DREAD INFO

***UNDER CONSTRUCTION*** 

You want to order dreads, but you don't know where to start. How much you need, what are different dread styles, what's the difference between falls, kits and extensions, how do you attach them and how the hell do they cost so much! Here is some basic info for your help.

Falls? Extensions? DE Kit?

Dread Extensions are semi-permanently braided to your own hair, and look like this. You can wear them max. 3 months at a time, but the DE dreads itself can be used over and over again. Your own hair will not be destroyd - you don't need to cut your own hair to get them off, you just unbraid them.  Your own hair needs to be at least 10 cm to be able to install extensions.

Dreads on a styrofoam mannequinhead are most likely Dread Falls. Falls are like a pair of ponytails, that you temporarily tie around your own buns and create look like mickey mouse's ears on head, covered with dreads. ;) The longer/thicker your own hair is, the bigger the "ears".Your own hair needs to be long enough to create pony tails or preferably buns. Dread falls attached to a huge buns (long, thick hair) look like this (note the mickey mouse effect) and attached to a tiny buns (short, thin hair) looks like this.

Our dread falls are mounted on a elastic, lace-like  ribbon. They are all layered, which means there's two layers of dread in each fall. 

DE Dread Kit is a bunch of loose DE dreads. Like this, for example. If you want to install your dread extensions yourself, or want to attach just some dreads to your hair, order a DE kit.

What is DE?

Our dreads are mostly DE's. DE means double ended dread. One DE has two dreads, that have a undreaded part in the middle. DE's are to be attached from the middle part. As opposite to DE, there are SE's (single ended dread or single looped dread). SE is one dread with a loop on top of it. DE's give better coverage in falls and extensions, although some people prefer single enders around the hairline in extenstions.

Dread styles

There are many different looking dread styles out there. Normal (also called solid), Harlequin, swirl, striped, transitional... confused?

From left to right: Normal (solid) DE, Swirl DE, Harlequin DE, Harlequin swirl DE, Transitional DE and striped DE. (Click to see a full size picture).

Other than these, there's at least curled dreads (pretty obvious what that is? couple of curlies in these extensions), marbled dreads (two colors are blended only roughly, which doesn't so much create an illusion of a new color, but a marbled impression. You may see a marbled (red-burgundy) dread in the middle of this photo. 

How many dreads?

The amount of dreads needed depends on the thickness of dreads. Also the thickness of your own hair plays a role here. 

Dread Extensions - The estimate is 55 DE's. If you have lots and lots or hair on your own, you may need up to 60 DE's if they are thin. Most full head DE kits I've made recently have had 50 DE's, and that has been enough.

Dread Falls - Depends on the look you're after - and the size of your buns also. 

30 DE falls are pretty thin, 34-36 DE is much better, and 40 DE's is pretty full. But, remember the thickness-factor: These falls are full even if they have only 30 thick DE's. Compare: these falls have 30 thin DE's same as these. But these and these have only 22 thick DE's, and these have 40 thickish DE's.

If you have lots of hair that form huge buns, don't try to get along with less than 40 DE falls. Anyhow, trying to form buns as tight and as little as possible is recommended to get a good coverage. More attach advice here.

What's with the price?

So you can get manufactured "dreads" like Elysee Star or Headrazor much cheaper. True.  There's a huge difference between manufactured and handmade dreads. Our dreads are carefully handmade - and it takes lots of time.

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(Parts of the following text are quoted from heavenly hair discussion board).

Size
Manufactured dreads are all about 50-60 cm long and very thin. Handmade dreads tend to be thicker, and you have the choice of how long you want them, and in a lot of cases, how thick you want them.

Quality
Manufactured dreads are by far of lesser quality than (most) handmade dreads. Manufactured dreads will unravel fast, and get very fuzzy very soon. Handmade dreads are a lot more durable in general.

Re-Using
Most handmade dreads can be taken out, washed and put back in. Although this is possible with manufactured dreads, they do not uphold to the same standards that handmade dreads do. 

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Dreadviolet stands for good quality handmade synthetic dreads that last long and don't unravel. The more you use them, the better they look and feel. They will loosen a bit, but only to get a bit thicker and softer in time, not to unravel. 

Between installs of DE extensions, you can put the dreads into a washing bag (or into pillowcase and make a knot to close it) and throw them into a washing machine. 

And last but not least - a quarantee. When your dreads get old and you think they might need a professional to take care of them, we will happily reseal them for you.