First set of woollies + install
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 4:55 pm
Hi everyone! I'm a newbie here, and although I've been lurking on here for a while (since october), this is my first post. I made a set of wool roving DEs using Saspie-doo's tutorial on here. I got my merino wool from Sara's Texture Crafts. I did mostly some solid coloured dreads and a few harlequins, but they weren't exactly successful and had some slight cracks around where I "looped" them together.
Here is a picture of some of the harlequins:
Now to the installing part. That was actually a complete nightmare. As my hair is fairly long (just touching my bra-strap in the back), there was quite a lot to plait, and I decided to go for blanket stitch braids using a youtube tutorial by doctored locks. The problem is I couldn't do them without seeing them, so my boyfriend had to do all of the back of my head. We decided to do the install over a few days so that my scalp wouldn't be shocked by the sudden weight. I have a fairly sensitive scalp - which is also why I only made 45 DEs as I was a bit worried by the weight. I would say that it took on average between 10 to 30 minutes by DE, I know that sounds like a lot but I often had to redo one about 4 times before being happy with it.
Here are the pictures of the install. From the back:
From the side:
In action:
Be honest and feel free to tell me what I did wrong, this is my first homemade set and install after all. Obviously the fact that I have dip dyed turquoise ends made the install fairly obviously, but it matched the turquoise accents, so hopefully it didn't look too awful.
Aside from a critique, I would really really appreciate some advice. Basically, I ended up having to remove the whole set after only having had it in for a day or 2 (although I had started installing 5-6 days before that so technically I had the dreads in for about a week, but only put the final 6 a couple of days before I broke down and decided to remove it all. My scalp was burning and scabby and even after putting tea tree oil diluted in water, I was just too in pain.
I'm not sure whether it had to do with the fact I was travelling in London as I have very sensitive skin that tends to get itchy when exposed to pollution/city grime, but I am now worried I will never be able to wear dreads. I was really excited and I was already thinking of making a set of natural synthetics (or buying one if it proves to hard to make one), but now I am afraid that dread extensions won't work for me.
The other big thing, aside from the scalp pain, is the difficulty of installing. My boyfriend will not help next time I'm afraid as he spent about 10 hours last time doing it, and I really find blanket stitch braids really hard to do, but with my length of hair, is there really any other option?
I apologise for the overly long message, and I thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experience with me. Without the information on this forum, I wouldn't even have been able to make a whole set nor install it.
Here is a picture of some of the harlequins:
Now to the installing part. That was actually a complete nightmare. As my hair is fairly long (just touching my bra-strap in the back), there was quite a lot to plait, and I decided to go for blanket stitch braids using a youtube tutorial by doctored locks. The problem is I couldn't do them without seeing them, so my boyfriend had to do all of the back of my head. We decided to do the install over a few days so that my scalp wouldn't be shocked by the sudden weight. I have a fairly sensitive scalp - which is also why I only made 45 DEs as I was a bit worried by the weight. I would say that it took on average between 10 to 30 minutes by DE, I know that sounds like a lot but I often had to redo one about 4 times before being happy with it.
Here are the pictures of the install. From the back:
From the side:
In action:
Be honest and feel free to tell me what I did wrong, this is my first homemade set and install after all. Obviously the fact that I have dip dyed turquoise ends made the install fairly obviously, but it matched the turquoise accents, so hopefully it didn't look too awful.
Aside from a critique, I would really really appreciate some advice. Basically, I ended up having to remove the whole set after only having had it in for a day or 2 (although I had started installing 5-6 days before that so technically I had the dreads in for about a week, but only put the final 6 a couple of days before I broke down and decided to remove it all. My scalp was burning and scabby and even after putting tea tree oil diluted in water, I was just too in pain.
I'm not sure whether it had to do with the fact I was travelling in London as I have very sensitive skin that tends to get itchy when exposed to pollution/city grime, but I am now worried I will never be able to wear dreads. I was really excited and I was already thinking of making a set of natural synthetics (or buying one if it proves to hard to make one), but now I am afraid that dread extensions won't work for me.
The other big thing, aside from the scalp pain, is the difficulty of installing. My boyfriend will not help next time I'm afraid as he spent about 10 hours last time doing it, and I really find blanket stitch braids really hard to do, but with my length of hair, is there really any other option?
I apologise for the overly long message, and I thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experience with me. Without the information on this forum, I wouldn't even have been able to make a whole set nor install it.