Anyone with dreads?

[NotabitaiI]

Hello I'm thinking about doing peekaboo dreads with my hair since it's a nightmare to rip apart my matted hair all the time.

This is kinda what I'm wanting

I just want the lower 1/3 of my hair to be lower maintenance.
Is this a bad idea? Will it be more of a hassle than just picking apart my tangled hair every day? I wash and dry it every day so will that cause problems? Also I have super fine Caucasian hair strands but it's fairly thick overall

 

[NotabitaiI]

Also what would maintenance look like on a weekly, monthly, yearly basis? How often do they need cleanup and retouching?

 

[Backroadlogic]

I'm dreadlocked. I Moderate the knotnation reddit page.

You would need to use a residue free shampoo, no conditioner, and not use a hair dryer for best results but it is definitely doable. As to is it worth doing? That's really your journey. My ex wife had dreads for 8 years before being done with them, she misses them 10 years later. My current wife has had dreads twice and she said she's keeping this set. I'm on 20 years, it's much easier to handle than my big curly natural hair.

Maintenance is completely up to you. You can go semi freeform which consists of starting them then leaving them with very little to no maintenance ever. My wife twists her dreads every few days and crotchets her own dreadlocks whenever she sees something loose. I had my hair back combed 20 years ago and now just wash + air dry with no maintenance.

If you have them back combed and then crotchet them they will look pretty good from day one and you will just have to clean them up whenever you feel like it.

 

[NotabitaiI]

After having experimental braids in my hair for the past week and practicing maintenance I'm like 90% sure that I want dreads.
I'm thinking I'll leave the ends loose and just backcomb them to start them, I'm okay with them being kinda frizzy at first, I know I could avoid that with crochet however I've seen some really stiff looking crochet work and I don't want my dreads getting too tight too fast. Historically my hair is super smooth but it works itself into the most horrific mats so I'm sure it won't take too much effort to get them started. I also think I may try to keep them skinny to avoid issues with drying them and I also think they'll blend into my hair and the styles that I wear if they're kinda skinny.

How much shrinkage can I expect with skinny dreads? My braided hair is down to my lower back.