Knotty Boy Review

Knotty Boy

My Husband, Antonio has been wanting dread locks for a long time. We have tried several times to dread lock his soft hair but have not been successful. We tried Knotty Boys Dread Lock Starter Kit to help jump start his dreads.

Before:

Knotty Boy Dread Lock Shampoo Bar:

What the website has to say:

The natural and essential oils used in these formulations are extremely beneficial for hair and scalp health. Knotty Boy Natural Dreadlock Shampoos gently cleanse, allowing the hair to retain nutrients and moisture, while the rosemary, tea tree and peppermint essential oils work therapeutically to treat and prevent dry scalp, dandruff and other skin and scalp irritations. Use anywhere you need a good scrub - also proven to be effective in the treatment of problem skin and acne, and as an all-over body wash. You can even wash your dishes or clothes in a mountain stream with our Natural Shampoos - it won’t hurt the environment!

And have we mentioned the scent?? Like a peppermint patty ice-fishing with a candy cane at the North Pole! Sooo fresh it’ll knock your socks off, and your scalp tingles for ages after, too! YOM!!

Ingredients: Saponified Organic Oils of Palm, Coconut, Castor Bean and Hemp, and Organic Essential Oils of Rosemary, Peppermint and Tea Tree

More about these Essential Oils

Rosemary, tea tree and peppermint oils are some of nature's most treasured gifts for hair, and our oils are now organic, too! Not only do they leave your hair and scalp smelling fresh and clean, they go to work on problems like dry scalp and dandruff. Rosemary essential oil (Rosmarinus officinalis) is used widely as a specific tonic for hair and skin, helping to control dandruff and encouraging hair growth. (Incidentally, rosemary is also used as a stimulant for the mind, helping with memory and mental clarity - so using Knotty Boy Dread Shampoos might even help make you smarter, too. Gee whiz!) Tea tree essential oil (Melaleuca alternifolia) is probably one of the most well-known essential oils and is popular because of its anti-bacterial, antiseptic, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. Peppermint essential oil (Mentha piperita) is used extensively for relieving itching, inflammation and treating oily skin and hair due to its astringent properties.

So, as you can see, unlike medicated dandruff shampoos which only mask the problems (and allow the problems to return as soon as you stop using the shampoo), Knotty Boy Natural Dreadlock Shampoos actually nourish and restore the scalp. The incredible response from customers who rave about how our shampoos helped to clear up their skin, and how their scalps don’t flake or itch any more are testimonies to the effectiveness of our products and, to a great degree, due to the therapeutic essential oils of Tea Tree, Rosemary and Peppermint.



More about Foam

Contrary to popular belief, the presence of foam and suds is completely unnecessary in the cleansing process of hair or skin. Like all cleansing agents, the natural soaps found in the Knotty Boy Natural Dreadlock Shampoos release the surface tension, allowing the loosened dirt, grime, and environmental impurities to be washed away, without unnecessary amounts of foam.



Up until very recently, it was not possible to manufacture a truly all-natural liquid shampoo, despite the over-abundance of claimed ‘all-natural’ shampoos on the market, including other liquid shampoos marketed specifically for use on dreadlocked hair. The fact is most ‘all natural’ shampoos on the market still blend commercial surfactants like Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) into their shampoos to boost foaming action. SLS is the most commonly used coconut-based surfactant by manufacturers of cleansing products (including carpet cleaner) and often appears as ‘coconut-derived’ in the ingredients list. SLS is a very harsh, stripping chemical that can cause skin conditions including contact dermatitis and, some believe, even cancer. Some manufacturers do not list their shampoo ingredients fully because they do not want consumers to know their ingredients include SLS. It’s easy to claim that ‘all vegetable-derived cleansers’ are used in a product when the ingredients are not specifically listed.



Knotty Boy wasn’t satisfied with this grey-area of ‘all-natural’, and withdrew our original liquid dreadlock shampoo from the market in 2000, even though it was such a huge seller. The Knotty Boy Dreadlock Shampoo Bar was developed shortly thereafter, thereby finding a way to make a truly natural shampoo in a solid bar form. The inclusion of foaming agents was not necessary in bar form, as the saponified oils of coconut, castor bean, palm and hemp surprisingly form suds naturally on their own! The shampoo bar worked to clean dreadlocks the exact same way, but still honored our commitment to the manufacture of completely all-natural products.
Now, just this year (2005), a brand new all-natural ingredient has been developed that allows the formulation of a completely all-natural liquid shampoo product – and we’ve got it!! So now dreadies can have their choice of shampoo, liquid or bar form! Hooray!
Residue and Build-Up Concerns

The idea that if a product has a fragrance or scent, ‘residue’ will be left behind to build up in dreadlocks is false. All fragrances used in hair and body products are water-soluble, and are specifically designed to break down and wash away. In the case of essential oils, these are included in Knotty Boy products for their healing and aromatherapeutic properties. Hot water washes away anything left behind after only a few minutes, except what is absorbed for use by the skin and scalp. Because these are very powerful oils, only a little is diluted for use in each bottle or bar of product and is not enough to leave a ‘residue’ of any kind behind on the hair.
Directions for Shampoo Bar: Unwrap the bar, breathe in the icy-fresh pep-o-minty scent, strip yer nekkid self down and hop in the tub. Wet hair and get the 'poo bar wet, too. It becomes very foamy just like a bar of soap, so you can either work up a good, thick lather in your hands and scrub it onto your scalp, or you can rub the bar directly on your scalp and work up a lather that way. Once you've done that, get down to the scalp with your fingertips and give it a thorough, but gentle scrub. Let the essential oils get in there and do their thing for 2 or 3 minutes, too. Then, allow the shampoo to rinse through the dreads, thereby cleaning them without handling them too much. This is the best way to clean new, still-soft dreads without damaging all that hard work you've put into them. Rinse and repeat as necessary – you will be able to feel how squeaky-clean your scalp is after its been rinsed, and where you need to shampoo again.


OUR EXPERIENCE: First thing I needed to do is wash Antonio's hair which had oils and wax in it. I Used the Knotty Boy Dread Shampoo bar. I was surprised how much foam and lather you can get from a shampoo bar. This was first experience with a shampoo bar. Knotty Boy dread shampoo did a great job of leaving my husbands hair squeaky clean without making it feel too dry.


Professional Dreading Comb:

Professional Plastic Combs:


These heavy-duty plastic teasing combs are manufactured exclusively from delrin - a very durable and heat-resistant material - and features two different thicknesses of teeth, one side for thicker hair and locks, and the other side or finer hair and skinnier locks. Perfect for getting them dreadies nice and tight from the get-go!


Our Experience: I really liked this dreading comb, it looks like a barber comb but one end is a dreading comb, the other end is for combing. You only need one tool to smooth out a section of hair and them back comb it with the other end.



Knotty Boy DreadLock Wax

Dread Wax


Each 4oz jar lasts the average user between one and three months, depending on need. Available in natural Light Beeswax color, suitable for Blonde to Light Brown hair, and Dark Beeswax color with all-natural Walnut pigment, suitable for Medium Brown to Black hair.


The development of Knotty Boy Dread Wax

In 1998, Knotty Boy Dread Wax was the result of a need to find something to help locks come together quickly, stay clean and healthy, and look great. Dreadlocks, like all other hairstyles, require attention, care, and love, especially in their first few years of development. Letting them "just come together on their own" is fine if you want to take your chances on how they'll turn out in the end and don’t mind how crazy they may look in the mean time. With Knotty Boy Dread Wax you have complete control over how fat or skinny you want your new locks, how quickly they develop and what the end result will be. Also, contrary to popular belief, using an all-natural product like Knotty Boy Dread Wax does not create ‘fake’ or ‘unnatural’ locks, but rather, it utilizes the properties of natural, earthgrown ingredients to facilitate and speed up the natural locking process.. Nothing unnatural happens when you use Knotty Boy Dread Wax. It simply helps to make better locks, faster.
Of course, there are materials around the house that some people try to use to do the same thing: honey, egg whites, glue, toothpaste, etc. PLEASE steer clear of these processes. Having to cut all your hair off because of destroyed hair, bugs and/or excess dirt stuck to them is almost always the result of these food-product locks. This also includes melting down pure beeswax and applying it yourself, as this can be extremely dangerous because of both the tendency for beeswax to burst into flame when heated and the danger of serious burns caused by dripping melted beeswax on your head. Not to mention lumpy, chunky candle-dreads at best... you get the picture.
Bottom line: Knotty Boy Dread Wax is a non-greasy, non-"cakey", strong holding, sweet smellin', easy-to-use jar of joy! Although it is soft enough to apply with ease, it is strong enough to bind your locks together effectively until they are mature enough to continue developing on their own. But don’t take our word for it – check out what thousands of happy Knotty Boy customers have to say about it in our Dreadlock Gallery!


Ingredients of the dread wax:

Beeswax, Certified Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Avocado Oil, Kukui Nut Oil, Jojoba Oil, African Shea Butter, Vitamin E All Ingredients are ethically sourced

This wax comes in 2 colors for light and dark hair

Our experience: The Knotty Boy Dread Directions said to section the hair off, clip, smooth the hair out, back comb the hair, then add the wax. I watched the videos, and tried this method, following the directions step by step but I could not make the dreads come out looking good. After trying several times, I spoke with a loctician that I know. She recommended I use the wax but I try two strand twists. I have never tried back combing the hair a little then dividing the hair in half I massaged the dread wax into the hair and twisted the two pieces around each other.

I did not come out with the dreads shown on the site but I ended up with the tightest, best looking twists I have ever made. I REALLY liked working with the Knotty Boy Dread Wax. It is everything the company said it would be!!

I brick layered his twists like so.

AFTER:

Thanks to Knotty Boy for allowing me to review their

Dread Lock Starter Kit!!!

Check out these Links from Knotty Boy:

How To Dread

For Concerned Moms

Rumors and Stereotypes