This is so unsettling.I was at work when one of my coworkers stopped to question me about my dreads. She seemed puzzled as to why my hair wasn't all stinky and gross. Couldn't seem to fathom it. So I explained to her that I keep my dreads very clean, as one would their own hair, that for the most part it's just a misconception or that it's due to poor knowledge of maintenance. She seemed even more confused, and I asked her why.She explained to me that her son wanted dreadlocks, which was why she was asking me. That she refused to let him do it because someone had informed her that the only way to make dreadlocks was by rubbing horse manure in your hair and then never washing it. Ever.I didn't even know what to say to that.Where do people come up with this stuff? The internet, unfortunately, as I found by doing a quick google search on the phrase "dreadlocks horse manure". There's even a site that claims the original origin of dreadlocks to be from some ancient tribe in India and that the only true way to make dreadlocks is to rub horse manure in it, like the tribe did apparently. Actually there are quite a few online references to using this "method" for dreadlocks.I understand that there's a fairly common perception of associating dreadlocks with uncleanliness, and I've been questioned about it previously, but that one knocked the breath out of me.Has anyone else been hit with out of this world questions or concepts regarding dreads?
updated by @mandy2: 02/14/15 06:26:37AM
lies lies lies!
Yeahh... a homeless guy informed me of the same thing... even as he was standing close enough to smell me... it baffles me that people can say such things to others, only because of the way they're growing their hair... I mean, I don't walk up to people with a pixie cut and inform them that the only way they could have possibly done that is by letting a duck pinch/bite off little sections of hair until it looks right...I also get told pretty regularly that my dreads are 'wrong'... which always makes me laugh. I get it from a girl that I used to work with a lot... she asks about the dreads, and then informs me that they are 'wrong'...something in my brain always goes " wait...what?".xDBest advice is, just learn to laugh at it! Most people will believe what they want regardless whether or not the truth is staring them in the face. So just laugh at the silliness and love the dreads!
Yeah, I met a guy once at the mall who got one of the dreadheadhq kits, and told me that I was doing mine wrong. He also told me that he has had dreads 4 other times, and usually cut them off after a month or two because they got so "out of control". I also had a guy once that told me I was being racist by having dreads. I've looked into it a lot, but I still don't understand the reasoning behind that.Maybe I'm just a magnet for verbal dread abuse. xDLol..
wellim not really sure completely but i believe there are 2 groups of holy men in india who do some rather strange stuff not to foem dreads ofcourse but as a way to be more holy 1 rubs theyre bodies and dreads in the ashes of the dead raiding cremations to obtain the ashes the other conciders cow urin e and feces holy they i think drink the urine or bathe in it i forget which and do something simular with the cow shitso although they do not do it as a means to grow dreads there is a tinyt truth to the fact that 1 small group on india does in factt do something simularbut for someone to think thats the only way or correct way to9 get dreads? thats insanity
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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
It's amazing the misinformation that's on the internet.It's also amazing how I never noticed it until I actually started letting my hair dread. I guess myself, as well as a lot of other people out there, assume that if it gets high rankings on search engines, or that if it's well known, it means it's legit info.I think what would be awesome is if Mythbusters did a segment on dreadlocks. Ha! 
It's really strange how one hairstyle can be so misunderstood.
Yeah, sooooo sad. Since I have been dreading I have been hit with the "you don't wash your hair" myth a zillion times!!! I have even had people lean over to smell me!!! Lame. I saw a fellow dreadie at a carnival recently...his dreads were about to his knees. I heard a lady say, "Oh my god, I just know that one over there smells!" I was sooo insulted and I didn't even know the poor guy. Given what she said, I had to find out for myself...turns out, he did smell...like sandlewood...yumm 
Panterra Caraway said:</ I heard a lady say, "Oh my god, I just know that one over there smells!" I was sooo insulted and I didn't even know the poor guy. Given what she said, I had to find out for myself...turns out, he did smell...like sandlewood...yumm
comments like that make me amd and i react back whether they are directed at me or not.a nice come back would be to very loudly state(so as to gather attention)" i'm sorry but if anything around here smells its your ignorance"
i have had people stand in the bus rather that take the ONLY seat left next to me and i mean no standing room left and yet they stand.
a women behind me asked if it offended me when the 10th person walked down the bus looked at me and squeezed back into the crowd and in a loud voice i stated id rather not sit next to such people as they obviously have nothing to offer as a human being and then went on to have a loud discussion with her about how dreads are actually formed, others joined in ther dreaducation both to inform themselves and to help make the bus uncomfortable.Some people are gems you just gotta look for them.
Yeah someone told me I was doing my dreads wrong. I made up some excuse about how the loctician I went to didn't see white people because they don't have nappy hair.I didn't feel like explaining "well, I decided to twist and rip...no it isn't painful, so I twisted and ripped and now do baking soda was...yes baking soda"lol whatever works! They'll look good in a year
