I started my dreads while living in a different city and 100 miles away from my parents. It was probably a year before they noticed that I had been doing something different with my hair than the old and boring silky smooth brushed out super long hair I always had. For years she told me how she couldn't understand that I could dread up hair that was so beautiful.
Slowly my family got used to seeing me with a different style than they were used to me having. My mom would sometimes still make comments about how ugly she thought they were and didn't understand my decision. This was until she started witnessing compliments from all sorts of people and how beautiful they thought my hair was.
Now I've actually witnessed her brag to someone about how long and beautiful my dreads were. She finally realized that long dreads were a status symbol and something to be proud of...