When people first decide that they want dreads, some of them, as i did, will look for the quickest way possible to get the classic bob marley looking locks that are conventionally considered "dreadlocks".
On discovery that the only safe way to form dreads is to stop combing and conditioning the hair and to go on a dread "journey"(I twisted and ripped mine but virtually all of them loosened and formed their own knots), some people, including myself, formed the opinion that there is going to be a considerable amount of time where the hair will look "bad" before it turns into fully locked hair which will be "good" and that the process should be some kind of rush to the final goal.
Once I started my journey, my mind started to change, I began a slowrealizationthat has recently come to fruition and that is: although fully mature dreadlocks are beautiful- So is the hair that begins it's journey on day 1. There is something exquisitely beautiful about hair that has been allowed to move and shape it's self as it wants, it is one of the most natural things that a human can do.
My dreads are far from fully mature, hell from some angles they don't even look like dreads, and a few of em are still just my normal hair. But you know what? normal, unconditioned, uncombed, undisturbed hair is beautiful too and everyone shouldappreciatethat.
and finally, a piece of advice to any person early in their journey, as I am: It doesn't matter what stage of your journey that you are at, it doesn't even matter what your hair looks like (hell, the amount of people that have said to me "dude where have your dreadlocks gone?" is unreal lol) the fact is that you have liberated a part of your identity and you have relinquished a part of your appearence to nature, and that, my friends, makes your dreads special, and beautiful. This, i believe is the real beauty of Dreads, not how tightly knotted they are.
updated by @ginger-rasta: 02/14/15 08:14:10AM
