What can a freshman say?

Hi all i'm new here but I've been surfing this great site for some days now and I finally signed up so anyway here's a little background of who I am,I am a freshman and I've always been "that different person", I never follow the latest trends or even listen to today's mainstream music you hear on the rave club dance radio that plays over and over you wanna just smack it down, and the song unfortunately gets stuck in your head for the remainder of the day (you get the point). ANYWAY! - before I bore you to death about me rambling about personal kid stuff, me being the person I am,have started my "dread journey" exactly last week on the 22nd and for the first two days I read A LOT about dreads and now, how to 'get' them, the different methods and such. I used this website the most I also was I guess desperate for the hair to lock already (I know now that it takes real patience) so I backcombed a bunch and was eager to see the outcome every morning I woke up, like an excited puppy coming out of its Christmas box. I root rubbed, palm rolled, backcombed, and tnr'd. Yes I know, just last week I did that, didn't wash my hair yet by the way; I don't know how or when... But overall, I want my, in time, locs to be grown (right term?) naturally, organically, neglectedly (real term?), natural is key! No wax or nothing. I'm ready for the journey BUT because of the society we live in, i'm a bit discouraged... because like I said, i'm in highschool, I know I'll get dirty looks, upperclassmen no kidding!Right now my hair looks like a mess but mustadmit some have somewhat very loosely locked due to the "unnatural natural" methods of tnr and backcombing so it doesn't really count. I'm afraid of what my friends will think or say and I know I shouldn't be in any way, I just need some reassurance. I parted my hair in the middle on Friday so I did indeed basically got rid of my side bangs, too "mainstream hip" for my taste. What will they think now? My friend noticed last week a day or two after I started, how my hair looked different and said it looked like "old granny's hair". Huh. There's only one person in my entire high school who has dreads, he's doing it natural from what I could tell, probably been 7 months now including summer break of last year.So, (I know I say that word too much and talk too much as a whole) what can I say to anyone who asks about my hair?- with a good response, that can make them think twice and possibly make the asker feel kinda dumb and ask theirself "why'd I even ask?" especially if they stereotypically say/ask "only black people can get dreadlocks","are you like Bob Marley or somethin?", "what happened to your hair?!" can I simply reply with, it's a way of life,?PS, still really new at this wonderful dreading thing any tips would be awesome from anyone who's experienced or is going through what I am because I've seen loads of pictures here and wow! I'm surrounded by experts
updated by @rachel-marcelino: 02/14/15 06:14:48AM

just tellthen dreads take time

tell them dreads were always just as popular in every cul;ture only recently did it become recognised in any way as having racial significance and that was only by the ppl who felt that way

just basicly tell them the truth

hell just tell them to come here and do some reading and mybe they'll learn something

or just tell them theyre opinions dont matter to you at all

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

or.//bow//say namaste./.and walk away


--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

High school is probably the worst 4-year-period of your life, whether you are "popular" or not. Just some advice: don't worry about quantity when you are picking friends. Its better to make 1 or 2 really good friends than to have 1000 artificial friends, who you forget about completely when you go off to college (or whatever you do after HS). Theres only 3 or 4 guys that I knew in high school that I still consider myself friends with today.

Also it is becoming increasingly "mainstream" to do "non-mainstream" things, ironic, yes, but its true. Everyone wants to be different, but in doing so, they are becoming the same. Don't try to be different just for the sake of being different.

Just be you.

"Dont let anyone look down on you because you are young..."1 Timothy 4:12

am I the only person here who had an absolutely fabulous time in high school?.....

Wash your hair whenever you want and don't worry.

nah my 10, 11 and 12 grade years were pretty awesome.I never went with the flow much either, but in all my schools we didn't really talk about "under clssmen" and "upperclassmen". We never really knew who was in what grade lol. But like everyone else said, it doesn't matter when you graduate whether or not you were popular. All my friends in HS told me to cut/comb my hair, and I told them I didn't want to. Lol simple as that. When people ask you dumb questions, you could just shrug it off or ignore them, or just answer like "Well, I like it." or something.but the take time answer (IMHO) always gets people to blurt out more ignorant stuff at me. Like "OMG no. My friend just "got" dreads yesterday and they look way better than yours." but I think you'll be fine Just ignore everyone who is mean to you lol

Lex said:

am I the only person here who had an absolutely fabulous time in high school?.....

Wash your hair whenever you want and don't worry.

Man, you are way cooler than I was at that age... I think you'll be fine!

people can be horrible, people can be great, take it all with a grain of sand and keep living your life happily, but i bet you find some very open minded and interest people when they realize that you're not stuck on yourself or vanity and know how to just live!

Man I'm also a freshmen (Caucasian) with dreadlocks that i havent had all that long. I'm also like you and I don't believe I should have to give up my comfortabilities for the sake of others. Why should I? I say to not worry about the comments most all teenage kids are mean and judgmental. Why say something negative to someone when you can just keep it to yourself? I always just told ppl when they asked why they were frizzy that they take patienceTo lock like SE said. And then I'd walk away or usually they'd try to dig deeper. Sorry for rambling on and possibly making no sense . Just ignore stereotypes and negative people and embrace those who love you no matter what decisions you make and won't judge you. One love

I agree with you on the friends thing and totally dig the verse

Matt said:

High school is probably the worst 4-year-period of your life, whether you are "popular" or not. Just some advice: don't worry about quantity when you are picking friends. Its better to make 1 or 2 really good friends than to have 1000 artificial friends, who you forget about completely when you go off to college (or whatever you do after HS). Theres only 3 or 4 guys that I knew in high school that I still consider myself friends with today.

Also it is becoming increasingly "mainstream" to do "non-mainstream" things, ironic, yes, but its true. Everyone wants to be different, but in doing so, they are becoming the same. Don't try to be different just for the sake of being different.

Just be you.

"Dont let anyone look down on you because you are young..."1 Timothy 4:12