Lifestyle vs Dreadlocks

I live on the coast of Ireland and I surf a lot. The surf is much better in the winter and some days I spend up to 5 hours in the water. During December/January there will be frost/snow outside when I'm getting in the water to surf. A lot of times it is dark by the time I'm done and freezing cold outside. I am so sick of waiting for my hair to dry, it can take HOURS. I've often had to go to bed with damp dreads which feels horrible, and sometimes it causes me to wake up sweating several times during the night. Sometimes I surf for several days in a row, and my hair is pretty much constantly wet for those days and causes it to just look completely messy, loose hair sticking out everywhere like I've been dragged through a bush, which is a look that I don't want.

I've tried using a hairdryer to help speed up the drying process but some of my dreads are really, really thick and sitting down waving a hairdryer around my head is not how I'd like to spend every evening. Not to mention I go through towels at an alarming rate.

In a few months I'll be working as a surf instructor during the tourist season, which means I'll be in the water several times a day, almost every day and I don't think I will be able to stand having my hear soaking wet all the time. During the summer it dries a bit better (obviously) but I'm already dreading the coming weeks of changing into my clothes and feeling the cold unforgiving water drip from my hair down my neck, soaking my t-shirt and my car seat on the way home. I'm actually jealous of some of my friends with short hair because they will never have this problem.

One more than one occasion I've passed on an evening surf because I wasn't bothered getting my hair wet before I went to bed. See now this has just gone too far...

Dreadlocks were supposed to be an expression of freedom, let them go and do their thing.

But my dreadlocks are surpressing MY freedom, by being a complete nuisance to deal with. I've had them for just over 2 years and have grown very attached to them, it has been a fun journey but I do not want it to continue like this. I am on the brink of combing them out, maybe I might leave one or two in because I know I will miss having them, but if having dreads is going to hinder me from living my life comfortably then they'll just have to go =(

updated by @metalhead: 01/13/15 09:38:14PM

I can completely understand. I was in Ireland for my honeymoon this summer (Early July). And it rained just about every day. Not a lot, but it was definitely wet outside. I was only there for 2 weeks, and I was afraid to wash my hair because the sun rarely came out enough to dry my locks in the sun. Granted, I hear that this summer was a particularly wet one. But When you live your life in fear of keeping your locks dry and not growing mold, you aren't enjoying your life.

How have you been doing it for the past 2 years? What made you startconsideringthis now?

And where do you live? I drove all over, and I have to admit, the west coast was my favorite part. We saw a few people surfing when we stopped at random beaches

Baba...the no sun and tons of rain thing is EXACTLY why I don't wash my hair as often as your recommendation. It's been raining the last 3 days straight...no chance of sun drying my hair in that!

i wet mine all the time in summer

but winter?

why nit just dont surf when the waters deadly cold?

surf all summer but take winters off nobody should be in the water when its cold out

--
My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

They have special suits that prevent loss of body heat. Similar material used by divers in cold waters. So it's less uncomfortable then you might think.The only thing you can do is take your dreads 1 by 1 and squeeze the water out of them. If this doesn't make them dry enough then you should try ripping your dreads into thinner ones. Or comb them out and start over and make sure you separate when dreads get too thick. I've looked at your pictures and your dreads are pretty fat, if they were thinner then it wouldn't be as bad.

I only started surfing last year, I was injured in March so I am only recently returning to the water after 6 months of not surfing. I've been thinking about it for the last couple of months.

Baba Fats said:

How have you been doing it for the past 2 years? What made you startconsideringthis now?

Ankles makes a good point. Have youconsideredsplitting any of your locks in half to make them thinner? That would cut down on your drying time.

It can be risky to split them. That's why I didn't bring it up right away. But we could help you do it if you wanted to take that option

I will say that I just recently tried to split a few of my dreads. Like...right before finding this site. One I was successful with only one side...and had to comb out the other...and another I had to end up combing it all out...so....definitely risky

Yeah I have considered splitting them, I made a thread a couple of weeks back looking for advice on it, yeah it's a bit risky.