QuoteReplyTopic: Best way to get out the dreads and matts? Posted: July 21 2005 at 9:16am
Hi I actually did this while I was on a trip for work (I am a pilot) and didn't bring my camera. I will take some pics and post them when I get home. It was my first attempt, and I have never cut hair, so we (myself and the flight attendant) pre-layered the red. Then we did a row of black at the bottom, a row of red above that, and more black above that still... Then we took down the sections and filled in the holes so that the hair would have a v taper down the back. I bought a feather razor and we trimmed it a little. How do the other DIY people cut their own hair, especially in the back? I have seen some pretty nice DIY pics.
Congratulations on getting them out, and don't feel bad about leaving
them in for so long--there are so many claims that you can leave these
things in for 8 months or a year, it's ridiculous.
I'm suprised, frankly, that they came out with a flatiron, but perhaps
that was enough to melt the waxy tip inside so it slid right out.
Interesting technique.
I LOVe that feeling too, but it was short lived -- I put in black and red HH today using shrinkies. Rae, I can't get your site to come up. Any help with that?
Dontcha just love that naked-scalp feeling? Not so much the naked-hair
feeling (I hate my hair without extensions), but being able to run a
brush right over your scalp again is kinda nice.
THEY ARE OUT!!! Every last one of them! I took them out using the flatiron, and that was easy. Then washed my hair three times and scrubbed a lot. Dried it, and then worked the dreads out from the top.
Thanks Rae! Your method is exactly what I was doing -- pulling
the hairs still attached to my head out of the dread to work the dreads
out.
Sorry for the confusion about this, but again, I have metal Eurolocs on
my hair, and they do come out easily with the flat iron. I heat
them for a few seconds and they slide out. Also if I blow dry my
roots with too much heat they also slip out.
Flygirl- the thing that's confusing most people is that what you were
doing with a flat-iron sounds like the way one would remove shrink
links (little shrinkable plastic tubes), but you say your stylist does
Eurolocs- which, last I knew, are small metal tubes that are crimped
flat with pliers. Which one sounds most like what you've got in? 'Cause
maybe Eurolocs came out with a shrinklink method or something, or maybe
your stylist is actually doing a shrinklink method instead of eurolocs,
ro something.
As for the matts- I find it's far easier to work from the top. Like you
said, most of the matted hairs are ones that are shead already, so
rather than trying to pull -them- out of the tangle, I grab from the
top and pull the hairs that are still attached to my head out of the
dread, pulling up (towards the scalp). After doing this a few times,
you can slide the baby-dread off of your own hair, and you're done. I
had natural dreads for three years, and took them out recently this
way, and maintained most of my hair with very little breakage.
Bridget, I don't have any pics of the matts. I tried taking some with my phone and they didn't show enough detail to be any good. I have some of me, which show my hair, but they weren't taken specifically for the hair, so again they aren't really detailed.
Mer, thanks so much for posting -- I am going to try what you learned. This is a lot of good advice. I think I'll be attempting to do this next week -- taking out the eurolocs and then reusing the same hair with shrinkies. The hair itself is in good shape. I tried to call the number on the takedown website, but it was disconnected. I also called several beauty supply stores in my area and they didn't carry it. SO, I will try the bond remover shampoo and let everyone know how it goes.
mamabunny
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You might want to try bond remover shampoo- it safely eats through latex residue.They sell it in most black bss.I used this brand called Hair Ecstasy (very elegant title, non?).I had horrible latex matted dreads in my hair-I just left the goo on for a few hours, washed it twice and it was all gone.Now in emergencies I sometimes use latex 'coz I know I can always get most of the crap out with these products.Good luck!
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flygirl, that really sucks! Do you have any pics you can load? I just removed my extentubes and went thru the same thing w/the little knots and matting. I sprayed conditioner everywhere and sat there for like 45 min. working them all out. (I'll post pics in a little bit)
i say it again, i love goldwell kerasilk conditioner, you can buy it online or at a salon. it is my fave so far. i have really really really matty natural hair. my own hair mats up naturally. it HURTS to brush MY OWN hair every day, so extensions are NO big deal.
one thing for prevention that has helped me. learning to brush my hair better. in the morning and at night when i brush my hair, i use my fingers to brush in between my extensions near my scalp at the end of every hair brushing. you see my first like two times with extensions i was getting matting near the scalp and i had NO IDEA why this was happening bc i was brushing!!! but jenna at www.dareyourhair.com got a hold of me two weeks into my extensions i think (maybe a month) once to just change out a few stereaky colors and so she saw all the mats and taught me that new way to brush and showed me to
HOW TO BRUSH YOUR strand by strand EXTENSIONS
use shine spray as needed (dome care, leave in conditioner, flasher, etc)
1. hold your extensions at the root. take a small section, start at the bottom of the section brushing an inch or so and work your way up brushing more and more until you reach the top.
2. continue until you complete your head.
3. use your looper brush and do your head again.
4. Use your fingers and do your inner roots to make sure there is no matting or dreading between your real hair and the extension method underneath. (this part is SO important to do EVERY DAY. I learned if I do this every day, I have NO PROBLEMS and I am SO PROUD!!!! YAY!)
You shouldnt ask for peoples advise and then rip them a new one because you didnt explain your self well.. In your first post you sounded like you left that sh*t in for over 6 months. And it sounds like youve got your first second and third of alls so i guess you dont need anyones advise.. You shouldnt have dreads... Put some good conditioner in your head and start combing. start from the bottom and work your way up.. SUCKS TO BE YOU.. i hate taken that sh*t out...
geesh- that is such harsh a response-
i am so sorry you are having such problems. lets see if i can help
take some time to work conditioner onto each matt and dread, rub it in real good onto each one. get a small comb and start working from the bottom up and you can even try a rat tail comb, the end and try to insert it into the dread and GENTLY move it away- i wish you were closer to me, i would certainly help you.
just remember to go slowly and dont get frustrated and rip out your hair. Your stylist should of been keeping up with you on your hair, and unfortunetly she has her own issues at hand to deal with, however, they will come out. Be patient.
good luck
Edited by TanglesRC
Bringing beauty, one head at a time...
delin
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I'm with you mocha...I don't get the flat iron thing. When I've worn shrinkies and links simultanteously and mistook a link for a shrink in the back when I was doing a take-down...it wasn't pretty. So I can say yes, I've tried it...and no, I wouldn't recommend it.
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I wonder it it has to do with the glue holding the tips together
loosening up. then the tips can come out. once the tips are
out then there is wiggle room to get the natural hair out....
I've not used double crimped rings/locs. With the single crimps
I've only used pliers though I will likely buy the opener tool if I do
a whole head that way again. But it's always been fast and easy
to take down. faster than shrinkies in my experience.
Though I like the hold of shrinkies better.
Mochachip, I promise they come out easily with a flatiron. Have
you tried it? I know I have to be careful when drying my hair because
if the locs get to hot they slip out. My stylist told me from the
beginning that I could take them out that way. And I assume she
got that info from Eurolocs because that's where she did her
training. I do use a looper brush, but of course now they won't
brush because they are dreads. But I've been dealing with this a
while -- this will be the fifth time I have taken them out and dematted
so to speak, and they do work out fairly easy -- within a day or two
with a few shampoos and being really careful working them with my
fingers. I am going to buy the Takedown as well and I am sure
that will help as well. I will let you know how it goes.
mochachip
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I gots too say I'm still baffled by the flat iron being turned
on. Copper doesn't even get remotely softer at the temperatures a
flat iron can reach. BUt hey now you know.
YOu can move the locs up the same section of hair ifyou had big
sections of hair to begin with and you open, then comb fromt he bottom
to get out shed hair, then move up, then reclose. But if you
didn't have big sections to begin with, then you won't have enough hair
to support the extension when you do things this way.
another thing that helps with matts is combing through to your roots
with an appropriate device (typically, but not exclusively, a looper
brush). things are still stuck but then they are at least brushed
and stuck instead of matted and stuck into your attachment(whatever
method it may be)
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Kris408 wrote:
