i don't think you need to perm it; I heard crocheting is less damaging to hair, and can this method works really well on curly hair types. I think since you said your hair already is coarse it doesn't seem necessary to chemically treat it. i am all for the au naturel anyway. good luck :) i think both ways work, but i vote for crochet...post pics soon!

i have resently had my dreads put in. they are going on 3 weeks now. i went to a profecianal in my area who did them the crochet method. they turned out great! nice and tight at the core. though i do have little strays comming out thats to be expected with my hair type. i have wavey hair that is realy thick but the strands them selfs are realy fine. and my hair was past my waist before i did the dreads. i just resently got a crochet hook to loop the loose ends back into my hair and it looks very uniform and nice.

hope this helps

It really comes down to preference.

A DreadPerm is seriously not that bad for your hair, will lock it up all super tight, but will make it kind of wavy for a while. (Especially when you consider that a lot of people bleach their hair to tighten it more, a dreadperm isn't that bad in comparison.) The waves eventually go away and your lair won't look any different from any other method. I believe they'll lock you up any size you'd like, but yes, they will look thinner in the beginning because they're twisted so tight, but when they relax they will thicken up.

Crochet is fine too. Your dreads will look fuller immediately, but might be a little stiff and stick up a bit until they relax. But if they're done right, they should be full and fairly tight immediately. You are going to get some frizz a bit faster this way, since crocheting can break the hair more easily than a dread perm though.

Since this was posted last year (and it looks like you're sportin' dreads), which method did you choose?

Ahahaha you guys crack me up. I did end up going with a dread perm. The whole process took more than 8 hours. The locktician talked me into it because my hair was sooooo long that if she croched the dreads it would of took alot longer than 8 hours. Plus she charges by the hour to crochet and a dreadperm is just a flat rate.