit is not, despite its name, intended to be first-aid for trauma tangles, or severely unintentionally matted hair.

The main reason for this is all-important ends to work from.  Where dreadlocks are concerned, there is always an end, even for the thickest and most elder locks.  With non-intentional matted sections, this is usually not the case, and the difficulty is mostly in finding a sufficient number of loose ends, and then following them back toward the scalp, gently combing and picking out along the length.

That said...over the years, we've heard from many people who have successfully used our Kit for this purpose, and also heard a lot of feedback, so here are answers to some very frequently asked questions.

Please understand as you read the following that this isn't our area of expertise, nor is anything here intended to be a representation, warranty, promise, or anything other than a suggestion to you, who have come here looking for help to keep your hair.  We sincerely hope that you can, and are grateful to provide a product which may help in that aim.

• Please read all the FAQ entries in our "Dreadlock Removal" FAQ section here if you haven't already, and then see this tutorial.

• The Emergency Dreadlock Removal Kit is the opposite of most of our product line, which is designed to create and maintain dreadlocks. As a consequence of this, most of the retailers listed in our Store Locator do not carry this item. Please note that it is also not available on third-party sales platforms, such as Amazon or eBay.

• We cannot recommend, or competently comment on, the use of home remedies which you may have read about, particularly Olive Oil, and for two reasons: a) we have not tested them, and b) many of the people who have contacted us asking about our Removal Kit have already tried and failed to take down their matted hair this way.

• You can have too much of a good thing. The Conditioner is very, very slippery and quite useful for helping to lubricate hair shafts during the sometimes difficult process of picking out dreadlocks. But - and we have been asked this more than once - coating your entire hair with it and covering it with plastic for a few days in the hope that it'll permeate the mass and make it easier to remove..please don't. It's not what the product is designed for, and this may do more harm than good.

• Many people have reported that a severely matted section (or entirety) of their hair has become that way immediately following a swim in a chlorine - treated pool (where they're not accustomed to do so) or where a long-used hair product was unavailable, and so a different one was used, and is suspected in the mat having been so created. We suggest that when in a hole to stop digging, and to limit the number of different chemicals or substances used going forward so as to not make any potential chemical reaction worse. We can only speculate as to how and why this happens, we report here only for educational purposes that many, many people have told us that it does.

• It is strongly encouraged to have help with the removal process. Hair is many things to many people, but at the least it's a form of identification, and the job can take a while. Further, most severe and unintentional mats happen toward the rear part of the crown, making removal difficult. It's not impossible, people have done it - but it's a lot easier and less frustrating. We wish you success!

• Use only a small amount of Conditioner at a time on the area you are currently working at. A gentle pick with the spike of your comb, followed by a careful, gentle pulling at the area surrounding, with only that area conditioned. Have a small amount of the Conditioner diluted on hand in a spray bottle.

• When you reach an impasse, an area that seems simply welded together (it's probably not) turn the work slightly, and start in a different direction. Since you don't have an end to work with, finding one is your objective (obviously, without breaking strands). Easy does it - a tug here, a slight pull there, to loosen the entire snarl. Your progress is not likely to be linear, but circular.

Knotty Boy operated its own Salon from 2004 - 2009, and thereafter until 2021 The Dreadquarters operated in part as our Concept Salon - using our methods and products while developing their own and maintaining a close, professional relationship with us.

So we have it on good authority via our own experience and The Dreadquarters' dreadlocking mavens that in all that time, there were only two people whose hair, unintentionally matted from whatever misadventure, the stylists and locticians were unable to help. That's not a bad record, and statistically bodes well for you!

From the feedback we've received we believe that with enough time and patience, almost any matted hair section can be, if not completely removed and returned to free hair, at least partially removed, so as to salvage as much as possible.

Courage, friend! We sincerely hope you are able to save your hair and we wish you a beautiful life.

 

 

 

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