How is dreadlock hair made?

With strands of matted hair, which are wound several times until they are full of knots. This is the «modern» way of doing it. dreadlock. Back in the day, the look was more natural: as they didn’t wash their long curly hair, some African people had matted dreads naturally. But he became more famous in Jamaica, thanks to rastafarian, an Afro-Caribbean religion that forbids followers to cut or comb their hair. Bob Marley was one of the supporters.

O dreadlock current style is a hairstyle that has nothing to do with lack of hygiene. Today, it is possible to do it on any type of hair, which can be washed normally.

– (Fábio Abreu/)

1) Separate the hair into several sections and comb each section in the opposite direction, towards the head, to unravel and tangle the threads. It is good to use a fine steel comb, which will not break as the hair tangles. So far, the technique has been called backcombing and already yields a nice look, which can be undone with lots of warm water and conditioner.

– (Fábio Abreu/)

two) Once the cobs are made, roll up the locks to make one «pipe” of hair with each one of them. Then, use the comb in the opposite direction of curling to tangle a little more. Repeat these steps a few times until it’s firm.

– (Fábio Abreu/)

3) So that the hair knots do not come loose, stick a crochet needle in the strand and pull the strands. With this technique, called “dread needle”the tuft becomes more cohesive and only comes out by cutting the hair at the root.

SOURCES Klebão, hairdresser at the DreadMaker studio (dreadmaker.com), book The Eternal Summer of Reggaeby Carlos Albuquerque, and article Rethinking History: Visual Dreadlockspublished at the 5th International Symposium of the Center for Caribbean Studies in Brazil