Sectioning Hair/Hair Length for Dreads

[balanz]

Hello all, I have a general question and would appreciate any and all thoughts!

When you get ready to do a set of dreads, do you section out all the hair before, or do you section as you go? Also, when doing effects such as candycanes/stripes/etc do you have a method for trying to keep uniform length? I notice if I do the same length of hair for my candy canes as I do regular dreads they will turn out significantly shorter. Also, hair for transitionals, do you have a system or do you eyeball length or have a plan beforehand?

Finally, I watched a tutorial about shuffling hair (where you act as if you are blending the hair but instead are doing so to offset the ends for taper). How many of you actually do this to get the taper vs. those who make the taper happen with backcombing?

[IKickShins]

I usually section while I go. I used to have a friend section off the back for me all at once but now I just wing it for the whole thing.

When I do transtionals I start with the top color being the same length I'd normally use for a solid dread, but slightly less hair. Then I backcomb it up to the top more so it ends up being the same thickness as normal, but the taper is really sharp, blunt, and wispy. The wispy part is where I add the second color. I usually just eyeball the length for the second color and round up so if it ends up being too long I can just trim it (better than being too short!)

I don't bother shuffling the hair when I work with kk jumbo braid, but I do it with kk silky. I find it's easier to work with when it's been messed up a bit.

[VixenSingsBlack]

I section out my hair bag by bag. When I open a fresh bag of hair, I split it into the amount of sections I need (usually 4 or 6). I hang the hair up around my craft room until I'm ready to dread it. As far as candy canes go, I've never noticed them coming out shorter than a solid colored dread, so I can't be of much help there. Sorry!

[Psychotika]

I section my hair when it comes out of the package. When I do it while I'm dreading, it's messing up so hard, I can throw the hair away.

[AwesomeZombi3]

I Section as I go along, I find it easier, and less messy. When I first started, I sectioned the whole bag, and created a lot of unnecessary mess for myself (I Have a small workspace)

I Think sectioning as you go is a thing that, as you get used to it, you just "know" how much of what type of fibre you're working with to use.

I Also agree with Ikickshins, Shuffling silky makes it easier to work with, but I don't shuffle Jumbo.