When dreading your hair did your;*age, spiritual beliefs, or rebellious nature have any significant influence/meaning that lead to starting your dreads?~or~*Did you just decide that they looked dope as hell and decide to start at a random time in your life?
updated by @rebekah-abigail-dobbs: 02/14/15 04:44:53AM
How old were you when you started your dreads?
I just started my dread journey because I like the look, but I also think that I have to learn things from that, like being patient and let go.
I also appreciate not brushing my hair.
I started 2-3 months ago I'm 22. I always loved dreads and decided that I need to try it out at least once. I am learning to be patient and they are sometimes more work then regular hair. I am finding out with having dreads you automatically have this connection with other dreadheads. There have been times where people have come up to me just because they have dreads and start talking about them and how I started and whatnot. It's a pretty far out experience and I'm very interested to see how it all turns out.
First time I dreaded my head I was 16. As a young hoodlum, I was rather oblivious of the culture and possible meaning behind dreads, but my older sister suggested I get them and I agreed because I like trying different things. Her friend said dreadheadhq has some good kit that'll get your dreads started. She had no idea what she was talking about. Regardless, I never felt any spiritual growth from my dreads, they were only fashion to me which was all for the best since they fell apart less than a year later and I cut what was left, out. This time around I was about 20 years old when I started. Doing it the right way, I must say, feels as if it helped along my spirituality. Although sometimes I wonder if it's not my spirituality helping me grow such grand dreads. Rebellion is definitely a part of it. I'm so sick of seeing people hide who they truly are because society doesn't approve. My parents and friends said that people would judge me, well "I'd rather be judged for who I am than accepted for something I'm not." I feel it also served as a good magnet, attracting people with similar beliefs and ideals while bringing to light the intolerance of the ignorant.
Dammit! Sorry! After a couple weeks of trying to recover, being heavily medicated and a complete wreck I said to myself 'fuck it, I'm gonna dread!' I quit brushing right then. Everyone had said my hair wouldn't dread. I've had a lot of self discovery in the 16 months I've had them. I'm no longer medicated at all, I can deal with any situation on my own. Dreading was the first step of some amazing spiritual and personal growth for me.
I started my first set when I was 13 and kept them for 5 years. Cut them because they were completely free-form and grew too big. I'm 22, nearly 23, now.
For me, dreads mean nothing. They are just clumps of matted hair. I'm not spiritual in the least. I still don't personally understand how people feel they are. Even after months of listening to people saying how spiritual they are and how they are growing, becoming more tolerant and things of this nature. I can only relay my experience and they didn't change me in any of these ways. I think that if you are a spiritual person, you will look for spirituality wherever you can. This combined with the social pressure towards spirituality that isdefinitelya part of this site, it begins to turn people. My guess is that most people don't espouse these spiritual beliefs outside of this little community. Just my guess. I have toconcedethat there areprobablya number who do, but I don't believe it to be in the numbers that it appears to be. Don't believe me? How many people use the phrase "blessings" outside of here? I never have, and I see it here the whole time.
Now,Idon't mean to say that having dreads does not affect you. You are judged constantly for them in the outside world, and people will treat you differently according to how theyperceiveyou. This has a knock on effect on you, as you will also tend to act in accordance with how you areperceivedand treated by others. For example, people are nice to you, you are nice back.Aggressive;similar reaction. It goes on in this fashion.
dunno where u live or what your experience is but i hear ppl use that all the time everywhrre
u may just have something dampening yoir spiritual connection like alcahol or hard drug abuse or just the situation of your life..it happens tho rarely id say 99.9% who dread have a spiritual experience from dreading very few diont and it might be that yoir just not open to it
me
we;ll my 1st set i was more into the look althoughi was already starting to become mor spiritual but within that year i got way more spiritual tyhen cut them and felt such a profound loosss
a year later i was growing em again and back into living and loving my spiritual life
one day we were in the silent meditation tipi there were 6 or 8 massive crystals 500 to a thousand pounds each (that had yto be carried 10 miles into the woods and up a mountain) th energy in there was so intence 1 orf the biggest..a rose qiuartz just exploded shreading the tipi to ribons but not a peice hit any of th e 30-50 ppl in there
there was no fire nothing had banged against it it just exploded from all the energy focused on it
another time a drummer said to me watch this im going to call down lightning goes out into the meadow in the rain starts drumming wildly for 5 or 10 minutes then when it starts to pour runs back to us 1 guy said what happened i thought u were gonna call down lightening.. he holds up 1 finger just then lightening strikes where he just was drumming and he said it had to wait for me to get out od the way
point being spiritual experiences arent just a "jumping on the bandwagon" thing they are profound and deep and unexplinable
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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1
thank you guys for your awesome replys! I am 16, and just now starting my dready journey. I figured that 16 might be too young to start dreads, even though people throughout my life have always told me i act/look about 5 years older than i am. Hearing your stories, and how dreading your hair affected your personal growth, is truly inspiring 
This is my 2nd time around with dreads. When my daughter was young her whole first grade class was sent home with head lice. I have dark hair and my root bulbs can be seen. Lice eggs mimic root bulbs so i could not tell if i had lice or not. I wasdisgustedand cut my hair. I waited til she was older so that i would not have to go through that again. I am still very paranoid about it. I put tea tree oil in my hair every time i leave the house. Anyway....I was older when i started my 2nd set. I am over 40. I do believe that I have grown with my dreads in many personal ways that are private to me. I try to live a natural life (which is hard to do with so much technology) I feel that like headlice mimics rootfollicles 
my dreads mimic nature. It reminds me that I am part of something much larger than "self". And yes Kelly, I say "blessings" and "namaste' " to people in real life every single day. You should try it...might make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside
