Let's Get Personal

Oh yeah. I'd LOVE to hear everyone's reason - yes you, and I mean each and every one of you dread-kin people here - on why you decided to dread your hair, or why your going to. (Only if you're comfortable sharing.) I have a passion for psych stuff and in general am just really interested in everyone's motivation for dreading.

Ice Breaker time!

I guess I'll go first and give you my reason: I decided to dread after five years of thinking about doing it. I just turned 29 so my secondary reasoning was, "If it doesn't work out or I look goofy and have to shave my head then I can blame it on still being in my twenties." My Primary reason however was because I really wanted to tap in and pay homage to my native american ancestry; I like feeling like a wild woman, tapped into the land and to nature, tribal, feral maybe, and dreads make me feel sexy and untamed. My totem animal is the horse (trained them for 10+ years) and I have always been very unbridled and un-tame-able since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I sort of refuse to be domesticated or broken, so everything makes sense in my own little universe of self-thought.

Your turn!

Until Next Time,

~Demeter

updated by @shade-of-ashes: 06/28/18 05:26:08AM

I guess I just have always wanted to have locks since I met my stepfather. He's never had dreads but since I was two, he has always loved them and has a passion for reggae music and stuff. Funny thing is that I grew up (although I'm only 17) loving dreads but disliking reggae.

Go figure...

I had always loved them. Ever since I can remember. When I was 17 I got my first set "done" with wax and a simple twist. I was told to not wash for 2 months and apply wax twice a week. When the day came for me to wash my hair, it melted off of my scalp. Just the pressure of the water was peeling off huge clumps of hair. I felt like I was a chemo patient. I ended up having to shave my head and start over. I lost about 1/3 to 1/2 my hair.

Then I started studying Rastafarianism. It never stuck, because I can't get down with a single judao/christian god. I Like Native American spirituality so much, and mix and match what I believe from different groups. But while I was studying Rasta, I came across a post that said that the longer and thicker your locks were, the easier it would be fr Jah to pick up your soul when you died. I don't consider it morbid, but I think about what will happen to me when I die a lot. I already know what I want to done with my body. But that saying stuck with me. I started growing my locks right away. I stopped smoking weed about the same time too. I know. Funny to stop smoking weed while studying Rasta and growing locks. I'm weird like that.

Anyway. I found that my locks gave me a sense of freedom and connection to thecrazinessthat is the world. I am a ground person. I don't like a fly and I don't like to swim or by on boats. So my locks acted like my roots to the earth. I did use a starter method for a couple. But when I started hitting that messy stage, I just stopped and embraced my lazy self. Part of growing locks in the first place was that I didn't want to have to use gel or any products in my hair (I used to have a few mohawks and spike). I wanted to be able to just get up and go without ever looking in a mirror. 6 years later, That is exactly what I have been doing all along.

I decided to dread because i had always been forced to cut my hair growing up even though i absolutely hated doing so. I also think of myself as a rebel and someone with different ideals than others so i started dreads because i wanted them to symbolize my freedom of thought and the fact that i don't care about what society thinks is presentable. Then over the month and a half that i have had them they have become spiritual causing me to love nature and all things natural and pure.

I was in bed on my laptop watching something on netflix when it just randomly hit me. What if I get dreadlocks? What are they anyway? Could I do it? How? So I started researching. The more I learned the more I wanted a set. I started using a bs/acv rinse while I was still considering it. I noticed my hair became tangled a lot easier. I had decided to wait till I got a job, however one night I thought "well its going to take months to form dreads, so why put it off" that next day I tnr'd my hair. Dreads seemed like the perfect thing to me. I never curled, straighted or did anything with my hair besides dye it and brush it. Everytime I was looking for a new haircut I wanted something that looked nice without having to really do much. Dreads just make sense to me. My reason doesn't seem as cool or deep as others but..oh well.

At first, when I was younger I wasnt a fan of locs. Being a person of African descent there is alot of natural self hate in our community. So while I wasnt a fan of my straight chemical hair I wasnt so much against natural hair, I just never knew it because all I could remember and all I had seen was was the hair that I was raised upon. But once I became in my mid teens that changed. I broke off into my own and I educated myself on who we really supposed to be. I also fell in love with who I naturally was, and so I chopped my hair off to one inch. Now I am loc'ing because I appreciate its beauty and it allows me to be free... in the physical, mental, and ultimately I hope fully in the spiritual. I have never felt better and more in love with my skin, hair, and every other aspect of who I am and who we are as a whole.

Wow, great stories everyone. Keep 'em coming! I am so amazed at the aspect that dreads seem to bring out the true nature of a person, make them feel more themselves, and uplift them, it's exactly the same for me. No reason is too shallow or too deep, if someone said, "I did it because I think they're cool," I would still be awesome with it because I know the dreads would work their magic. Thank you Jeff Mitchell, Baba Fats, Christopher, Rebecca, Breana, and Beijaflor for sharing your stories! <3

Thanks for making this discussion otherwise i would have never told my story and your dreads are awesome by the way.

@DemeterGray

Totally glad you made this discussion too. Honestly I had not really thought about my specific reason for dreading until now.

Well for me it was always something i thought was amazingly beautiful but i never had the guts to try. i always had really long shiny hair and everyone would comment on how beautiful it was and that made me hesitant to change it. Recently however i feel i have been coming into who i am not who other people want me to be. i also have been desiring to live more naturally and eliminate unwanted chemicals from my hair and body and family. When i first revisited the idea of dreading i went to dreadheadhq.com but after studying that and thinking that backcombing was the only way i wanted to eat healthier and take vitamins to help my hair grow longer first since i read that backcombing causes loss of length. My hair wasnt the only reason i was taking better care of myself but it was a great motivation.I decided to research beyond DHHQand im glad i did. after i did some reasearch, mostly on this site, i felt kinda mad at them because they made it sound like backcombing was the only way to go. they took a completely natural hairstyle and made it into some crazy routine with rubbing and waxx n shit.On the mental aspect i have always been hypersensitive to what other people think of me and i decided to get dreads because I like them and think theyre beautiful, not because of what other people think. Mother in law doesnt get it, my parents are trying to like it i think and my husband loves it. And God made hair to do this naturally so he likes it lol. and the last two are the ones whos opinion actually affects me. Its also spiritual in the sense that it is causing me to be patient with the natural process of something (i feel guilty when i play with the thought of crocheting!), i must be secure in myself, and i am also trying to be aware of my actions and behaviors because i see my dreads as the start of my life as the person i have found myself to be( if that makes sense). i wake up sometimes and thinks its super messy but i actually much prefer it to my old hair. My 17 month old grabs them and says "purdy" and i think thats the best compliment i could get (aside from the smile my husband gets when he looks at them). hes been really supportive and encouraging. i am more confident now. Its really just something that has been well integrated into the direction i have been heading in my life. i feel like it was definitely a step forward in my life as a whole.