when a job or school has a "no radical hairstyles" clause get clarification
Life Issues Facing Dreads
I know that dreads ARE religious for many people. However, they aren't, for everyone. If they are, great- you're covered under religious freedom. But if they are NOT for the person dealing with this policy, lying about it will cause problems. For example, if my religion says I have to cover my hair (it doesn't, this is for example) and the work dress code says no hats, they have to make an exception for me. But they don't have to make an exception for you unless your religion says the same thing. neil coe said:
no need to get all defensive..... and your outlook on things are kinda funny...... you must think dreads are just a hairstyle, most of use believe dreads are more...... and no one said if an employer says something about your dread run off and take him to court, most times it would never go that far, as soon as you show you know your rights and explain that dreads are clean, and that, like se said its unconstitutional for them to discriminate against your hair for it may be for religion, dreads come from all walks of life, i bet most places would back down right there and be fine with it, who said its a lie to claim this...... you must of got dreads to be cool..... oh and for you info..... from the encyclopedia
Dreadlocks are associated most closely with the Rastafari movement, but people from many groups in history before them have worn dreadlocks, including the Hindu Shiva worshippers of India, the Maasai of East Africa, and the Sufis of Pakistan......
History
The first known examples of dreadlocks date back to North Africa. In ancient dynastic Egypt examples of Egyptians wearing locked hairstyles and wigs have appeared on bas-reliefs, statuary and other artifacts.[2] Mummified remains of ancient Egyptians with locks, as well as locked wigs, have also been recovered from archaeological sites.[3]
The Hindu deity Shiva and his followers were described in the scriptures as wearing "jaTaa", meaning "twisted locks of hair", probably derived from the Dravidian word "caTai", which means to twist or to wrap. The Greeks, the Pacific Ocean peoples, the Naga people and several ascetic groups within various major religions have at times worn their hair in locks, including the monks of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Nazirites of Judaism, Qalandari Sufi's the Sadhus of Hinduism, and the Dervishes of Islam among others. The very earliest Christians also may have worn this hairstyle. Particularly noteworthy are descriptions of James the Just, first Bishop of Jerusalem, who wore them to his ankles.[4]
Pre-Columbian Aztec priests were described in Aztec codices (including the Durn Codex, the Codex Tudela and the Codex Mendoza) as wearing their hair untouched, allowing it to grow long and matted.[5]
In Senegal, the Baye Fall, followers of the Mouride movement, a sect of Islam indigenous to the country which was founded in 1887 by Shaykh Aamadu Bmba Mbkke, are famous for growing locks and wearing multi-colored gowns.[6] Cheikh Ibra Fall, founder of the Baye Fall school of the Mouride Brotherhood, claims that he was "the first dread in West Africa".
In Jamaica the term dreadlocks was first recorded in the 1950s as a term for the "Young Black Faith", an early sect of the Rastafari which began among the marginalized poor of Jamaica in the 1930s, when they ceased to copy the particular hair style of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia and began to wear dreadlocks instead.[citation needed] It was said that the wearer lived a "dread" life or a life in which he feared God, which gave birth to the modern name 'dreadlocks' for this ancient style.[citation needed]
Cait M said:I don't really care if you feel like I'm normal or not. What I'm trying to point out is that lying- or stretching the truth, if you want to call it that- is not a good way to attack a discriminatory policy on the part of a school (or workplace, or whatever!). Being honest and acting like a responsible, reasonable human being is the best way to work things out.