Hi Sierra,

RE: Do dreads get thicker or thinner?

They do get thinner as they tighten more and more, but there is another thing that must be stressed at this point...

Added thickness over time all depends on how you deal with those loose hairs at your roots that break away from your scalp...You see, every person loses (naturally) between 70 and 100 hairs naturally every single day...they are shed from the scalp (Don't get sucked-in by shampoo companies etc blaming such an occurrence on hair damage...it's not true - it's a completely natural process)...

Now, when these hairs shed, the lower section of the hair is already dreaded into your dreads...as so long as you keep threading those loosies into dreads, or making them dread with whatever else grows outta your scalp, your dreads will get thicker - those loose hairs will not remain 'static'...they will slowly work their way down into the bulk of your dread, making them THICKER...(It's for this reason, when you cut dreads, or brush them out, you have an abundance of what seem to be broken hairs...they are, in fact, naturally shed hairs that have worked into your dreads...) Don;t worry, these hairs are not going to create a HUGE bulk to your dreads, but they will look healthily plump...my dreads are thicker than their respective roots for this reason...

Beksta :)

Mine are quite fat. Not the way I wanted them, but my daughter was getting really tired at the end. Actually one side is skinny than the other. But it seems like near the root is a little smaller. They really haven't grown too much since she did them last July.She did what I guess would be a pull and tangle on the very first one she did and she back-combed everything else.
Her hair she has been letting naturally dread since this summer. And she has lots of little dreads. They look pretty good. Once they started going she was using tightening gel from Knotty Boy. She wants to, however, go somewhere to have the rest of the back dreaded. It seems if you have short hair and letting it naturally dread, you don't get so much shrinkage. She is going to do the front a little later in time because it is still shorter than she likes. BTW I did not use any wax. Just back combing and palm rolling. And of course the counter clockwise rotation at the roots to help them along.

Thanks for the advice. I'm toughing it out.... but the only thing annoying about it all is that I shed like crazy. Anyone experience that? Hair is coming out man. It's everywhere. On my pillow, my jacket, my baby... lol.

I feel like a canine.

howl..........!