How To Make Dreads Grow Thicker? 5 Tips To Make Dreadlocks Thicker
Although you’ve been taking care of your locs with common maintenance methods such as retwisting, hot oil treatment or conditioning, one day you found out that your locs are getting thinner and thinner.
And even worse, some of them are falling out.
Don’t panic. This article will clarify the reasons behind these bad results, provide you with tips to fixing thin dreadlocks and make your locs thicker.
Why Are My Dreads So Thin?
There are several factors directly or indirectly affect the thickness of your locks. We’ve listed the common ones below to give you a big picture:
Your new dreads shrink
You won’t notice this but your dreads do shrink after being first tangled! When the shrinking process is finished, your locs will start getting thicker and stronger.
Too little nutrition
Once your dreads are not being hydrated and moisture enough, they will be dry and frizz, which causes thinning locs and breakage.
Using too much hair care products is also not good. If you use these products over time without removing buildup, they will gather the locs together and inside out, which is also a reason for thinning locs.
Over retwisting
Retwisting your dreads too often might also contribute to thin locs since they are not given enough time for growing and being firmed.
Also, the retwisting process might cause tension to your scalp and likely lead to hair loss issues.
Check out: How often should you rewist your dreadlocks?
Heaviness:
The older your locs get, the thicker and heavier they will be. The roots might not be strong enough to support high weight locs, so they are getting thinner and even break and fall out.
Genetic
Having a trail of thin and fine texture is also a reason for having thin locs.
How Do You Fix Thin Dreads?
To fix the thin loc spots, there are 3 common methods:
Knot Method
Works best for the thinning spot near the ends of the hair. You can make a knot from your dread, then tighten it around the thinning spot. Palm rolling the knot to smooth it out.
Sewing Method
This way is recommended for fixing the thinning spot at the dreads’ roots.
Gather the thin loc with a strong loc next to it, then use the needle and threads to sew them up from the ends up to the root, in the forward motion.
After that, you knot the thread and palm roll the new threaded locs.
Afro Hair Method
Using this method when your thinning section is in the middle of the locs. Using afro hair to strand around the thinning section and palm roll when done.
See also:
3 Tips to Make Your Dreads Thicker
Keep in mind these helpful suggestions in order to have thick and healthy dreadlocks:
Avoid creating too much stress to your scalp
Plan a reasonable retwisting schedule so that you don’t over do it. The recommended schedule is from four to six weeks.
Also, give your scalp a good massage to stimulate hair follicles and promote hair growth.
Hydrate and moisturize your locs
You might consider adding rosewater to your hair care daily routine. Also, once in a while, a hot oil treatment with your favorite essential oils is also a good option for moisturizing your hair.
Hydrated and moist locs will have less chance for getting thin and weak.
Wear satin cap while sleeping
To protect your dreads from breakage, friction and dryness (which causes thinning spots), you should wear a satin cap during your sleep.
How to Make Dreads Thicker at the Root?
To have strong dread roots, you should lighter your dreadlocks after a considerable amount of time.
You can cut the locs off or separate them into 2 thinner locs in order not putting too much tension on your scalp, which leads to thinner root spots.
How to Make Dreads Thicker without Combining Them?
Deciding how thick your mature locs will be is a good idea since you know what to expect when your locs get old and have a plan to retwist or separate the thick locs into desired size.
Conclusion
As terrible as having hair loss when you have natural loose hair, having thin and breakage locs is also a nightmare to dreadlocks people.
You should remember to keep a rich and healthy diet, have a reasonable retwisting schedule and refresh and detox your locs frequently. Strong, shine, and beautiful dreads are on their way!
See also: Your Guide On How To Make Locs Extensions
Aida
Founder & Hair Beauty Specialist
I’m Aida and this is my blog where I write mostly about beauty and make up related stuff, but I like to spice it up a bit with lifestyle and photography posts. Or with whatever that comes to my mind. Hope you will enjoy the reading enough that we will ‘see’ each other more often!