Dreadlock Services

I have neglected to mention that a few weeks ago I posted an ad in Craigslist offering services to dread hair and to maintain/tidy preexisting dreadlocks for money. Thus far I've gotten nothing but spam in my inbox regarding this ad. Finally I checked my email and received two emails that deem serious enough and are not spam [that I can tell yet]. I did not list a price because dreadlocks are complicated little babies that are very diverse as is anyone's hair. My post is quite extensive to weed out any people that aren't that serious that can't read past the first few paragraphs. Ad is provided below.

Before you go worrying, I do plan to play this really safe. I plan on emailing the individual several, and I mean several, times prior to meeting. As I also plan to meet the individual in a public setting, such as a coffee shop, to discuss and officially get acquainted before I have to spend several hours in their bubble doing their hair. And if I have to, I'll bring a friend. I will also give all the information about what I'm doing to a few close friends so they know where I'm at and can check up on me periodically.

I'm doing this because I've spent hours on Craigslist looking for a second job, or any side work to help me make more money to save. I can't seem to find anything promising. So I tried to think of a skill I can do that is needed. I eventually thought of dreading and it seemed perfect! Plus it should be good extra money because it is very time consuming labor. It's just a matter of people coming across my ad.

Which leads me to if any of you readers that live in the general Phoenix metropolis area of Arizona that want dreadlocks or need dread maintenance or know a friend who does, please contact me. If you have my email or phone number, use it. Or just simply comment this post and we'll go from there. Spread the word for me!

If you are looking for someone locally to dread your hair or to do some maintenance on the dreads you already have, then read everything through before contacting me. 
First and foremost, I only have experience dreading non-ethnic hair. I am Caucasian and don't feel confident in dreading non-Caucasian/African American hair.


MY BACKGROUND:
I have dreadlocks that are a little over 2 and a half years old that I did myself and also maintain myself [which took 7.5 hours to do!]. As I said, I'm Caucasian, so my hair type is what I am familiar with. I have also dreaded a friend's hair, who no longer has dreadlocks. My dreads vary in thickness, I have some really thin ones, a few thick ones, and mostly average sized ones. I have dyed them many times [which may or may not be another service I will provide if necessary]. I maintain my dreads on a regular basis involving dreading the root growth and using a felt needle to insert separated pieces/hairs.


FOR THOSE WHO WANT DREADLOCKS: Pricing is variable and dependent on a few things.
First, it depends how long and thick your hair is.
Second, how thick or thin you want your dreadlocks to be.
Third, how long it will take to dread.


This leads me to possibly charge on a hourly basis, but it all depends on your wants and needs. Pricing will be discussed after we have both made effective communication about those wants and needs. I will say that I will be reasonable, but remember that this is a very time consuming process that involves a lot of labor on my hands and arms. Do not expect to pay less than $60.


FOR THOSE SEEKING DREAD MAINTENANCE:
There are several dread maintenance techniques out there, all quite effective but really depend on your hair [ check out http://dreadheadhq.com/how-to-maintain-dreadlocks]. Two things are absolutely needed for you to do on a regular basis which is palm rolling and dreading the new root growth. Other techniques are needed when you have long and even thick pieces of free undreaded hair. Dread balling is something I'm familiar with but I don't find as effective for my own dreads. My favorite technique is using a felting needle [a 3 needle pen] and wrapping the loose hair around a dread and stabbing it into the dread with the needle. This is also pretty time consuming, depending how often and intensive you do it. Thus it will be priced according to the amount of work that is needed to be done. This can take anywhere between an hour to two. So pricing may be hourly or a flat rate, which we will discuss. These services are typically between $45-$65 an hour in salons and my pricing will be similar.


MY AVAILABILITY AND EXPECTATIONS: 
As I said, making dreadlocks is a time consuming process and takes all day. So for me, this is best to be done on a Saturday or Sunday. I work during the week with weekends off. I do get out of work in the early afternoon, but there is not enough time in the afternoon/evening to dread all of your hair. However, if a weekend day does not work for you, we can work something out. I personally dreaded my hair over the course of two days, I didn't mind having part of my hair dreaded and part of it undreaded. If this wouldn't be an issue for you, then it can be an option. Finally, this is something to be done at your residence, so I will come to you [so far as you don't live over 30 minutes away from me]. If this is a major issue for you, we may be able to work something out but my utmost preference is to do this in your home, you'll need the added comfort anyways.


I take dreads very seriously and will not waste my time communicating with someone or dreading their hair if they are not 100 percent committed to dreadlocks. People also have a lot of misconceptions about dreadlocks and dreadlock care. As a result I require a bit of emailing back and forth to discuss things and finally a meeting in person, at a coffee shop or such, to see your hair personally and further discuss all the details involved, prior to getting down to dreading business. In emailing I will also share photos of my dreads so you can get an idea of what my work looks like.