Forum Activity for @the-barrellady

Dreadlocks & Discrimination: Interview Questions

General Talk

Great interview, I even have my cup of coffee here with me while we chat. Just a little background for you: I am a Wife, Mother, Grandma and an Artisan. At the age of 49, I 'allowed' myself to be the true me, not how the majority of society wanted me to look, not how my family wanted me to look like, but what I wanted at this point in my life. I previously worked in offices, so I shed the office hair, donated all my office clothes to charity, don't need those formal jackets anymore, and I decided to just be me, the me who I am and not the false me when I leave the house.

1) I started dreads on my Caucasian hair March 11/12, so just over a year now for me. I used the free form method at first and let my hair section itself, but after a couple of weeks I gave in and did Twist & Rip to those sections. The only reason why was impatience, wanted to see dread looking sections right away to see how they would be on me. It was love at first sight!

2) Now, how do people react? Well, my family is still on the edge of the wall with this one. My dreads are not yet mature and the journey does take quite awhile. Many of the bottom of my sections still have various 'fingers' coming off of them, so it is still bushy. Pre dreads I had straight, healthy hair almost to my waist, which my husband loved to play with & caress. . My family does not have a vision like I do, I think being an artisan helps seeing unfinished works of art, which are dreads are...but where was I?....Oh yeah...when I started, my daughter was on the band wagon with me, but right now she still sees the mess & hate it, my son despises them (he is an order & control freak), and my husband wishes I had my original hair back. Now we go to my mother who lives with me, she proceeds to tell relatives from abroad how stupid I look. All these remarks, I REALLY don't give a shit...I am so tired of looking how others want and I WILL be the true me for the rest of my life. Winter is just ending here, so I wore a tam most of the time when I went out, so it really was not noticeable to others that I am growing dreads. I do believe that I am the only Caucasian with dreads in the small town where I shop, so now that winter is over & no more hats, it will be interesting to observe reactions & receive comments from strangers. My family are my friends, I kinda like to just stay at home & enjoy my privacy, so I really don't have friends I hang with to tell me what they think.

3) I have not had discrimination passed my way, YET, but I think that my age may have something to do about that. What I do know is that once all these beautiful dreads are mature, strangers will comment to me then, only in a positive way.

4) For the first year of my journey, I washed with Baking Soda & rinsed with ACV only, and did the sea salt sprays. This is a touch less method (if desired), and I wanted to keep my fingers out of my forming dreads as much as possible. Since my first year passed, I have been using Dread Shampoo in liquid form. I shampoo a couple of times a week and my dreads are very clean. The hair is all natural, no products were used at anytime to help the process, ie: wax, gels, etc. Additives to dreads are a way for smells to be absorbed in, for lint to stick and mold to form. Natural, clean dreads are healthy beautiful dreads, PERIOD.

5) Well now, misconceptions, where do I start? ...dreads are dirty...dreads smell....pot head.....Caucasians should not dread....need wax to dread.....dreads are for young people only...must go to a salon for manufactured dreads.....dreadies don't have jobs, they must be bums....dreadies can't blend in with the rest of 'normal' society....did I say DREADS ARE DIRTY...I did but that one deserved it twice.

Do I feel that any of the stereotypes are true? Absolutely not...Do I think they are true in instances....Absolutely yes.... Well not in my own personal case, but sure, some are true in unique instance, but that goes with anything in life, you know, that bad apple in the crate.

My art shows start again in a month, so I am sure I will get some positive comments. I will always encourage others to go for it if they have the 'calling', and to educate their self first by joining this site, and of course to let them know how healthy dreads are and the feeling of freedom. I am proud to be a Dreadie Ambassador to the older generation. This year's shows should have some interesting conversations.

Peace be with you FiddleSticks268

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5 weeks!!

Introduce Yourself

Welcome to the community. Your WHOO HOOO!! put a smile on my face. How excited I bet almost each and everyone of us got when we too saw our first dread action. Enjoy the rest of your journey...Peace

help! fresh meat

Introduce Yourself

Just noticed all the other posts here, but since I already wrote all this I will still post, but I think the other members kinda got you covered:

Welcome to Your journey Lo Butler. I will try to solve all your worries for your. First off, don't worry about a thing, just enjoy the dreadie ride.....for Caucasian hair you do not need coconut oil, the ACV rinse is perfect for you, just make sure you use it after every BS wash, unless you usually have very oily hair or scalp. Clean hair makes happy faster dreads, so for the first few months, if you can, try washing 2-3 times a week, it will speed up your journey.

You can get your hair wet anytime, just don't go to bed with wet hair or mold may set in, and make sure it dries completely before it gets the next wash.

As for hair length. Ha Ha, did this one get me by surprise. Hair shrinks in order to turn into mature dreads, there is no getting around it. I am past my one year mark now and started my journey with hair almost to my waist, it is now at my shoulders, and that also includes one year of hair growth. The longer the hair, the more the shrinkage.

There is a product sold at your local drug store in the vitamin section, it is called Biotin and it promotes hair and nail growth. Take it for 3 months to speed up the growing, it costs under 10 bucks. I don't know anything myself for thickening the hair.

Yeah, you found out palm rolling is not really needed, but it can damage your thin hair and root system, so try not to do it anymore for that reason.

When and how to separate dreads.

Dread Maintenance

Happy dreading to you! Separating your sections depends on how knotted or matted the sections are together. Some people may have to separate some areas of their hair daily, some weekly etc. Sleeping habits, tams, head wraps etc may cause some areas to mat together & knot faster, so concentrate on those.

For drying purposes and to avoid scalp stress, it is recommended that the sections (where it meets the scalp), be no larger than 1 inch, unless you want fat dreads, congos. If any are fatter, just divide them into smaller sections.

It is best to do this with wet hair as the hair has more strength in it from the water, less chance of damaging any hair strands:)

Have a fun ride. ...Peace

Salt wash ?

Dread Maintenance

Teisha, you should do an ACV rinse after using baking soda, otherwise the BS will slowly fry, dry out the hair and it is not noticeable at first. ACV balances the hairs PH and is also a safe conditioner for forming dreads. ACV is not necessary after every BS wash for people with naturally oily hair and scalp, once every week or two might be okay. Hope this helps....Peace

Teisha smith said:

I just do the bs rinse so far haven't done the acv rinse yet but I'm going to next wash coz my scalp is so itchy still, can I add the same oils to the acv rinse as I did the bs rinse ? (:

updated by @the-barrellady: 07/26/15 08:24:04PM

vinegar alternative question [& natural living changes sharing :o]

Dreads Hair and Scalp Health

Gee Baba Fats, guess if you ever come to visit Niagara Falls, you won't be stopping by my place. All my mirrors will creep you out. Would you believe I never accidentally catch myself in one, I walk past them but don't look, I am just a passing reflection. I love how the sunlight plays with the mirrors & the rooms. They have been there for so long that I don't even think of them as mirrors! Peace

Baba Fats said:

I just like taking down mirrors because it completely prevents you from seeing what your locks look like at any given time. You can't just walk up to one and look, and you can't accidently catch yourself in one. To me, it's theroputic to not be able to see myself. Plus I'm just creeped out by mirrors. It's my pet peeve

updated by @the-barrellady: 07/17/15 09:37:01AM

vinegar alternative question [& natural living changes sharing :o]

Dreads Hair and Scalp Health

A cold head rinse, as cold as you can take it will help your scalp. When you go to a no wash routine, I assume you are still wetting it, so finish off with the cold head rinse, that will sure help ya...Peace

vinegar alternative question [& natural living changes sharing :o]

Dreads Hair and Scalp Health

Sorry, this is a little off topic. You took down all your hanging mirrors, just wondering why? My living room has 7, kitchen has a 4x8 foot, same as bathroom-plus 1 above sink, hallway has 3, dining room has 1, this is just on them main floor. I love bright rooms and these mirrors bounce the sunlight all around.

I don't wear makeup, can get ready to go out within 5 minutes or however long it takes to throw on jeans, so the mirrors are definitely not an image thing, nothing would be further from the truth.

Mirrors can be used for other things than admiring ones image.....Peace

Diving in with an introduction

Introduce Yourself

Do you know that instead of hiding under hats you will carry your mature dreads with pride. Strangers will stop you just to say how beautiful your dreads are. Your mindset has already changed for the better, you will forever after embrace your hair. Kind of like the glass is half full or half empty, all depends how you look at it...Peace

Dreads are Fin:)

Introduce Yourself

Hi Jackie, dreads will certainly suit you. Take the time to go through the dreaducation pages at the top of this site. Almost all your answers will be up there, plus more! I am writing a bit here, so if someone else posts before I finish & I repeat anything, forgive me.

Your sections are now the blueprints to your future dreads, you will now be on an awesome journey. Those sections you made will now need to loosen. To loosen they must be free to move, so take out the bands, they will damage the hair by their pressure points... if they are rubber, the warm water when you wash will start to turn them to glue and get stuck in your hair...use beads instead. It is recommended to wash every 2-3 days, clean hair dreads faster, oily hair causes knots to slip out. The size of your mature dread will be the same size as where that section meets the scalp. To get to that size, they will zig and zag, and loop, and shrink, and it becomes a dread. Oh yes, you will go through a frizzy stage, do not worry, we all go through that with twist & rip etc. You really do not want to re-twist, you will stop the progress every time if you do, and even set back time again.

Oh yes, your ends you say look matted not dreaded. Those ends will not be dreads for a long time. They are the drip lines for water after you wash, so never worry about them, they will do their own thing and each one will be different and on their own time.

Dreads really should not have a braided look, you may want to take those ones out, and twist & rip should never be done tight. Sorry sore arms.

So you do not fix roots, you just wash and separate any trying to join together. Any playing with them will set back time on your journey. Now just sit back and watch the fun begin.....Peace