Dreads, whether thick or thin, are beautiful when properly maintained. Dreads for most American men and women hold immense significance; obviously, the reason why many styles themselves in it. However, growing a healthy dread requires your commitment, tender/loving care (TLC), and consistency.
Dreads either get thicker or thinner over time, depending on the maturity stage. The length and thickness of dread will change during the first years because the hair is getting matted. The point is that
A healthy dread will only get thicker than when you started it because they are getting matured. In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about the thickness/thinness of your dread, the causes, and how you can grow thick rather than thin dread.
Causes of Thinning Dreads
1. Heavy products
One of the causes of having thinning dreads is heavy products. Heavy products don’t work well with dreads because they will build up and require shampoo and surfactants for their removal.
When products with ingredients like butter, waxes, or creams are applied to dreads, if not maintained properly, they will accumulate the dreads from inside and cause thinning and breakage.
2. Hair Color
Dreads that change your hair color can also cause weakness and thinning if not handled by a professional hairstylist. In most cases, remnants of bleach are left inside the dreads, resulting in breakage and thinning dreads caused by deterioration from the inside.
3. Tension
Traction alopecia, also known as tension, affects dreads and causes hair thinning. If you consistently use hair accessories that are tight, making the same dread style, you can damage your hair follicles and finally lead to dread thinning. Dread thinning can also be formed when we make frequent extensions at the root.
4. Medication
One of the things that cause dread thinning is medication. The side effects of a drug prescription or treatment can lead to thinning and hair loss. It can be so dangerous that if you don’t remove the medication from your system, you risk more hair abnormalities. The only option would be to seek a professional hairstylist for professional control.
However, before taking any medication, it is best to inform your hairstyle professional to ensure that you take the right steps that won’t lead to hair loss or thinning.
5. Genetics
Your gene is another factor that can cause dread thinning and hair loss. The density of your hair is always determined by your genetics. So if any of your family are susceptible to hair loss or hair thinning traits, you will likely experience the same. If baldness is common in your family, having hair loss is inevitable. The good news is that you can prevent it from happening even though you can’t do anything about your genes.
Science suggests that your hair density is determined by your gene; an average person has at least 2,200 hairs per square inch. This means only those inches above the average will have a thicker dread. At the same time, the person that is below average will have a thinning dread. The fact behind the thinning dread is that every human being loses an average of 50 to 100 hairs in a day. Some of these losses contribute to dread thinness.
6. Stress
Stress is another cause of dread thinning, but most people don’t notice it. This can be either emotional or physical stress, both eventually affect your dread. When stressed, a certain part of your hair is more fragile than others.
It would be best if you tried all your best to avoid a stressful life as that is the only solution to avoid thinning dreads in this case. To avoid stress you can try long walks, yoga, or soothing tea for relief.
7. Waiting Too Long Between Maintenance
Waiting too long before you wash and take care of your dread is another cause of thinning dread. This is because not all types of dreads can withstand a long time between maintenance.
Especially dreads such as Sisterlocks, Microlocs, and fine hair, you need to ensure that you don’t prolong the maintenance time because it will lead to thinning dread or hair loss.
8. Picking out lint
Even though there are many ways to remove lint from your dead, if you choose to remove the lint with your hand or scissors, it can lead to weak spots and result in dread thinning and breakage.
9. Poor Nutrition
Poor diet and lack of adequate water intake can contribute to dread thinning. Taking the right proportion of food like omega fatty acid, leafy green, and at least half of your body weight water is necessary to have a thick and healthy dread.
10. Hair texture
Your hair texture plays a great role in determining how your dread thickness is going to last. This is why it is important that you keep in mind the time for your scalp sectioning. However, if you have straight hair, it will be difficult for your dread to grow thin, and this is because significant tension at your scalp can make your hair fall.
If you are also a woman with coarse hair, you may not also have a problem with dread thinning. Instead of dread thinning, you will always experience hair thickness. But having extra thickness can also be a disadvantage. You may have heard the saying that “too much of everything is bad.” The fact is that it is also applicable in this situation. This means too much extra dread thickness can cause tension on the scalp, but if this happens, you will have to style your hair up to relieve yourself from the tension.
11. The size of your section
Whether you want your hair to dread naturally or you want a professional stylist to do it for you, it will be best if you ensure your hair is evenly styled. This is because if your hair is uneven, your dread will also be uneven. And if you want your dread to have the same thickness as your natural hair, you will have to visit a loctician to separate your hair at the scalp.
Tips on How to Grow Thick Dreads
1. Forget everything you think you know
The first tip on growing your dreads to be thick is first to forget all you think you know about dread. This is necessary because some people believe they have to maintain their dread every two weeks, while others believe it is best to do it every month.
But the point is that the types of dread and your loctician recommendation will determine when to maintain your dread. You need to ignore any popular misconception because all those are just individual notions that are commonly used on traditional dread only.
2. Dispose all unnatural products
The best way to have thick dread is to use natural products. But the pain is that most dread products in the market today are horrible for dread. For your dread thickness, you can use natural products like flaxseed gel or vera gel.
Using this is beneficial because without that you are causing unnecessary build-up in your dread, and the build-up will affect your dread from forming. And can also lead to dread thinning or weakness.
3. Leave your hair alone
To have a thick dread, you must leave your hair alone. This is essential because it is healthy for your scalp and hair so that it doesn’t lead to tension through style manipulation.
Leaving your hair alone will make your dread thicken and flourish because they are not made into interlocked and retwisted bundles. The best time to do a retwist or interlocked bundle is between 4-6 weeks. So, ensure that there is no earlier time frame different from this
4. Change your diet
The food you eat will definitely affect your nails, skin, hair, and all the parts of your body that receive nutrients. So it is important that you are healthy by changing your diet because this is what will lead to continuous hair growth and hair thickness.
In this case, also ensure you take in the right level of water per day and also eat a lot of vegetables to make your dread healthy and thick.
5. Stimulate your scalp and feed your hair
The key to having a thick dread is to ensure your hair is always hydrated with moisture and sealed with oil. It would be best if you also kept your scalp clean by always brushing your dreads.
Cleaning and moisturizing are essential to prevent your dread from getting thinning and breaking. In this case, you also need to ensure that you don’t go to bed with a scarf. And if you can’t do without a scarf, get a stain scarf that will prevent lint accumulation and tension.
Conclusion
If your goal is to have a thick or thin dread that will last for a long time, it is important that you follow all the instructions in this guide or always visit a dermatologist or loctician.
And if you are already noticing a dread thinning, quickly visit a professional loctician or stylist. Seeing a professional is important because they will be the right person who will understand your plight and give you the right guide.
