Let me be the first to give you the lame ass, P.C. answer like everyone else. "dude, whatever product you like best is just great. I personally like (insert any product here) but a friend of mine uses (insert another random product here) and it works great for him. All products are great. Whatever you are using must be the best for you. What? Bat guano and the fat of an unbaptized baby? Awesome... as long as it works great for you..."

I had my dreads put in with Knotty Boy dread wax, which really did nothing but give me a massive infection on one of my piercings and give me acne around my face. I washed it out immediately and haven't looked back since. (Though in the defense of people who like wax, I think the person who put my dreads in used waaaaaaaay too much.)

I also have K.B. tightening gel and cooling peppermint spray. I don't feel that the tightening gel does much other than make my hair smell nice and keep the frizzies down for about a day. I use it when I have to look extra presentable. If I use too much, it leaves white flakes in my hair though. (It's very dark.) I've actually moved on to using an all natural hair gel immediately after washing. I take a teeeeeeny tiny amount and twist my dreads tightly to tighten them up/maintain them, and once they're almost dry I palm roll and take care of loose hairs and loops. It's been working like a charm.

The peppermint spray is good for itchies and smelling nice for people who aren't used to non-perfumed hair. (My mother seems to think that when you don't use scented shampoo, your hair smells bad. She doesn't know or like the smell of natural hair.) If I can't wash my hair as much as I want I tend to use it.

I've heard good things about the Dread HQ Lock Peppa, but haven't tried it. I might pick some up. Does it leave white residue in your hair, though?

Honestly, I was really touchy about what I put in my dreads until I started reading around and getting them professionally maintained. The person who cares for my hair uses a super lightweight all natural hair gel to aid in grooming and tightening them. It doesn't get into the center of my dreads, and it doesn't smell or get sticky in any way.

Also, when I get a dandruff outbreak, I use over the counter dandruff shampoo once a week. I have had no ill effects. The only thing it has destroyed is the dandruff. :)

Oh, also, I did give my hair a bit of a conditioning treatment last week. They were feeling a bit crunchy. I used Burt's Bees Pre-Shampoo Treatment (I had a sample size). It was really nice, and I just made sure that I rinsed it exceptionally well, followed by two very thorough shampoos and rinses. Rinsed clean and perked my dreads up considerably.

That's all I got for ya!

Knotty Boy Bar Soap: Gave me dandruff that I couldn't get rid of and eventually cut my dreads of because of the flakes...

Dreadhead HQ Shampoo: a godsend!!!! It helped with the flakes short-term, and helped my locks harden and tighten beautifully, right up to my scalp...

Lock Peppa: Great Stuff, although a bit of work for dark hair ;-)

Lock Accelerator: Good stuff, but I found that homemade versions were better...and cheaper ;-)

My advise is DONT DO ANYTHING or put ANYTHING in your hair. Thats the cool part about having dreads, letting your hair do what it wants. I just let my dreads have total freedom, and i love them, they're a little wild, but i dont think they look scuzy or anything. I guess it depends on why your rocking the locks in the first place:)

You've probably heard this before, but wax isn't your friend. If you like to use it, thats all good and dandy. I've never tried it myself, but have heard many a horror story about how it stays in the center of your locks and is extremely difficult to remove. And well... can attract dirt. Theres are tons of all natural concoctions you can make to relive itchies, dandruff, and fuzzies. I highly recommend you scour this page: www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml

They have a lot of great info. Good luck! :)

For the most part I just use a residue free shampoo and the occassional lock pepa from Dreadhead HQ. I like it because you can really knot whatever loose hairs you have with a lot less time in doing so. I will tend to the ends of the dreads to make them appear more blunt, as this is how I like my hair. Then you can use it the root of your hair and do some rubbing to get new knotts. I usually only use the product 1 or 2 times a week depending on how long it's been since I washed it, and how messy it get when I sleep.

As others have said, I believe wax is a waste of time. I guess use it if it makes the first 3-4 weeks barable but after that, toss it. I used it a couple of times and made the loose hairs that had a good hold on the locking process, then it greesed them up and made the come loose. It didn't even keep the dread together any better either. In the beginning they were these knotted twisted looking locks. I wish I would have never put the wax in my hair to begin with as it was all in all worthless.

I've also tried HQ's locking accelorant. It wasn't bad to have during the first initial backcombing session. It did as advertised except with drawbacks. For one, after about three days of that shit in my hair, it just stunk. Two, it produced dandruff and bad on my scalp. And lastly, it dried my hair out at started to break in places. I haven't used it since.