Introducing myself and question about how to be a nurse with dreads and not upset the boss

emberanna,...as a woman of color and natural hair stylist, many people of color have this dilema of our hair being "acceptable" in the "workforce"..as it s often a challenge just with our natural hair texture alone.. i honor your gift as a caretaker and health/love provider...and until your path leads you to a space where your gift(s) of care taking and other unmentioned talents can be used outside of insitutions, here's my advice.... No need to cover up your locs.. they are your cown and glory. Once your locs have matured (especially if they are separated) you can curl and set your locs beatuifully naturally. google bantu knots, or youtube bantu knotted locs and you'll see ways that you can get beautiful curls as your locs grow. I noticed you already have lovely curls now... you can use bendy rods to set your locs while they are wet and sit under the hair dryer or if you prefer no heat like i said before, bantu your locs while wet on the week end, let them air dry over night and all of your natural beauty will preceed questions about your hair..

you can also always, rock beautiful tams to match your scrubs.. thats an option, for you,.. knot them! lol..
updated by @naiima: 07/23/15 04:12:37PM

Here is another video, I like this one and her dancer hair pins tip is awesome.

Thank you pjae for your words and encouragement. They are helpful and inspiring.

Island Mamma, thanks for the videos. Helpful and I actually hadn't thouht about utilizing you tube.

u should embed the vids into our vid collection here


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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

@ sister rags... absolutely,..merely sharing what i learned along the way ,..its cyclical...and emberanna...my pleasure hope it was helpful. thanks for sharing your thoughts. Sister Rags said:

Wow, Pjae, thanks for the education! I didn;t know about all that.

Emberanna, welcome

So very true, sister, so very true. Emberanna said:

I think more people would be happy if they would let themselves do things like that. Everyone says "I wish I could do that" but you just have to do it or you will always be saying "next year" or "when I retire"

Society wants us to think there is only one way to live. Go to school, throw yourself into college right away before you know who you are, major in something, get a career- often in somehing unrelated because you didn't know yourself when you picked your major, rely on your job because you have umpteen trillion in student loans, rack up credit card debt contributing to the economy, and pay your taxes all while making sure your car is clean and you have the newest bag and shoes.

That is fine if it makes you happy but it is not the only way. Not the single possible path.

People say, "that's smart, do it now before you have a baby". I say, if I have a baby, she is coming too, the next year. Boat children are some of the most well adjusted, well socialized happy children I have met.

soaringeagle said:

my parents moved onto theyre sailboat for 3 years and sailed all round south america

Hey there...I am a physician (male) with dreads...have been growing them for 3 yrs. through my residency. I keep them pulled backed and tied in a bun (not courageous enough to let them fly). It is very obvious that they are there if you look...sometimes I am sure I even have a escapee popping out. I have been in the hospital with no issue at all (county hospital by the way). Those who notice them compliment them...some just say...oh, wow, are those dreads? I have fun with this one. I am also starting a new job this summer with what sounds like a simialr patient population...not sure how I am going to wear them...probably start the same way, tied back and bunned (a bit weird for a male maybe??)...I don't really care. I plan on wearing a shirt and tie, well shaved (well...trimmed beard that is) and my locks. I will hopefully someday just wear them pulled back and NOT tied in a bun...much easier. I am not anticipating any issues...we will see. RootsDr.

Thank you so much everyone for your input on this topic. All the support, ideas, and encouragement convinced me to decide to start the natural dreading process.Emerald, I am glad my topic led you to this site and congratulations on your progress towards becoming an RN! It is a great career and there are so many directions to go . . . I myself specialize in Mother/Baby (postpartum) care.I found this site on June 2, 2 days after I had last brushed and washed my hair ( I tend to comb it while it is wet, scrunch it with a towel and let it curl/ air dry -then never brush it again until the next wash or it becomes a frizz ball). Anyway, at the time, I had not decided yet whether or not to consider this the beginning of my natural dreads or not.This site and the replies to my topic, however, encouraged me to decide that it was time to allow my hair to lock up and I am very glad I made that decision. I used the baking soda wash and vinegar rinse described by Soaring Eagle on June 5 and my scalp felt great- no itchies. And in fact, I have found that my hair and scalp are so much happier not being washed and basically chemically processed every 1-2 days! My scalp feels better and is not flaking- something it tended to do before, my hair is shinier, and interestingly enough, I have not had a single day I consider a "bad hair day" since. I love the interesting things my hair is doing as it decides how to clump and dread and I feel lighter like allowing my hair to be natural is a calming, peaceful, beautiful process.I have also found that baking soda is a great facial cleanser/exfoliant, and a really good deodorant. And I have had much happier skin since I stopped "processing" my skin with so many cleansers with 20+ multisyllabic ingredient.I have had no trouble at work and so far have been braiding my hair and using aloe gel from my aloe plant to smooth down the frizzies in the morning. Aloe is amazing! It smoothes the frizzies and later, my hair is soft and not a bit sticky or weighed down.Here is a picture of me today at work with my hair braided:

and a picture of me tonight after I let down my hair on the way home and cranked the natural AC on high (aka opened the car windows). This is also close to what my hair looked like this morning before I braided it and smoothed it with aloe.:

updated by @emberanna: 02/05/15 10:12:49AM

I knew of a girl who had dreadlocks to her lower back and she was a Dental assistant, all that they asked of her was to not have excessive accessories in her hair, and to not die it an unnatural color.