Well as you all probably know I have long dreads. I dreaded my hair about 3 years ago with the help of a wonderful website called DreadheadHQ. The trouble is that the website is rarely manned and hasn't changed in all the years that I've been using them. I've written to them countless times asking for hair dye advice etc but got no reply. Although they may be no good at responding I still think it's a wonderful site for those thinking of getting dreads and even for those who have questions about the dreads they already have. So maybe I can help dreadies, or dreadie wannabe's in this thread if you have any questions. Most of my stuff has been found out through trial and error so if any other dread heads have other/alternative advice to what I'm posting please jump in with your ideas, I'd love to hear them!
First... How To Dread:
You need some good products to get your hair to dread. It might be able to dread without them but believe me the dreadheadHQ products help
hugely.
First use a special dread shampoo to wash your normal hair. Do Not Use Conditioner! You need your hair to be non slippery and rough.
You need tons of mini elastic bands. You'll need to section your hair as neatly as possible, tying off the bunches with the bands. Your dreads will be roughly 2-3 times the thickness of the ponytail you create in your sections because they "fluff up" and then when they settle they get a little thinner but not much.
If you have "Lock Peppa" you need to put a small amount in your first ponytail, rub it in like crazy and start backcombing your hair. Tip: Use a metal comb because a plastic one will break during all the rough treatment you're about to embark on. Back comb from the base, pushing the hair up to the mini band, keep working through the length and don't be afraid to push hard. It might be a tad painful but it's worth it in the end.
Once the section is back combed it looks like you stuck your finger in a socket, this is normal. Use dread wax on your palms, rub it in and get it hot by rubbing your hands together fast. Then roll the fuzzy dread in your palms and make it more tubular in shape. Work the wax right in but don't use too much. You only need enough to make the dread hold it's shape.
The end of the dread will be long and wispy. Take the wispy bit, add a little lock peppa and roll it up between you fingertips and fold the end up onto the dread. Wrap a mini band fairly tightly - but not too tight so it snaps - around the folded section, which should be about a centimeter long. you'll have a dread with a sort of bobble on the end. This is what you want.
Et voila! You have your first dread!
Repeat this on all your sections and eventually you will have a full head of soft fluffy dreads.
Me before:

Me after 12 hours dreading:

Those pictures were taken 24 hours apart - what a difference!
As you can see dreads take your hair up by a few inches. They continue to do so as the tighten over the next few weeks so don't be surprised at the shorter length of your hair. Dreads are constantly bunching up as they grow so you never need to dread the roots, they do it themselves. This means that your hair doesn't grow as fast as normal hair because it's constantly weaving itself into a dread.
If this means that you have shorter hair that you don't want don't worry, there's a solution! Info on dread extentions to come...
Lock Peppa, Dread Shampoo and other products can be found at DreadheadHQ, ebay, Knotty boy and several other places.