Maintenance Waxing and the A B Maintenance Routine
First I'll give you some waxing guidelines and then we'll talk about how much wax to use for a maintenance serving.
Check to see if you can feel dread wax in or on the dread before you wax. Do not wax dreads that already have a detectable amount of dread wax in them. By waiting until the dread wax is gone before adding more it's easy to avoid overwaxing. Some dreads may need it while others don't, it's fine to only wax some of 'em.
Always work wax in completely as you add it, 3" at a time, rather than gooping it on and then trying to work it in all at once. Always warm it up and smooth it between your fingers before adding it.
Always palmroll each dread for 1 minute after adding dread wax. This allows the dread to get the full benefit of the wax and it removes excess wax from the surface of the dread while helping the new dread wax work in.
Always warm the dread with a hairdyer after waxing. If wax is visible on the surface of the dread while it's melting in use a paper towel to absorb it from the surface.
Wax dry dreads rather than wet dreads.
Dread Wax Maintenance Serving
After your dreads are in you'll be using the maintenance serving of wax rather than the initial serving. The only time you might use the initial serving again is if you need to comb out and restart one of your dreads.
There are two maintenance serving sizes, one for lil dreads and one for big dreads, just as with the Initial Serving. This amount is per every 3" of dread.
Dreads that are between .5cm (one fifth of an inch) and 2cm (four fifths of an inch) get .2 grams of wax per 3". Dreads that are 2cm or larger get .4 grams per 3"
This isn't the most accurate way to measure your balls but it will get you much closer than guessing... Of course the closer your balls are to round the better this method will work. =] Stop being dirty.
The A B maintenance routine...
As your dreadlocks mature a bit and feel tighter they will need less and less wax. The biggest change in waxing frequency occurs at the end of the first month. During the first month you want to have a small amount of wax in the dreads all the time. This doesn't mean that you have to keep so much wax in them that even after a shower you'll feel wax in them. It just means that if you can't detect wax you should add some next chance you get. If you're about to wash them tomorrow don't add wax today, wait until after you've washed'em and done any knot creating you need to do...then hook them dreadlocks up wif sum yummy wax. You'll palm roll each dread for one minute when you add the wax. Then each day that you can feel wax in the dread you should try to palm roll each dreadlock for 30 seconds. Of course you can't sit down and do them all at once. Maybe palm roll the ones in the front in the morning, the once on the top after lunch and the ones in the back while you're watching tv at night. You don't have to do it but it will make a big difference if you do. This is just for the first month by the way, not for the life of the dreads. =]
The second month you're going to switch this up. Instead of having wax in them all the time you'll only use it every other week. At the end of the first month you'll do a "Hot Rinse". This is a double or triple washing with lots of dread soap and hot water. It removes the wax from the dreads and allows you to start the second month with no wax in them at all for one week. This will be the "A" week. Remember "A" is for Accelerator...Accelerator makes knots...and the A week is when you have no wax in the dreads and focus on knot making.
Products like the Accelerator and Lock Peppa will help you make tons of knots with clockwise rubbing and dread balling on the A week. After you've made all these knots it's time to help them compress and tighten so they can begin the locking process. That's where the B week comes in.
The B week makes use of dread wax and palmrolling. All the poofy, knotty wads that you create during the A week need to take the shape of the dreads that they will become. If you palmroll without a proper dreadwax the knots will spring back to where they were almost as soon as you're done palmrolling and your progress will be minimal. Having wax in the dreads during the B week keeps those knots compressed after you're done palmrolling. They'll be getting used to being compressed in the dreadlock and the next time you palmroll them they'll be able to compress even more. This works because the wax holds the hair in a particular way. Our wax does not glue the hair in place and prevent movement. It does hold the hair when the hair isn't being moved or compressed but when you palmroll it or sleep on it, squeezing it and pressing it together, the wax allows the knots to move and tighten. When you're done moving them, everything stays more or less in place. If someone tells you differently (wax glues the hair and prevents dreadlocking) you might question some of their other conclusions as well.
Swapping back and forth between making knots and helping them tighten will super charge your dread maturity. Dreads following this maintenance routine to the letter...including daily palmrolling and proper use of the methods and products, can be tight and mature in as little as 60 days. Of course this isn't the norm since it's difficult to take "perfect" care of them but it is possible, even with perfectly straight "white boy" hair of medium coarseness.
Week A: Use accelerator and lock pepper to create lots of knots. Don't add any wax. This is the best time to use clockwise rubbing, finger rubbing and dread balling. Your dreads may look a lil' frizzy during this week but that's normal. As they mature their appearance will grow steadily better even during the A week.
Week B: Add maintenance servings of dread wax and concentrate on palm rolling a little each day. This period will give your knots time to settle and compress into dreads. Don't worry about twisting, rubbing and creating new knots during the B week. If you have loose hair that needs to be dread balled do so right after you shower and dry the hair, then you can wax after you finish. Remember not to add wax to dreadlocks that already have detectable wax in them.
You'll continue this A-B Maintenance routine until your dreads are locked. This is normally between three and six months. When the dreads are locked you can stop waxing regularly. You'll use a maintenance serving now and then to help new knots compress but you won't need to apply it to every dread or even the whole dread. The wax can be used as a moisturizer but I don't recommend it. The Dread Butta is way better for that. It's easier to apply and doesn't have any of the "newly waxed tackyness" feeling...actually it makes the dreadlocks feel soft and smooth. It also smells like heaven in a jar...great....now I'm feening for some. =] Keeping them moisturized is important. You don't want to let them get dried out, this can lead to weak dreads and even breakage.
