Any idea if dreading your hair shortens it a little? I'm trying to estimate if my hair will be any shorter after I dread my hair. My hair is almost 6 inches long, and if dreading it is going to bring it to say 4 inches then it might look kinda weird. 

Yes, it do shortens it a bit, not sure how much thou. I only dreaded a string of my hair and I think it shrinked from 30cm to 25cm. 

Yep.  You're matting the hair up, and therefore it will be shorter.  Similar to the way that putting tight curls in straight hair will shorten the length of the whole do, but even more so.  Make sense?

 I've had dreadlocks for almost 2 months now, and yes, it will shorten your hair. My hair was to my waist before, and now it's about arm pit length. What method are you using, back combing? What ever you do, do NOT use wax! There are a lot of companies, such as Knottyboy and DreadheadHQ that push the use of wax, but all this does is glue your hair together and keeps it from forming knots, so it hinders the process in the long run. Plus its just nasty and greasy. Basically, wax is to dreadlocks as stretching too fast or skipping sizes is to your ears. It might show results at first but in the long run it is very bad and a hard process to reverse. If you need it to tame frizz, try pure aloe vera gel instead. Also, make sure you're in it for the long haul since they can take up to a year to mature and will look like shit for a while. It's best just to leave your hair alone, washing every so often with a natural, residue free soap. I use Dr. Bonner's and it works great. You can get that at any health food store or online.

http://com3.runboard.com/bknottydreadlockforum  that is a great source for any dreadlocking information you might need. If you have any more questions feel free to ask  

Here's a before an after pic of mine:

i wouldnt compare using wax on dreads to streching too fast... i mean, if youre backcombing to start with thats considered 'cheating' by purists. i had dreadlocks something like 6 years ago and i used knottyboy wax and never had a problem with it, as did a few of my friends. just dont use too much of it or it flakes out and looks like killer dandruff. personal choice though, i suppose.

 your dreadies look good, btw, kwaniesiam. you roll them?

 Yes indeed it does.

 :::thinking about how big a fro she would have if she picked out her locs::::::

I had dreads for a year (2003 i think). Before I started my hair was down to my bra-strap, and by the end of the year they had shrunk up so much that most of them were about shoulder length.

I used knottyboy dreadwax a little bit to keep them tidy, and washed them using a bar of knottyboy dread soap about once a week/fortnight (the less you wash your hair, the less it needs to be washed).

The hardest thing about dreads is that you do have to go through a process of them looking shitty before they look good. I think they're awesome and if I was allowed to have them at work I would have them- but my choice is dream job or dream hairdo, I'm taking dream job =)

beans:

The hardest thing about dreads is that you do have to go through a process of them looking shitty before they look good. I think they're awesome and if I was allowed to have them at work I would have them- but my choice is dream job or dream hairdo, I'm taking dream job =)

 I'd be curious to know what your work is and where you live.  I am now on my second head of locs and have pretty much had them since 1988 and have no problems getting work.. I am a mid-management professional in Washington, DC.  Neither my locs, tats or multiple piercings have been an issue.

Adwoa:

 I'd be curious to know what your work is and where you live.  I am now on my second head of locs and have pretty much had them since 1988 and have no problems getting work.. I am a mid-management professional in Washington, DC.  Neither my locs, tats or multiple piercings have been an issue.

Funnily enough, I am a body piercer (in Australia). You'd think of all jobs, this one would let me look how I wanted! It's just that the owners of this shop have always believed dreadlocks to be dirty, or appear dirty. They won't even let you have fake dread extensions because they think that people will still think of them as dirty, and that they shouldn't be in the piercing environment.

People with experience with dreadlocks know this to be untrue for people who actually take care of their dreadlocks, but my boss cannot be swayed.

beans:

Funnily enough, I am a body piercer (in Australia). You'd think of all jobs, this one would let me look how I wanted! It's just that the owners of this shop have always believed dreadlocks to be dirty, or appear dirty. They won't even let you have fake dread extensions because they think that people will still think of them as dirty, and that they shouldn't be in the piercing environment.

People with experience with dreadlocks know this to be untrue for people who actually take care of their dreadlocks, but my boss cannot be swayed.

 And wow!  That's crazy... maybe with time your boss will come around.  When I started my first head in 1988 folks said all kinds of things about my hair...includig that they looked dirty.  Never were... Funny tho I am sitting here KNOWING that I REALLY do need to wash my hair tomorrow.

Yike, sorry I forgot about this thread and have been really busy. No, I don't roll them. I just pretty much leave them alone and wash every so often, that's it. They're at about 3 months now. I'm contemplating starting over though, I have about 3 inches of roots and then the rest red, so at this point it looks like a matted brown mess with red locs growing out of it. Happy with them, just not the color. Very true about them looking like shit before they look good, it's a long process and you really learn to just not care about other's opinions during it. It's been very freeing for me, in a way. Before I'd spend entirely too much time and effort on my hair for no real reason.