Real Dreadlocks and neck and / or back pain:
People with real dreadlocks may experience back pain due to factors such as the weight of the locks. When you have loose, brushable hair, you lose about 80-100 hairs everyday in the normal cycle of hair growth. But when you have dreadlocks, all these hairs stay trapped in your dreadlocks, adding to the weight of your locks.
Over time, dreadlocks will also grow longer and can become heavy, especially when wet, potentially causing strain on the neck and back muscles. This is also possible when you have very thick hair and a lot of dreads.
Though this is a slow process and the weight will add gradually, there can come a point where it becomes uncomfortable.
While wet dreads are a temporary heaviness, it is still something to consider, especially when you already have neck or back issues to not further strain your muscles.
We recommend using our Microfiber towel or the Hair dryer bonnet to speed up the drying process significantly!
If the advantages of these handy products still don’t weigh up to the discomfort you’re experiencing, keep reading!
What can I do about this?
If you get to the point where the weight gets too heavy and uncomfortable you may want to simply cut some length off, to keep your neck and / or back happy. If you want to read more about cutting real dreads shorter, you can in this blog.
Or if you really want to keep the length of the dreads, you could also opt to brush out some dreads on top, and go for a partial look! In another blog we have tips on how to do that!
Temporary Dreadlock Extensions and neck and / or back pain:
When you’re wearing Synthetic dreadlock extensions, there will be the added weight of the extensions, especially if they are long or voluminous, this could potentially contribute to discomfort in the neck and back muscles. That being said, our synthetic Renate’s Locks of Love are lightweight dreads, when wearing a full head of Locks of Love, the weight of the dreads will be between 13 OZ / 374 grams - 24.5 OZ / 690 grams, depending on the type and length. So the chance of experiencing neck or back pain is quite small.
Our Synthetic Locks of Love are handmade and lightweight dreadlocks, but there are a lot of different types of Temporary dreadlocks out there, that may be (a lot) heavier. This can be due to different aspects such as: different techniques to create the dreads; more synthetic hair being used to create them, different quantities / volumes of dreads recommended for a full head.
Things to keep in mind
Something that is also good to take into consideration is if you already have a sensitive scalp or neck / back issues. We have some tips to keep the weight down:
- use less dreads: start with partial dreads for example
- choose shorter dreads
- use less Double ended dreads and more Single ended dreads to keep the weight down
- don’t make the sections too small, the smaller you make the sections, the more dreads will be on your head, the more weight you will carry. Not to mention that your hair could break off if you have too much weight attached to too small sections. In this blog we explain how to make the right sectioning.\
Here you can read more about the average amounts of dreads that we recommend for a full head with Locks of Love.
Should I let these factors keep me from wearing dreadlocks?
By choosing the right type of synthetic dreadlocks for you and taking the appropriate measures when your Real dreadlocks are getting heavy and uncomfortable, we would definitely say go and get those dreadlocks you have always wanted!
