In the quest to have the perfect locks like their idols on

Instagram, many people who do their dreads at home struggle with how to retwist dreads with a lot of regrowth.  Let’s face it, we are human and prone to being a bit lazy at some point. Tell me you always do something and I figure you have some disorder or are a freak of nature. Typically, we have the best of intentions, but life, relationships or you just can’t be bothered, gets in the way!

 

Regrowth happens like clockwork every three weeks, despite what most people are led to believe. 

All these short, tangly hairs spring out of nowhere and if you leave them for a month or three, they become strands.  These strands form this intricate network like grape vines and attach themselves everywhere. When this happens, this is how I retwist dreads with a lot of regrowth:

  • You need to make clean lines that includes all the hair around the dread like in the beginning.  So, if the dread was square, or diamond shaped, get all the stray hairs out of the way and have clean lines all around.  This step is very important because this will save you having minute hairs pulling on your scalp later.

 

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  • If I am palm rolling the strands, I twist from the end of the dread until it reaches the scalp.  Once it reaches the scalp, stop twisting or you will get breakage over time.
  • When doing the crochet method, which I use, I leave out a small strand of hair and for the rest I smooth the hair along the dread and twist as before from the bottom until it reaches the scalp.  Once there, I crochet the strand left out before into the dread so it keeps the hairs in.  
  • Sometimes, depending on how much hair e.g. say the amount to be put in is about half the size of the dread and the hair is smooth, I will backcomb the hair to make it easier to blend in.  

 

If you neglect your dreads, you will still need to know how to retwist dreads with a lot of regrowth just to not have a huge difference in size.

By Paula Barker, Silkie Locks Hair Design

Buy my e-book:  Dreadlocks: A Hairstylist’s Manifest (Silkielocks.com/Amazon.com)