Earlier in the week, I whipped up a quick guide to creating your own dreadlocks at home and as promised here are a few tips to keep those dreads looking their best. As gorgeous latino-songstress, Shakira shows, dreadlocks can be super glam and super sexy…they aren’t just a hairstyle preferred by the mighty unwashed – that’s a very old fashioned view.

First thing first, keep those dreads nice and health and invest in a quality shampoo made specifically for dreadlocks. A little bit of research seems to highly recommend Dr. Bonner’s as one of the best.

Get massaging that scalp – rubbing your head (no matter what the hairstyle), not only feels good, but it is key in keeping your hair healthy. Massaging the scalp promotes the release natural oils and also helps to reduce dry scalp issues.

Contrary to popular belief you can condition your dreadlocks and there are specialist versions available on the market. If you want to keep a tighter more matted dread, stick to conditioning just the tips.

Dreads can be blinged up in a number of ways – tread in some beads or flowers for a super sweet hippy chic look, or thread in some colourful flowers and gems for a glam evening look.

Finally, many people seem to think that once they have committed to having dreadlocks that the only way to get rid of them is to shave the hair completely. This isn’t true…stay tuned for a future tutorial on how to remove your dreads without removing all the hair from your head.

If you have any tips in looking after dreadlocks, we would love you to share them with us.

- This is Gems, Signing off!