What do you call that hairstyle and what is it?
Dreadlocks! You have no clue how many times I have gotten asked by older folks what my hairstyle was called. I'm shocked that more people don't know what dreads are. To keep it short and to the point, dreadlocks are matted/dreaded locks of hair.
How do you make dreadlocks?
My best friend Martha made my dreads. Back in September 2009 we rented a ton of movies, I bought her dinner, and we sat in my living room ALL night (literally til midnight) one Saturday and backcombed sections of hair for hours. Now this is not how all dreadlocks are formed. Some, like my brother-in-laws one random dreadlock on the back of his head... are formed form neglect. Neglect is usually not brushing or combing. If you have normal to oily hair, the odds are you can't form dreads just by not washing you hair. Oil causes the hair to become slippery and then it won't dread, it will just look nasty. Dry hair, creates friction when rubbed together, and knots up to become matted hair. That's how dreadlocks form. Other methods of dreadlock creation included palm-rolling and crocheting.
Can you wash your hair with dreadlocks?
Yes, yes, and yes!! Shockingly I'm actually quite prejudice about some dreads. When I see someone with dreads that do not look taken care of I cringe. Contrary to popular belief, people with dreadlocks do bathe. Now, do I know if all of them bathe... no. Do I wash my hair regularly? Yes! I have oily-normal hair, meaning that if I did not wash my hair consistently my dreads would over time just start to work themselves out. One thing to avoid though is overwashing dreads. Because when fully dreaded you hair becomes like a sponge, it can take a LONG time to dry naturally. Make sure that you either dry them fully or wait a day or so between washing to ensure that all of the water has had a chance to clear out. If your hair stays consistently wet, mold will grow, and that is disgusting.
What do you use to wash your hair?
I use solid shampoo bars from LUSH. You can find them here.
I currently am using Seanik because the sea salt is great for dreads. When choosing a shampoo you want to make sure you have something all natural. Most soaps will eave a gunky residue on your hair, that's what makes it so silky smooth. Lush products are great because they leave your hair clean and smelling fresh without the chemicals you can't pronounce.
What are you going to do when you don't like them anymore?
It's truly hard to think of myself without dreadlocks. It seems as though my dreads have been with me through all of my leaps and bounds of life. It sounds weird to talk about them like a person but they kind of are. This hairstyle has taught me a lot about me and embracing every little quirk. The original plan in my eyes was for me to have dreads until Kris and I decided to have kids. But even envisioning kids in the picture, in my eyes at least, I still have dreads. When that day does come to shed the dreads I will simply cut them off. Not all people do it this way. A random lady approached me in Target one day asking how I could get rid of them and that's what I told her, but truthfully there are many ways to remove dreadlocks, it just depends on how dedicated to the task you are. For guys, just shave your hair. For girls, you can condition your hair for a good day or two, but there is no telling what shape your hair will be in afterwards. I will probably just rock the pixie cut for some time and then slowly regrow my hair out, but I don't even want to think of that yet. We'll cross that bridge when we get there :)
What did you look like before you had dreads?
Exactly how I look now, just with straight hair! But on a serious note. Holy cow. For this one I had to go back through my oldddd MySpace!! But here you go... oh what memories!
Well those are my dreadlock adventures! If you have any other questions, shoot me an e-mail at thepeablossom@gmail.com and I will do my best to answer them, or just leave a comment!
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