Your heart may skip a beat if you suddenly realize you have mold in your dreadlocks. The next thing that pops in your mind is whether you will have to cut your dreads off or if there’s a way to save them. Fortunately, if this unfortunate circumstance was to happen to you, there’s definitely natural ways to remove mold from your dreadlocks without side effects.
Sometimes people may think they have mold in their locs, but it could just be some lint or dead skin cells stuck inside the woven hair. Sometimes there’s buildup from washing your hair, especially if you’re not using a non-residue shampoo.
When you have dreadlocks, there will be a lot of changes, as you may already know. One of these changes is to avoid using regular shampoo in your hair and switch to a non-residue dreadlocks shampoo, or any other type of shampoo that doesn’t leave build-up in your locs.
Difference Between Dreadlocks Buildup and Mold
Most times you can tell the difference between moldy dreadlocks and buildup. One of the most telling signs of mold, is your hair smells moldy when it’s wet. Another sign of dreadlocks mold, is if you cut off a small piece of locs and open it up and you find green smelly powdery substance in it.
Buildup can be white and powder also, but it usually doesn’t smell when you wet it. This is not much of a concern, as you can easily fix this problem. Mold can also be removed, but with a little more effort.
Moldy Dreadlocks Natural Cure
As soon as you determine that you have mold in your dreads, you should do a dreadlocks cleanse as soon as possible. One of the most effective natural ways to remove mold from you hair, is to soak your hair in a mixture of baking soda and apple cider vinegar. This remedy is also good for treating the dreaded dread rot.
Use warm water to to dilute the mixture, as this will help to soften the locs and open up the cuticles, so that the mixture gets to the mold.
To help get the baking soda and apple cider vinegar get as close to the mold as possible, use a squeezing motion, similar to if you were squeezing and un-squeezing a sponge ball repeatedly. After soaking your dreads, make sure you rinse your hair thoroughly until the water is clear.
Prevention of Dreadlocks Mold and Mildew
As you can see, it’s not a pleasant feeling to have dreadlocks mold or mildew, so going forward, you have to take precautionary measures to prevent a repeat of it.
After you wash your hair, make sure that you don’t cover your dreads while it’s still wet or damp. If there’s moisture locked inside a loc of hair, mold or mildew can start to grow real fast.
If you have fine dreadlocks, you may get away with them drying fast, but for people with thicker dreads, such as free-form dreadlocks, drying may take some time.
Invest in a portable hairdryer attachment, so that the heat will be evenly distributed to each dread. This is a convenient way to dry the inside of your locs, so as to prevent a buildup of mold in the near future.