Coastal Blue Ash 5-Tone Textured Dread Extensions

Coastal Blue Ash is a set of textured synthetic dreads in ash and blue, handmade from low-temperature kanekalon and sold in DE or SE at 50–60 cm. The five tones are pure ash, pure cyan blue, pale sky blue and two ash-blue marled blends, mixed strand by strand. There is no ombre: every dread is its own colour.

The bumpy ridges are set with boiling water, which keeps them in place. The decorations are white and blue thread X-pattern wraps, silver metal beads and a slim three-strand accent braid.

The closest palette is our Mermaid ash-emerald textured set. Here the cool accent is blue rather than green, and the ash is more dominant.

Coastal Blue Ash: key facts

Coastal Blue and Ash: five separate tones in one set

This set mixes five shades next to each other rather than blending them into a gradient. There is a warm pure ash grey, a vibrant pure cyan blue and a soft pale sky blue. There is also a darker ash-blue marled tone, a grey base shot through with blue. The fifth is a lighter ash-blue blend, a pastel cool grey-blue.

Each colour is a separate dread. The colours appear together throughout the set, not stacked from root to tip. The result looks like ocean light through fog: cool, layered, never flat.

Every dread in every colour is bumpy along its full length. Washing and wear won’t smooth out the ridges, and each tip is left raw. We photographed these dreads in natural daylight away from direct sun, so the colours look as true as we could get them. The colour is added to the fiber when it is produced, so it stays the same in every batch and does not fade or oxidise.

How the Coastal Blue Ash set is made

The raw base of every Coastal Blue Ash dread comes from low-temperature kanekalon that we backcomb with a comb. We then crochet each dread by hand, with a 0.4 mm hook for most and a 0.6 mm hook for thicker ones. The last step sets the texture with boiling water.

Making one textured set of this kind takes us between 1 and 3 days. Each dread is 0.8–1 cm thick along its whole length. With careful removal, the set lasts 2–3 installs. Shipping costs and times for your country appear below the buy button.

DE or SE: formats for this textured set

There are two formats. A DE (double-ended) dread has no loop; it folds over a thin braid of your own hair and hangs down both sides. An SE (single-ended) dread has a loop that goes onto a strand of your hair. You then braid that hair around the dread. Not sure which format suits your hair? Read the DE vs SE breakdown.

A full head usually takes 40–50 DE dreads or 80–100 SE dreads. For a partial or accent look, 20–30 DE dreads will do. You can choose 50 or 60 cm in either format. Read how textures shape the finished look in the studio guide on dread textures.

A lived-in look from day one

Thanks to its bumpy texture, Coastal Blue Ash looks like mature locs right away, without months of growing them. Where smooth crochet dreads look polished, this set comes across as raw and layered. The five cool tones read like ocean driftwood.

Caring for the Coastal Blue Ash set

• Washing: dilute shampoo with water at 1:5, and wash once a week at most. Wash the scalp only and rinse well.
• Conditioner: skip it. The dreads are held by thin braids of your own hair, and conditioner makes those braids come loose.
• Tangles: never comb or brush the dreads. Separate tangles with your fingers. If a knot is badly tangled, you may carefully cut it off.
• Heat: the low-temperature kanekalon in Coastal Blue Ash is not heat-resistant. Heat above 60–70 °C damages the fiber, so avoid saunas, open flames, hot tools and hot hair dryers.

Let the dreads air-dry after washing. At night, a loose braid or a bonnet on a satin pillowcase reduces friction. The set doesn’t need a rest between installs, just a dry place to be stored.

For natural-light photos of real clients wearing this set, follow @daddy__dread on Instagram.