What Made you decide to dread?

I have always wanted long hair, yet braids never sat well with me as i always thought they looked better on women then men. Thus, dreads. Also, thickish dreads at least for me have a more masculine look then braids.

That and i got tired of rocking waves having to brush my damn hair so much every day. Corn rows were chill but expensive to keep up and started recking havoc on my hair. Afro was cool too but only if you picked it out perfect everyday. Most men in my family are thinning/balding in their mid twenties, but for some reason, my hair has flourished. I believe this is in part because i actually starting taking care of it and letting it do what it always wanted to, naturally. So while i dont associate my dread journey with any particular religion or spiritual metamorphisis on my part, i am happier because of them.

updated by @thundersquall: 07/22/15 11:58:56AM

i started mine for growing uo reasons..my husband and i decided to to dread our hair when we got married kinda as a joint love thing. the more our hair grows our love grows as well. thats what it began, this might sound crazy..but since weve been dreading our ways have become so much better.. i believe by me dreading my hair it shows my changes good and bad and i dont have to carry them inside of me i wear it in my hair. ive become so much more relaxed and just better with stress all together. its crazy but i love it!

I always come across these "reasons for deciding to dread" and I always think...do I even have a reason? I have always admired the look, low maintenance, and general idea of dreadlocks. I have wanted them for close to 10 years now. I even tried when I was younger, my mom kept coming my hair out. It was so discouraging, I would tell her I wanted them, let my hair get all crazy and my friends would even try to help me make my hair look like dreads, although we didn't have a clue what we were doing. Then my mom would freak and violently comb my hair until it was straight again. She also encouraged me to dye it blonde...until I started to shave my head at one point, only to be stopped by friends. My friends would braid my whole head for me at times, and this was close, but not dreads. Finally, Iwent to a salon when I was a junior in high school and got it dyed in strips of red, bleach blonde, dark brown, until it looked like bright ribbon candy. My parents loved it. Odd, so I kept on with this changing the colors of the strips every few months until I pretty much killed my hair. I let it grow out, donated 13 inches, once it was natural in color, to locks of love a few years ago, grew it out again with no dye, and here I am. A little over a month after my 25th birthday I was home alone in my apartment and found myself twisting and ripping my hair. I had a crazy life, I have always felt it has shown on me, now my hair is crazy and beautiful and I wouldn't change a thing. I told SE when I first found this site that dreadlocks are a perfect metaphor for life, lumps, bumps, loops, crazy twists and turns, and so on. Sorry for the length, i'll wrap this up now. I've never been a material girl, or one to fuss over style. I think I was always looking to express myself how I wanted to, not how anyone else wanted me to. Now I can and I will. Not work, or family, or society can stop me, I am me, even if I am crazy, and I love it.

haha the reason i dreaded is cuz i had grown out my hair, then very stupidly did a permanent streighntener cuz i hated ironing my hair. the chemical procces destroyed the natural nutrients of my hair and broke of a ton at the scalp. my hair was origanally thin, but i hated how it looked. one day i stumbled upon a picture of an orangatang with dreads and it was an epiphany :D

and since my hair was so messed up, they r compleatly rock solid locked and its only been 4 mo

i guess there is always a good side of things :D

Dreading is something I've wanted to do for about 8 years but at the time was with someone who did not appreciate the idea and i was young and naive and let him run my life. I have since left him gotten married to a very open minded man and have 4 kids now (2 step children) and wanted to finally start my journey. It's all about the journey for me as I am finally coming into myself and this new life and I figured one of the best things to do was to do what I always wanted...let my hair dread. I have really really frizzy insane tight curls that have always given me problems, it took till i was 22 to even like my hair and not keep it always tied back in a bun or cut really short so when I fixed it up, usually using a half a bottle of gel, i would freak out if anyone touched it cause you touched it and the gel would go away and hello frizzies again, i wanted to let go of this "control" issue and just let my hair do what it wants and enjoy it, let people be able to touch it not take 4 hours to straighten it (no joke) or take a 1/2 a bottle of gel to tame it for 2 hours of "looking good." i think this has been one of the best choices I've ever made it is truly freeing!

Its always fascinating the many different reasons for dreading! For me i had wanted them for years, but never really understood the history of dreadlocks. I just remember being at festivals and the whole time thinking to myself.. why don't i have dreads, it just felt so natural to leave my hair uncombed..Now that i have them it doesn't seem like it would be any different and i feel like I've had them all along, maybe not physically but definitely a mental part of my life.. I would have the one or two dreads in my head just waiting til i got the "courage" to do my whole head. I feel like i was meant to have dreads as a part of this journey I'm going on in this lifetime. I wouldn't change a thing!

I started dreading to keep record of how long it has been since the lowest part of my life, and how much I have improved myself and my life since. I like to think as my dreads grow, shrink, unravel, retighten, it will reflect and serve as a reference point to me living my life the way I really want to. plus its like a forest is growing on my head and furthermore dreadlocks are awesome, haha

You've dreaded twice???I thought you only had one set :O

soaringeagle said:

1st tim,e just was fascinated 2nd time i just had to i felt so lost without em

I really dig this conversation!! It's just cool as hell to me hearing everyone's story. Thanks, Ya'll and keep 'em coming!

I dreaded because I have always been fascinated by the hairstyle and had seen that almost everyone looks great with locks! One of my friends in class also had dreads that were started from braids and hers looked great! She was kind of my inspiration and I decided that my life needed a little change.Pretty much about it.Oh! And I love getting reactions from people, good and judgmental. When the judgmental comments roll in, it just makes me laugh because I know the people know little to nothing about dreadlocks and are probably just insecure about something in their life so they figure they have to pick on somebody. I just laugh and shrug it off