Forum Activity for @nicole-binns

Balding?

General Questions

The name of this is 'traction alopecia.' It means: baldness caused by pulling tightly. This can happen if you do anything at all that pulls very tightly on the roots of your hair for a long time. It happens to people in the Sikh religion who wear their hair tied up tightly in a bun on top of their heads, for instance. It happens often to black people who have very tight braids or cornrows.And it could happen to someone with dreadlocks if your locks are made so tightly that they are pulling painfully at the roots. If you actually feel tightness at the roots, all the time, you might be making your locks too tight. If your locks are natural, then the roots will have a couple inches of loose hair that hasn't locked yet, and that's good - that looseness makes the hair flexible and it doesn't pull tightly enough to cause traction alopecia.To prevent it, you have to make sure that you don't pull the hair into an unnatural, strained position where you can feel a lot of tension. If your hair hurts, you need to adjust it somehow so it's looser and so the tension is distributed over more of the hair.The lady with the longest dreadlocks in the world, the lady with the Guinness World Record - I saw her picture and somebody commented that she had some baldness up at the front sides of her head, and I could see it. (I forget which web page this was on.) It was probably traction alopecia. It gives you all these short hairs that won't grow long anymore - they just grow a couple inches and then fall out.I don't want anyone to worry about seeing lots of short hairs on their heads, though. The short hairs are new hairs starting over. I just mean if you see a large patch, usually up at the temples and the top of your head, where large areas of hair won't grow long anymore.You can google 'traction alopecia' and see pictures.

dreads and jobs

dreads jobs employment issues

This is in the 'you can do it' category. Today I finished filling out the paperwork at Manpower, the temp agency, to get hired for a second job. I already have one part time job but I need another.I had an advantage because I had a job with them in the past, so they already knew me. I wasn't applying for a job with total strangers. But still, I felt insecure because I have locks now and I look even LESS 'neat and tidy' than I used to look. (I've always been a little sloppy and have always had 'non-mainstream grooming.') I wore my locks in sort of a french braid wrapped into a bun and it looked about as neat and tidy as it's going to get (other than, say, wearing a hat over them, but I can't stand hats, and the most I might wear would be a loose kerchief or something.)My locks are messy because I am doing a no shampoo neglect method, and I don't twist or do anything to the roots. So I have loose hairs, which don't bother me - I sort of like them that way. But the only thing that makes me feel insecure is the greasiness. You can't tell that the locks or roots are greasy, but the loose hair strands look greasy. So I did the best I could to just tuck the loose hairs back over my ears. I was feeling anxious and insecure at first.I didn't get the 'ick' look from either of the neat-and-tidy office ladies who helped me finish filling out my application and doing the tests that I had to do. They were pleased that I did well on the computer tests and they didn't seem to express much disdain or displeasure about my hair. I didn't get the 'We need to have a talk about your hygiene' feeling from either of them. (Note: I am not merely wearing unwashed locks, I also have a female mustache and I don't wear deodorant, so, just about every possible thing that can 'go wrong' with my hygiene has indeed gone wrong.)I am proud to be natural, but very insecure and self-conscious when I go into environments where everyone else looks tidy, especially if it's other females. I feel much more secure when I'm with other people who are also natural looking or sloppy or long-haired. There are some jobs where they tolerate a variety of grooming styles, like computer programmer jobs, but I never did finish learning computer programming (I have learned only a tiny bit, in the past).Before I left my apartment, I was looking and looking and looking in the mirror, trying to arrange this or that strand of hair, and taking photos of myself. I guess I was less scared than I have been at times in the past, though, when I used to have to apply for jobs when I had no work experience. At least now, I have experience and I can pass some tests.I got through the paperwork and she offered me a temp assignment right away, but I have to work out the schedule with my other job, so I might not be able to take the assignment just yet. But still, I will have a second job soon even if I can't take this particular assignment.So it is a relief. Now I will have less worrying about money and paying my bills. I will go into the temp job and I'll worry about my looks for a couple days, but I'll get used to the people there, and they'll get used to me, so hopefully I will calm down and not be so anxious soon.I posted this because I've seen other people sometimes worrying about what will happen when they apply for jobs while wearing dreadlocks. I think that many employers are surprisingly a lot more tolerant than you think they are. Maybe not all of them, but lots of them, will hire you anyway.(On a totally irrelevant side note, my Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince audio CD came in the mail today! Yay! So I have something to listen to tonight. I've been listening to all the books on CD and really enjoying them.)
updated by @nicole-binns: 07/22/15 05:21:47AM