How much wax should I use on new, medium or mature dreads? - Dreadlocks FAQ's

The amount of Dread wax that you will need on your dreads decreases as your dreads mature. When you first put in your dreads and wax them for the first time, that will be the most wax you'll ever have in them. See the waxing part of the dreading instructions for how much wax to add when starting your dreads. Wax helps a lot in the beginning but as your dreads tighten and smooth out you will need it less and less. When your dreads have locked you should stop applying wax and remove any that remains with a hot rinse. Some people have extremely dry hair and and their dreads will dry out and can even break off if they are not moisturized now and then. Dread Wax is a powerful moisturizer and it prevents dryness while the dreads are locking. After they've locked you can switch over to Dread Butta. It makes your dreads feel and smell amazing and it's much easier to apply. 

In the beginning...

During the first month you'll have some Dread Wax in the dreads pretty much all the time. You never want so much that they feel sticky and waxy though. As a general rule if you can feel wax in or on the dread don't add more to that dread. In other words if only one or two dreads feel wax-less then just wax those and the leave the rest be. There's no need to wax them unless they feel like they need it. Even after washing there is a good chance they will not need additional wax since most of the wax inside the dread stays put until you hot rinse them. There is no need to replace the wax that comes off when you palm's supposed to! You don't want to leave wax on the surface of the dreads. Palm rolling helps remove it from the surface as does using a hair dryer to help it melt in right after you apply it.  The small amount that finds it's way into the middle of the dread is all you need. It will stay there, helping the dread compress and lock, until you give it a hot rinse at the end of the month. You'll only add additional Dread Wax if there is no detectable dread wax in the dreads.

The amount to add will vary slightly depending on the thickness of the dreads but for maintenance waxing (all waxing after the first waxing when you started them) you'll only need a very small amount. See the maintenance waxing page for the exact amount of wax to add for your size dreads.

After waxing always use a hair dryer to melt the Dread Wax in fully and remove any extra wax from the surface. If you've over waxed a paper towel can be used to quickly absorb the extra wax. After you've melted it in palm roll each dread that was waxed really well. One minute per dread is perfect. This will ensure that the dreads get the full benefit of the wax as they will be able to compress quite a bit. As a sweet smelling bonus you can add a tiny bit of Dread Butta to the surface of the dreads after palm rolling. It will knock out that "freshly waxed tackiness" and make the dreads feel great. Just put a small amount of Dread Butta on your hands and rub them together like you're applying hand lotion. Then run your fingers through your dreads. This will apply the perfect about of Dread Butta to the surface of the dreads.

Later on..

After the first month you're going to switch to the A-B Maintenance routine.

You'll add the regular maintenance waxing amount (less than 1/2 a gummy bear head) and you'll only add more to dreads that have none. Just like before really, but you'll only be adding it on the B week of the A-B routine. You'll continue this until your dreads lock up, usually between 2 and 4 months depending on your maintenance and hair type. Keep a close eye on them - when they reach your desired level of tightness you'll no longer add any Dread Wax and you can removed the remaining wax with a good hot rinse.

After that..

You'll only use Dread Wax on occasion if at all. For example you may have just finished clockwise rubbing this big-ole wad of knots and you want it to lock nice and fast. You might add a maintenance serving of wax to it and palm roll it until it squeals. This will compress those new knots down and give them a head start on locking up.  It's important to note that if wax is used in a situation like this it will not be applied to parts of the dread that have matured - it will be applied to areas with no knots only - parts that have not compressed yet.