Creating dreadlocks is an art, and like any art form, the foundation is crucial. Sectioning, the process of dividing your hair into specific areas, is that foundation for beautiful, uniform dreads. It determines the size, shape, and placement of each dreadlock. While it may seem tedious, proper sectioning is highly recommended to avoid inconsistent dreadlock sizes and awkward spacing.
Many people worry about visible section lines, but these tend to disappear as dreadlocks mature. Without sectioning, you might end up with some dreadlocks a lot bigger than others and awkward spacing. Sectioning gives you a lot of options. By sectioning you can determine the size, shape and placement of each dread.
The amount of hair in each section determines the size of the dread. Bundles of hair about the size of a #2 pencil are good for dreadlocks of average size (about 1/4 inch in diameter). If your hair is very fine the size bundles may vary, your diameter of hair may be smaller than a pencil and create sections of hair that are too big. Sections that are too big leave unnecessary space between the dreads.
Uniformity: Try to keep the size sections as uniform as possible.
Section Size: It is recommended keeping the sections between an .5" square at the smallest to 1.5"-2" square at the largest.
Read also: Types of Dreadlock Rubber Bands
Hair Thickness: Remember, they don't hafta be perfect but getting them around the same size will pay off later on. Different size dreads will lock up at different speeds. Bigger dreads have the advantage of locking up faster. The dreads will end up being thicker than the bundle of hair (so if the bundle is as big as your pinkie the dreads are going to be bigger around than your pinkie, probably about 1/2'' in diameter) and the dreads will come out smaller than the section. After you do a few you'll have a pretty good feel for this. You'll be making the first dread in the back of your hair so you can make sure the size of your sections is right. You can adjust the others by the first one. Use your good judgment and take your time and they will come out supa nice.
Creating the Initial Sections: The center of their head becomes center of the first section. Next you'll start at the front and begin dividing the hair between the part lines into squares. The distance between them will equal your section size. As you create each section use a rubber band to hold it together. Put the band about 1/2" from the scalp.
Continuing the Pattern: After the first row is divided into sections make another line all the way back that is parallel to the first two. Divide the hair between the lines as you did before.
Adapting to Hairline: As you work down toward the sides and move across the hairline you're going to have to adjust the shape and size of the sections to fit at times. There are no unbreakable rules here but you want to keep the amount of hair in each section about equal if you can and if you have to create rectangular sections make sure that they're horizontal rather than vertical.
Final Adjustments: When all the sections are in, check over them and try to pick out any that have a lot less hair or a lot more hair than the others. Solving this now will take a few minutes, solving it later after the dreads are in will be much harder. You might be able to borrow some hair or add some hair to surrounding sections to even things out. If the section has way too little hair try to combine it with adjacent sections. It's much easier to do this now rather than later. If you went with smaller dreads you'll probably still end up combining a few later, and that's fine, but fix what you can now while it's quick and easy.
Read also: Caring for Dreadlocks
We offer two kinds of rubberbands. Regular and Pro-Elastics. Removing the regular rubberbands to backcomb can be painful. They tend to snag and pull the hair. The pro-elastics are easier to remove without snagging, they are great for holding the tips of the dreads during the first month, but some pain is still involved when you're trying to remove them to backcomb. If you want the least amount of pulling you may want to get an extra bag of the regular rubberbands, put them at your roots to hold the sections and then cut them off when it's time to backcomb.
Grid Pattern: Grid sectioning, despite being the pattern shown on one of the more popular dreadlock sites on the web, is generally speaking NOT the best choice. Although this method does allow for easy maintenance, the aesthetic result of this pattern is usually very undesirable.
Brick-Lay Pattern: The brick-lay pattern, as far scalp coverage is concern, takes a huge leap ahead of the grid pattern. In this pattern the square sections are staggered, like the bricks in a brick wall (thus the name) so that the dreadlocks in each subsequent row fall between the row beneath them.
Triangle Pattern: The triangle pattern generally gives better scalp coverage than the grid pattern and the brick-lay pattern, but a bit less coverage than the fan pattern. The long/bottom edge of each triangle lines up with an inverted triangle in the row above/below. However, any straight line in sectioning with create less organic-looking results.
Fan Pattern: The fan pattern is, in our opinion, the best in that it allows for the least operator error.
Read also: Simple Dreadlock Hairstyles
Grab-n-Go: We have done the ‘grab-n-go’ sectioning for a few people who requested it because they were looking for something that looked a little more ‘organic’ and ‘freeform’ without actually being that way. It is exactly what it sounds like - grabbing a section and then going with it!
Trying to figure out the size you should make your sections, and therefore the diameter of your dreadlocks, is a very tricky thing to do. I’ve been doing this for years and I still get it wrong sometimes. What usually throws me off the most is misjudging hair density and how thick the hair gets when backcombed and crocheted.
Hair Thickness: The figures in this chart are based on an AVERAGE thickness hair. Thinner hair will have small sized dreadlocks than given with the corrolating section size. Likewise, thicker hair will have larger-sized dreadlocks than given for the corrolating section size. (How do you determine the thickness of your hair? Pull it into a ponytail. How big is the ponytail?
Desired Dreadlock Diameter: You’ll want to determine what you or the client wants in terms of the diameter of each dreadlock. For sharpie size, 3/4″ is usually best. For pen or pencil size, just smaller than 1/2″ is usually best. And you can determine other sizes using that range as a baseline.
Backcombing Thickness: The final variation in this equation is to determine how thick backcombing makes the hair. If it gets very thick you’ll absolutely want to have smaller sections. If the hair doesn’t get very thick you’ll want to keep “normal” sectioning. This is a trial and error situation, and the first row often doesn’t give you a good reference point because the hair around the hairline is often thinner compared to the rest of the head.
Thicker hair will yield larger diameter dreadlocks, therefore you’ll want smaller sections and more of them.
Thinner hair will yield smaller diameter dreadlocks, therefore you’ll want larger sections and fewer of them. Just be careful not to make sections too wide on thin hair, it can start to look a bit weird. “Medium” “normal” density hair textures will be somewhere in the middle.
Unless the client is striving for extremely thick fat dreadlocks, you’ll probably want to stay on the thinner side. This will take more time because it will product a larger number of sections, but most clients are happier with a slightly smaller diameter than dreadlocks that are far too fat for them.
Everyone has a different shaped head, a different sized head, and a different hair line. Most people fall into a pretty generalized “normal” category. But sometimes you’ll come across some strange shapes and sizes.
The best way to determine your approach to a unique head shape is ear placement. Those with very high ear placement can make a “wrap around” row tricky, sometimes you’ll want to just omit the wrap around. Those with low ear placement might have several “wrap around” rows.
Consider placement on head - hair thinning - edges - etc Some clients will have much thicker hair in the center of their head, and thinner edges. Other clients will have much thicker hair around their back and sides and be thinning on top. There are quite a few variables that make big differences in hair density. And you’ll also want to consider if the client will be going to a barber, which can lead to the edges of the dreadlock sections being cut into. This can all contribute to variations in how you size your sections.
Nape and Sides: To ensure good balance and support for your dreadlocks, the sections at the nape and sides should be about 2-2.5 cm squares. This size provides sufficient support for the weight of your dreadlocks while also ensuring that the hair looks full.
Top of the Head: On the top of the head, it is recommended to make triangular sections of the same size (about 2-2.5 cm). Triangular sections contribute to a more natural fall and volume in the hair, giving a nicer and more harmonious hairstyle.
Parting Consideration: Do you want a parting in your hair? A parting can affect how your hair falls and looks. If you want a parting, you should create it in the two front rows closest to the forehead. This allows you to style your hair as you wish and ensures that your dreadlocks fall naturally around your face.
tags: #dreadlock #sectioning #size #guide
