I want dreads but I dont

Hi everyone! A month and a half ago I started dreading, but only lasted a little over a week. I'll tell you why:

1. I missed my soft hair and being able to do cute stuff to it.

2. It was itchy and dandruffy.

3. I was worried about being judged. (i'm in high school)

However, I still think about doing it all the time. I love the meaning of having dreads and everything that goes along with them.

anyone have any ideas for how to either convince me or tell me to just pass on this?

updated by @hannah: 01/13/15 09:40:44PM

I think your biggest problem is going to be getting over your anxiety about being judged. The itchiness and dandruff have some pretty simple fixes and you can still do plenty of cool stuff to kind of style your dreads. I also wanted dreads forever but after attempting it once in high school I decided against it because of some not so nice things my family had to say about them. Its a few years later and I started the dreading process again about a month ago and still had some concerns about being judged. I'm in college and in a fraternity so me getting dreads was something a lot of my brothers questioned and jokingly gave me a little shit for, but you'll come to find that the people worth knowing in this world aren't going to care what you look like. My preppier friends always rip on me for my dreads and I rip on them for dressing like a bunch of dorks haha. At the end of the day outward appearance holds little real significance and if dreads are something you want your experience will most certainly being a fulfilling one.

if u want o dsread you will allways want to dread some have come here after wanting to dread for 30 or more yers and finaly starting in their 60s

they always say i wosh i had started way back when when i 1st wanted to

dreading makes i stronger so the judgement of others wontmatter at all

you just wont care

why should you..your doing what makes u happy..what makes u feel like u

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

You may just not be ready for the dread journey at this time. I do agree with SE that once you've got the want to dread, you don't really lose it until you follow through with it.

As for the itch and dandruff, yes there are fixes for that. Search around the site, you'll see a ton of advise for it.

Now, onto missing your soft hair, look over all of the pictures on the site... People have hundreds of different ways they have decided to dread their hair. From just having one or two "trial" dreads, to half a head, to leaving just your bangs free.

I'm in high school too.. I used to be a kid who had to wash/comb my hair about everyday before i went out or i would feel very insecure. like SE said, at one point or another you just won't care about the judgements.

Honestly it's always gonna be tougher for a young person to dread if they don't have an inner circle who is also into the same culture. At your age your brain is hard wired to want to fit into a group. I'm not saying this to be negative, just if you do decide to do it, it would definitely help if you had someone close to you do it too. I'm almost 35, and like SE said it takes many of us a long time to actually do it. I've always wanted them too, and if you feel the same you will get them when you are ready

I just watched this video, maybe this is a style your interested in..?

http://youtu.be/t4kqbc6R0O8

Honestly in my opinion and from personal experience, dreading in highschool is actually helpful, yeah you are going to have certain people make judgements, but if locking your hair has a truly deep meaning to you, then the people judging you aren't worth talking to begin with. Yeah, honestly i have experienced an ok amount of rejection in school, but when you stop caring so much about these judgements, that is when you truly start learning who you really are as a person.

I completely get you. SE and I have spoken about employment. For me, I want to be a midwife and I'm starting work in a hospital. I'm probably going to get shit about the "hygiene" issues. I'll fight for my piercings for a start (they're all in my ears apart from my tongue, nose, septum and belly, of which only my nose will be seen, and Hindu's are allowed them where I'm going to work so fingers crossed) I wear small, pretty jewellery anyway! The rules say "hair must be brushed and clean", myargumentis, for theforeseeablefuture I want loose bangs, so yes, they'll be brushed I reckon you should do a dread or two to start with You can see photos of mine on my profile. I'll add to them but getting a few done at first has made me learn and be ready for the others

Meh, I know what you mean. I don't really really really want dreads. It's just totally impossible for me to keep loose hair because it's so coarse and curly that it requires insane amounts of maintenance and combing. And with the combing I'm also pulling out healthy hairs and such and I'm not really ready to go bald yet. And all the little coarse hairs get stuck in buttons, zippers, my dogs' collars and even pins in girls' hair (it might sound funny the time that it happened my scalp hurt for like 2 days). Waking up and not having to comb my hair is pretty awesome too.You shouldn't let your hair dread if you like your loose hair and you don't mind the maintenance. The "meaning" part is just silly. You don't need dreads for that. You can just start not caring about what all the zit-faced jocks think and you're already three quarters of the way there, without getting rid of your soft and "capable of cuteness" hair.When you want to get dreads and are more certain about that being what you want you can just try again.