How do I get rid of lumps and bends in my dreads? - Dreadlocks FAQ's

Some people want smooth dreads, some people are more into bumps and irregularities. It seems most people don't mind some bumps and strangeness in a few of their dreads, but for the most part, they want the majority of their dreads to look smooth & even.

If you have more bumps and lumps than you'd like there are a few options. The first thing you need to know is that most bumps, lumps, loops and zig-zags can be avoided just by palm rolling regularly with a small amount of Dread Wax. If your dreads are still maturing keeping up with this for the first 2 months or so will leave you with much smoother dreads, most small lumps will work themselves out as the dreads tighten and smooth out. Some parts of the dread will lock and tighten at different speeds and since the dreads shrink as they tighten, if one side of the dread tightens faster than the other side it will be smaller and tighter and the dread will bend. Multiple bends back and forth are pretty common, these are called zig-zags. Palm rolling with wax helps the whole dread lock more evenly and most of the irregularities will be avoided.  Of course if there are any dreads that you want to have bumps and lumps in, you can just avoid palm rolling them and stop waxing them before they have matured.

If your dreads still have lumps, bumps and zig-zags when they are mature you can either ignore them if they don't bother you, comb them out and restart them, or you can fix the issue with the Lock Docta. The Lock Docta should only be used on mature dreads with sections 1/2" or greater and it should only be used once on each dread - it's not for re-occuring maintenance. Once the problem is fixed, it's fixed for good and it will not return. Because the Docta can be over used or mis-used it's important that you read and understand the precautions on the Lock Docta page before using it. I've used it to remove many bumps and zig zags from the back of my dreads where I didn't palm roll quite as much as I should have. It's amazing how fast you can smooth out issues. =]

I didn't remove every one of them, some loops and lumps add character or at least I think so. In my opinion dreads are not supposed to be absolutely perfect and symmetrical but I do like having many that are. In any case the Lock Docta give you the option so you now have the power to choose. Here's a video that explains the process: