How To Remove Dreadlocks

While at dinner the other night, one of my guy friends was telling me how he removed his dreadlocks. He woke up one day and decided to cut them off because he was tired of the maintenance. Then the idea popped in my head, how do you remove dreadlocks without shaving your head? He didn't want to shave his head, so he removed the locs by cutting each lock one at a time. For those females who are thinking about cutting their locs without shaving, here is some helpful advice on taking out your dreadlocks.

Cutting your dreadlocks: 

What you need: 

Scissors or clippers

1. Begin by using scissors to cut the dreads off one at a time near the root where the hair is less tangled, and then shaving clean with clippers.

(You can also leave 4-6 inches and pick out that amount of hair with a lot of conditioner and a strong metal comb if you are willing to put in a little more work in order to keep some hair.).

2. Finish by washing your scalp and remaining hair thoroughly.

Picking out dreadlocks:

What you need:

strong comb (preferably metal)

high quality de-greasing shampoo

high quality very slippery conditioner

*Look for Knotty Boy removal kit to help remove dreadlocks.*

Duration:

About 15 hours or 2 days. 

Directions:

1. Lay in a bath and soak your dreads completely for at least 10 minutes.

2. Wash dreadlocks thoroughly with shampoo, and with water as hot as you can safely stand it. This will help melt the wax or whatever greasiness has built up over the years. Do this by working small amounts of shampoo into each section of each dreadlock to get the soap into the middle as much as possible.

3. Rinse

4. Work conditioner into each dreadlock and begin to gently pick each dread out carefully with a metal comb, beginning from the bottom and working your way up to the scalp. This will take a long time – but be patient – you will get your hair back.

5. Once you have picked out all of your dreads, condition all of your hair again with a lot of conditioner and allow it to sit in your hair for 5 minutes. This will help repair some of the damage caused by picking.

Source: Dreadlocks.org