I've often joked, to myself, that I should make a t-shirt that says
"Yes, they're clean...No, I don't smoke weed...etc, etc." Everyone has
the same questions, so much so that I've decided to answer them all
here.
So why do I wear dreadlocks?
Mostly
because they are beautiful. I have loved them since I first saw them.
(even before I saw my first head of dreads I fell in love with Bo
Derek's cornrowed hair in the 1979 Movie "10". I remember being about 10
or 11 years old spending hours trying to braid and beading my crazy
blond locks) Oh and how I would cut out the "dreads" or mats, as my Mom
called them that kept growing in the back of my head, due to using an
inadequately soft child's hairbrush for this thick crazy mane of mine.
That lead to the Most Wretched Chapter in The History of my Hair..."The
Dorothy Hamill" (I love you so much, but still don't forgive you for
that one Mom), however that's another story.
I decided
at 17 or 18 years old Dreadlocks were for me, and asked our Housekeeper
Sonia to help put them in my hair. Sonia was fantastic and helped me
with my hair processing many times, but she told me that she'd have to
work a lot of wax into my hair and when I no longer wanted them I'd need
to shave my head bald to be rid of my dreads. Well, that scared me out
of getting dreads, I wasn't into the shaved head commitment yet. Still
wanting them I was ready to commit a few years later. Mom put her foot
down, with a long list of reasons (like I'll never get a job, a
boyfriend, or married, and they'll stink, and the 'what would
her
friends think???') Even after moving out on my own, I kept revisiting
the idea every year or two, get myself really excited and allowing
myself to get shot down by other people's opinion. I often heard "your
hair is your most beautiful asset, why do you want to
ruin it?"
Yet every time I saw a person with dreads my heart would swoon over their locks,
especially
blond dreads. I remember being at an outdoor concert, in a park, with
my daughter, and my parents...and a few girls spread out a blanket and
sat in front of us. One was wearing her blond hair in gorgeous dreads. I
was in love with her locs! She looked so beautiful, carefree, a
goddess, she had a 'wild', untamed look, and she looked so confident,
she was magical and mystical, she was vibrant and alive....but most of
all she looked FREE. I couldn't take my eyes off of her, she had an aura
of freedom around her, and I wanted to be that. I resonated with that!
Every cell of my being yearns to be that beautiful, confident,
wild-woman, goddess, warrior-of-peace. Mom leans over to me and whispers
"disgusting" in my ear. Years go by again.
I suppose
it helped being married to someone who not only loves me, and believes
in me, and always gives me the confidence to be true to myself, and to
make the opinions of others not matter anymore. But I did still
respectfully wait until after my parents had passed to dread my hair.
Perhaps it was then that I really was free. I started them on the Summer
Solstice June 2012. They were a promise to me, to be true to myself,
and my personal and spiritual beliefs, to be an artist, to remember I AM
AN ARTIST, to always keep learning and growing. To look in the mirror
and be reminded of who I am, of who I intend to become, and not fall
into the old mindsets, I AM FREE.
My
locs did not lock up over night, and it was a process to become mature
beautiful dreads, very much like the process of getting in touch with
myself and dropping old thinking and mentality, but 3 years in I feel
like I am doing great, on both fronts.
I was just starting my dread-journey, but the word 'Dreadlock' made
still me somewhat uncomfortable. my hair is nothing DREADFUL, it is
wonderful and beautiful. It is bold, it is a statement, I know I am sure
to run into some stereotypes, but I just don't like the term "dread". I
read about and respect the Rasta, and what dreads mean to their
culture, because they have become synonymous with dreadlocks. However, I
was happy to find that many other cultures have worn dreadlocks too,
such as Ancient Celtics, and Holy Men in India and Asia. What really
excited me was to find that the Queen of Poland wore dreadlocks in the
back of her hair, and during that time they were called Elf-locs or
Fairy-locks. The folklore told that elves or fairies were responsible
for the matted hair by the back of your neck, because it tangled as they
played in it and wove it while you slept. It was also considered bad
luck to remove Fairy locks from your head! Well that's it! I WEAR
FAIRY-LOCKS! It's perfect. Especially for someone who has always
believed in magic.
So
I brushed my mane one last time, sectioned my hair with little rubber
bands and my sisters help, used a method called twist and rip, and was
off on my journey. I found if you do not use wax, or any conditioner
they will not smell, and you could, if you took the time and care brush
them out if you no longer want them. SOLD. After twist and rip and 7
months of 'neglect' they were getting weird. I got the help of a
talented loctician,
Amy at Raging Roots in Enfield, CT,
who preformed some magic with her hands, a crochet hook, and some love.
Now they were looking pretty good. I did loose a lot of length by
putting them in. I felt like the first year my hair was getting shorter
and shorter as they tightened.
On my second year, I hit a milestone. Dreads are considered 'mature'
at two years old, and at this time you've really 'committed' to them.
Brushing them out is really not much of an option any more, at least
without cutting a good amount of length off. Speaking of the length, for
not having cut my hair for two years I really thought it would have
grown more, especially considering how it well grew before! I decided to
go back to Raging Roots for a set of extensions. Yeah I know it's not
the 'all natural' vibe this hairstyle gives off, but I have waited over
25 years to have long dreadlocks (or I should say Fairylocs) I'm putting
back some of the length I lost...(and maybe a little more) Amy did and
awesome job of matching the organic bumpy loopy texture of my own hair
into the extensions she custom made for me. So I started being asked "
is that all
your hair?" Umm, Yes. The hair I grew, AND the hair I
bought. It's all mine. And so is the confident warrior-of-peace,
goddess, wild-woman freedom that comes with wearing them.
ૐ Namaste'
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