I had dreads in high school - I *loved* them! I did them myself (bleached my hair first to 'rough it up' a little, I usually have shampoo-commercial hair and can't even tease it when it's in good nick) and they lasted months. I did comb them out when I grew tired of them but it was HARD. It literally took days of sitting there with a fine-toothed tail comb and bottles and bottles of conditioner to help smooth it out while I combed each dread from the bottom up... and it took a few weeks for my hair to recover from the ordeal. Most people end up just cutting them out as it's a lot of effort and the damage is irreparable in most cases.

I'm in the process of cutting out the damaged hair from bleaching, I know it breaks one's heart to go the chop due to damage but it really is the best way! I've just had another cut today and I'm rocking a really shaggy bob/crop with a big fringe - it looks super cute (if I do say so myself!) and if I maintain it for a few months, I will get rid of the dead hair and can start growing it out again, but with that shampoo-commercial hair I used to have!
Dreads are awesome and I think they look amazing, mine never smelled (and I hardly ever wash my hair, even without dreads it's like, once a fortnight when I can be bothered) and they really were quite easy to maintain. But as I and others have said, it's pretty much prolonging the inevitable - the dreaded chop!

Good luck with the decision... at least it's only hair, right? Grows back and all that... bah who am I kidding, I *love* my hair and hate to see it snipped off! xx