Happy First Birthday, Dreadies!
General Talk
Yay. Happy birthday
Forum Activity for @baba-fats
dreadlocks changing more than your hair
General Talk
Good to know. I am a Bio major. I never had doubts that I'd get a job in a lab. Scientists are strange people anyways. But it's good to hear from another person working in a lab that they didn't have any issues
dreadlocks changing more than your hair
General Talk
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that growing locks is going to rub a lot of people the wrong way. Before you decided to grow them, you probably, even if you didn't realize it, did some things for the benefit of others rather than for yourself. Growing locks helps release you from that bond. You start to realize that you don't have to look a certain way to fit others idea of normal. Some people get that without locks, but locks do help.
It's good that your locks matter to you and that they are not just forfashion. I couldn't ever imagine thinking of my hair as just hair.
dreadlocks changing more than your hair
General Talk
I hear you with school being busy. I used to be on a few times a day. I'd check every new post and reply as I pleased. The past few weeks have been murder with test after test and lab reports and all sorts of other work to do.
But I know the feeling of looking back at old picks. My locks were really short when they matured. It's fun to look at how they grew over time. When I first started growing them, they were only a few inches long. Now each one is about a foot or longer. It's really great. I can't wait till they are waist length
dreadlocks changing more than your hair
General Talk
I love that you mentioned how they have made you talk to more people. It really is that way. People that normally would never talk to you come up ask have all sorts of questions. Once you get started one the topic of you locks, it's easier to transition into a different topic.
Don't feel odd at all about bringing up not shaving or plucking. My girlfriend only shaves her legs once in a while, and more so in the summer because she'll sweat. She might not have locks anymore, but she's still a beautiful dirty hippie anyway.
And as for having a crown, get a picture of yourself with the sun behind you at around 6 in the afternoon. Thats the perfect time to take pictures anyway (called the golden hour. it changes with the seasons). As the light passes through your hair it'll look like a halo or aura surrounding your head
Amelia Nantume Marie Mayer said:
Hey, what a great question to ask!
I have become waaaaay more self-confident. This might be too out there, but I'm gonna say it anyway:
I have always felt that shaving my legs and arm pits was sexist and totally unnecessary. Sooo, after having my dreads for a couple years, and gaining all that self-confidence, I have become much more comfortable with my whole entire body, as well as my thoughts. I have gained the confidence to walk around campus in shorts/skirts and raise my hand in class in a tank top , and now when people stare, it cracks me up! They have NO idea what's going on! It's great!
But aside from that, my dreads really have helped me mature a lot. I live in a pretty conservative town, and people have confronted me about my dreads quite often (thankfully more are simply trying to figure out what my hair is up to rather than insulting me!), so it has forced me to talk to lots of people I wouldn't normally be in contact with.
I also feel much more beautiful. I used to dye my hair all sorts of wacky colors, and it was sleek and very straight. It did not flatter my face at all. Now I have a sweet little fro of frizzies crowning my flowing locks, and i feel like a goddess some days!
Along with gaining self-confidence, I have been able to wear anything I like, even if it looks like trash to someone else. I don't wear makeup anymore, and haven't plucked my eyebrows inyears. I just feel so much more wholesome. It's for sure the best decision i have ever made. I feel like it has also taught me how to be humble, and how to not get hurt from things rude people might do or say.
So what about you? Would love to hear!
-Amelia
dreadlocks changing more than your hair
General Talk
Very eloquently put. I feel the exact same. This is just a more detailed way to say it than I did
kaedence said:
Haha...this is a BIG question, forgive my big answer...;~}
I've always prided myself on not needing anyone's permission to be myself. At the same time, I always felt this strange sense that my flat/straight hair said something frustratingly inaccurate about me, and it was the sense of this blatant miscommunication that sometimes stunted my sense of self-expression.As far as the ways I've changed along the dreading process, I actually don't really feel like I have "dreads" at all. I just feel like me. Before I dreaded my hair, I felt off, but from the moment I began the dreading process 6+ months ago I felt like I was taking off some false stricture I'd had encasing me my entire life. What feels even more liberating, at this point, is that I'm just mostly letting them do their own radically wild thing despite the fact that some unexpected/close people have issues with that. It even feels empowering to be able to hear their criticisms and consciously recognize that they have a different relationship to beauty than I do.
There is no one form of beauty. A smooth, cylindrically formed, rope like dread is just as beautiful to me as a wild loopy frizzy clump of hair. It's good to be reminded that bigotry hides in unlikely places and open acceptance is available for exploration as soon as we're ready. I feel like I can give people something when I do not let their criticisms degrade the way I feel about my hair. It suggests an alternative perspective is possible---a confidence based beyond the dictates of a commercial imperative that demands commercially procured uniformity (even in "hippie" guise).
But on a broader level, beyond my sense of self-image, dreading has come at the same time as a number of other wonderfully liberating changes, so it's hard to say if one is the result of another. I think they're interconnected. Maybe I wouldn't have come to certain conclusions (such as dreading my hair) until I was ready to come to others (such as manifesting my personal life vision, beyond the mores of society). In other words, I find myself much in the same space as yourself. It is wonderfully exciting, no??
Thanks for asking such a thought provoking question. It would be kickass to to hear more about the ways these experiences are developing for you. Happy journeys friend!!
dreadlocks changing more than your hair
General Talk
Good for you. It is empowering to stop care what others think about you. They not only help with this in the physical sense, but locks can also help you stop caring about how people see your actions
dreadlocks changing more than your hair
General Talk
Not that it will get harder to overcome, but that It will pop up again that I will see myself as the guy, not only with lock, but with SUPER long ones. It only took a few months to get over being the guy with locks the first time, so it shouldn't be hard to do again. But I see it happening as they gt long. Right now they are down to about the middle of my chest. In a few years they'll be at my waist. Hopefully by then I'll grew even more as person to not have to worry, but as I am right now, I can see that it might become who I am for a while
dreadlocks changing more than your hair
General Talk
I don't ever plan on cutting them off, so I can see that this will probably be an ongoing process. Once they get down to my waist, I'll probably have to start explaining myself again, and again when they get even longer, but having overcome it once already, I think I will be even stronger next time too