Ashbet says:
We're making individual dreads using the boiling method, and the large number of household items we've co-opted to the task will probably give some of you a laugh . . .
Tonight was occupied with much hilarity surrounding our attempts to pinch-braid dreads into Ismene's hair . . . the *attachment* of the braids is going just fine, I have no problem with that -- but the making of said dreads is involving such interesting household implements as a pot-full of boiling water, two forks, a chip-bag clip, and a screwdriver . . .

Anyway, I thought I'd mention the method I'm using to attach the dreads, because it's so damn *easy* and *fast* . . .

First, we make the dreads by looping over a section of synthetic hair, twisting it tightly, and sealing it at the top, middle, and bottom with the flat plates of a crimper. Then, we twist it back up again using a chip-clip to hold the bottom and a fork through the loop (a fairly small loop is ideal) and dunk the twisted dread into boiling water. This seals the twist pretty well, and we then go over the top and bottom again with the crimper if necessary.

Alex wants small, tight, silky-type whippy dreads . . . obviously, for bigger and fluffier ones, backcombing would be used.

Then, I separate out a section of her own hair, and divide it into two -- one section twice the size of the other. I use a latchhook tool to poke through the loop on the dread, grab the big section of hair, and pull it through the dread loop.

I then separate the big section of hair into two, and do a normal three-way braid the length of her hair, and end the braid with a rubber band.

The hair we're using is mostly the color of her natural hair, which means that the dreads and braids don't dramatically stand out from each other. We're adding burgundy and red/black swirled dreads as well.

This method means that the dreads are *nice* and tight to her head, and when she's ready to take them out, all she has to do is unbraid her own hair and the dread loop will slip right down the unbraided section.

Our original intent was to do string-method, but I'd discovered this method on my own head and it had been so much faster and easier (and resulted in less slippage), so we're trying it on her with great success so far.