How to get dreads

Before I continue to tell about our journey, I want you to take a look at this disaster of a hair that is easily obtained when making overnight passages. It's not very relaxing to sleep in thirty knots of wind and a boat banging into violent, wrongly-on-the-boat-positioned waves, so you grab a little sleep here and a little there when moment and space allows but only until you're again woken by a wave crashing into the cockpit and you have salt water flowing all over yourself, hair included. Nice! On top of the normal discomfort an overnight sail in rough weather might mean (particularly in such a light boat as ours), Alex was feeling unusually sick during our three days at sea, and thus I took most night watches and had therefore no proper sleep nor time to organize with something so banal as my hair. The longest I slept at once was probably 55 minutes. Tired.com but happy nonetheless. Just need to find out how to sort this mess out before I get a long hot shower and head for the bed. A scissor is tempting but I'll try some other methods first. Any (pain free) advice out there perhaps? Normally I braid my hair in tight braids to avoid this happening but somehow I missed it this time.