well....I cut mine off (after three years of dreads) a couple months back...but like you, I did NOT want to shave my head....so I cut my dreads about 3-4 inches from my scalp. I lathered them with conditioner (they were really really tightly locked), and got to work brushing the 'stumps' out with a wide-toothed metal comb...It was really hard, and took like 4 hours to do...but I did it (and broke the comb in a number of places, and had a couple of blisters on my hand)...but yeah that's how I did it...I don;t think you can really avoid hair-damage, since the locking process does do some damage to your hair...it's unavoidable....but yeah, ummm...you can get a dread-removal kit, I think it's Dreadhead or Knotty Boy...but I've never used it...so i wouldn't know about that...but the cut and comb did it for me...

How fast does your hair grow? Mine grows out really fast, and now that it's summer being in the sun should make them grow faster. You could always wait a month spending lots of time in the sun, and hopefully by that time the roots will have grown out a little, and these roots with be undamaged. Then you will have more undamaged hair that you wont have to comb out as much...unless you are in a time crunch and need them out now, in which case, what I suggested wont be helpful.
Best of luck (Knotty Boy HQ makes a dread removal kit)