How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

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Tanya.Lou
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How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Tanya.Lou » Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:08 pm

Originally posted by rhaeniel on the old HH board. Found in the google cache.

"Start with the base colour, backcombing as usual
Image

Then poke a hole a little way from the bottom of the dread, with plenty of knots and tangles below it - this is important, as this is what will hold your second colour in place as you backcomb
Image

Hold the hole open with 2 or 3 fingers, then get the second colour (in this case, a blue/purple mix)...
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then pull the second colour through the hole
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Hold the two ends together in one hand, as with the first colour - think of it as being threaded over your material/hook/coathanger or whatever it is you use to secure the base of your dreads
Image

Then backcomb as normal.

You may have to pull the dread about a bit and backcomb the base colour again, as this method can leave a stretched-out, un-knotted bit just above where the second colour is threaded through, as you're pulling on the knotted bit just below the hole as you backcomb. What I usually do is make sure the first colour is backcombed so much that there's extra tangled-ness that can be pushed back down to where it gets stretched thin. It sounds a bit complicated, but once you get used to it, it's pretty simple. It's just a case of trial and error.

Now you've got your second colour backcombed, try to get roughly equal thickness of knots all the way down the dread..
Image

Then twist...
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and seal.
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and a close up to show the join
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The length of the swirliness between the two colours will depend on how far up you place your hole in the base colour. This one has hardly any swirliness, but most of my transitionals have a much longer section of two-colour swirliness.. if you get what I mean"
Last edited by MissAnthropik on Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: edit in working pictures

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rivetlicker_
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by rivetlicker_ » Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:04 am

Thanks for posting this up! Good to see it back.
I have tried this method and failed miserably lol :lol:

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tazzyface
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by tazzyface » Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:41 pm

Oh, I missed this tutorial! I'll try it once I find myself brave enough to attempt transitionals :lol:
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candycovered
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by candycovered » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:21 pm

more to the point, how do you make transitionals that don't have a MASSIVE lump in the middle where the two colours meet !
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MissAnthropik
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by MissAnthropik » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:33 am

this is the method I used. I actually thought I had come up with it, went to write a tutorial and then discovered rhaeniel already had and I could have just followed hers rather than play about with hair for ages trying to find a transitional method which worked for me (I had always been disappointed by the stiffness of the top half of the dread you get when you do the wrapping method).

To avoid the lump takes a bit of practice and intuition, although it doesn't take long, I only had a few dreads of practice before I felt I could make them well enough to go on my head. I make my hole closer to the bottom than rhaniel does I think. I try to make the backcombing really solid with only wispy ends below where the hole will be, then I try to backcomb the new colour into those wispy ends, and up into the hole, kind of backcombing the hole closed again.

You also need to make sure that your new colour doesn't contain as much hair as your original colour, this will help make the transition smoother
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Black-Sunshine
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Black-Sunshine » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:14 pm

Thank you for posting this! I cant wait to get home and try it now :D
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Jaza Firestar
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Jaza Firestar » Fri Aug 29, 2008 6:16 am

I tired this method, with some success and some rather preggo looking dreads XD At least some came out well but not so swirly << Need more practice gah.

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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by chichi » Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:41 pm

the tutorial makes it look so darn easy!! :ugeek: yet...its not ¬.¬

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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Neon Black » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:25 pm

You need to make sure you backcomb the top colour really quite tight, so it doesnt have much of a taper on it, push all the backcombing up high, then just as it's starting to taper off, slot in the new colour (I normally have the second colour sectioned at about 2/3 the size of the top bit).

Once this bit is backcombed, you need to go back and make sure the top of the second colour hasn't left a big hole in your backcombing, so I normally recomb the top colour above and below the join.

Then give it a twist up, see how it looks, if theres a big lump in it, try and force the second colour higher into the top colour or pull some of the knots out at the top of the second colour.
I try not to backcomb too much a the very top of the second colour of this causes a bump.

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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by rivetlicker_ » Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:09 am

I tried it again, and surprisingly, I got mostly smooth joins.
I did 3 colour transitionals using this method. I think I'm going to stick to it!

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Precious
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Precious » Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:38 am

Gah! i just finished and installed my very first set of self-made transitionals about a week ago. And I made them the wrappy way, the whole time being very concerned about how they'd hold up, praying the wouldn't unravel after one wearing.

And then i find this.

Haha. Well it's brilliant and beautiful and I love it. Thank you Thank you SO much! The dreads in this tutorial are even almost the exact same colors as the ones that i just made, cept your dark brown is my black. But this had inspired me and made me wonderfully determined to make another set of transitionals!

Thank you!

Lessandes
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Lessandes » Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:54 pm

I'll make myself a pair of transitionals soon....IF I cann manage to do it right ^^

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LifeDeathRebirth
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by LifeDeathRebirth » Fri Oct 03, 2008 3:02 am

I like this method. You don't waste a lot of hair or have the unnecessary bulk at the top. I imagine you can make really long transitionals with this or even just add more of the same color for really long dreads.
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Medea
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Medea » Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:13 am

So I just tried this method for the first time and holy crap did I end up with a massive lump. Plus I ended with the end being fatter then the top. That was probably because I didn't pay attention to the amount of hair that I grabbed for the second color. Well other then the mismatched sizes and the lump I think it turned out pretty good. Now I'm off to try again.
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by dreamNcolor » Tue Oct 14, 2008 4:17 pm

This is great, love it!!!
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Sphinx
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Sphinx » Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:49 am

That is fantastic! I never figures out how people did it, until now :D !
Can't wait to try it out right away ... Or ... when I get my KK 'XD

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rivetlicker_
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by rivetlicker_ » Fri Nov 28, 2008 3:30 am

I just made a video tutorial based on this (and I Kick Shins' version too), I'll post a new thread for my videos. I'm currently editing, plus I have to make a sealing video for final results :)
You're a doll for this method, Rhaniel! I just hope I said your name right in the video.

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Post by dreadviolet » Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:06 am

I've tried this method also, but I find it not-at-all faster than my old felting needle -technique. I also find with this technique it's more difficult to get uniform-looking dreads. Guess i'll stick to the old one.
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Vixie
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Vixie » Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:09 pm

This seemed easy enough, and now i'm having trouble.
I think I have to make the hole further down, because i cant seem to backcomb the bottom color around it without the base showing.

I wish my transitionals had that swirlyness before they start, too, but I cant get it.
Notorious thread killer.

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Squidgy
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Squidgy » Fri Dec 19, 2008 11:15 am

That is amazing.. i have been looking for ways to make my tranitional dreads for ages...
Plenty of time to practice over Christmas as well. woop woop. xoxoxox
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LadyJay
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by LadyJay » Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:04 pm

this is the technique i use after seeing rivetlickers video on YT,
i found it very easy to pick up and after a few tries i found the limpy joins go away :)

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rivetlicker_
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by rivetlicker_ » Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:31 pm

You really don't wanna see my first attempts at these LadyJay HAHAHA. :P

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LadyJay
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by LadyJay » Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:09 pm

Lol, i bet they are great really...

One tip i wanna tell everyone which i found (if i can explain it) to avoid the bumpy bit is to kind of wrap the second colour around the bottom of the first.....Okay so that doesnt really help so il take a few pics next time i do one so i can kind of show you....you still get the swirl as its changes to the new colour but itseems to blend them more..so instead of pulling down while twisting and sealing, try pushing the new colour around the back on one side where it comes out of the whole and vice versa where it comes out of the front of the dread...
It might not work for everyone but it kinda helped mine. :)

Baneli
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by Baneli » Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:47 pm

All the pictures dont show anymore :( im new to this and would love to learn! anyone know another tut i could use?
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MissAnthropik
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Re: How to make transitionals that don't unravel..

Post by MissAnthropik » Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:10 pm

made the photos work now :)
telling it like it is!

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