Random stuff I've learned doing my own hair!

• NEVER use a curling iron.  Apparently you can burn you hair, and it will not retain it's natural curl that makes it coil, and I imagine it would stink!  lol.
• When you interlock your hair there are several rotations.  Lets pretend spot 1 is the ceiling, 2 is the left 3 is the floor, and 4 is the right, there are several patterns you can use:  4,3,2,1 rotation, 1,2,3,4 rotation, 2,1,2,4 rotation.... those are the only ones I know of.  Originally I used a 4, 1, 2, 3 rotation.  I switched to a 2,1,2,4 because I thought my hair would stop slipping out of the lock and it slipped more!  It also was so tight it looked knotted, so I'm back to 4,1,2,3 because it looks more ropish.  I guess every one's hair is different so you just have to see which rotation works for you.  There are several ways you can do these rotations.  You can use a latch hook that you can buy from an arts and crafts store for a few bucks.  With the latch hook you have to take the latch stick it in the new growth through the dred.  Put the dred lock into the latch, close the "latch door" over the dred so it is hooked in it and pull it out back the way you came.  I like to go  for  spot 4(floor) I like to go in from the bottom of the nape of the neck and stick it through to the ceiling grab the dred and pull it back through towards the floor (hence the name floor) it's really complicated to explain but if you go on youtube and look it up you will find video directions that will explain it better.
• ALWAYS ALWAYS end the dred at the same spot.  If you forget and during the next retightening start at a weird spot your dred will look messed up, it will not have a ropelike dred, it will be more lumpy.  The rotation of the lock should go 4,3,2,1,4,3,2,1,4,3,2,1 consistently, if you stop and start at all kinds of places the dred rotation may look like this 4,3,2,3,2,1,4,4,3,2,1 so you can imagine why it will be lumpy.  But hey a lumpy dred isn't the end of the world.
• OH I also use a second tool for my edges and really really small dreds.  I simply take a hair pin, the thin ones, not a bobby pin, it's much thicher and harder to manipulate.  i take a hair pin, open it a bit round the beginning then twist the ends together, so it looks like a large needle.  I never bought a nappylocks tool, but in the end it kind of looks like that, and I also find that hair pins are easier to replace.  you can retwist your dreds any time anywhere with that tool! and it's cheap.
• Curling your hair OH what a journey.  I curl mine dry.  If I wet it, it does NOT dry.  EVER.  I do have a lot of hair though.  I roll it dry with perming rods.  Sometimes I use foam curlers to get a tighter curl, I also realized the other day that the old timers method of taking strips of cloth or strips of an old paper bag work as well.  However the curl is a little more wild and unpredictable.  But it does the job, EXTREMELY cheap.
• Shirley temple curls!!!! YAAA I figured it out from youtube, thanks youtube!  Pipe cleaners.  Yea Pipe cleaners here's a pic.  I bought them in dark brown the color of my hair, but they have them in black as well.  Take those and wrap your hair around them in a tight spiral kind of way.  You can take the ends and bend them or whatever.  If you have really long locks you can leave them in and let your hair look shorter, for us with short hair, I'd take them out before work.  With these you'll get that tight shirley temple look everyone raves about and pays so much for!
• Apparently you have to go to professional for a dying job because there is a possibility the dye can get stuck INSIDE the lock!  I didn't know that.  I would still did it myself though, but let me tell you, it was NO fun!  Color EVERYWHERE, and not to mention apparently different grades of hair dye at different rates!  YEA!  So while my hair turned dark brown, my softer edges turned BLOND!  YES marilyn monroe BLOND!  Luckily my mom had some black hair dye around that I used to turn my edges back to normal, but it was no fun, and because of that, I don't reccomend DIY for bleaching.....
• Some people don't put little combs with the jewels on the end in their hair, because they state it will rip the hair apart and weaken the dred.  I used them all the time, but as my locks have matured the hair pin wont really go through the dred, so I stopped using them anyways.
• When washing, there is no need for vigorous scrubbing of the actual dred.  I've learned that you're supposed to squeeze with the purpose of trying to get the soap through the whole lock and get the nasty stuff out of the middle.  You're really only supposed to scrub your scalp.  I didn't know, and entire locks were coming out all the time.  SMH.
• When curling your hair sometimes you don't want curls all the way to the forehead sometimes you only want curls at the ends, the best way to do that is to put a headband on and scoot it back on the head a little bit a curl it up to the headband.  That way the lock doesn't curl all the way to the head, only to the head band.  That's better for people who don't like curls all the way to the top.

Ok if I think of anything else, I'll post it.  ok later.