Dreadlocks

[bwanajzj]

All dreaded, ex-dreaded. re-dreaded people, what made you grow dreads?

I need advice, input, etc., as I am playing around with the though of cutting my dreadlocks off, and this is a big fucking deal to me; it's probably a big fucking deal for anyone who knows what it truly means to bear the natty do.

Some bg info... I've had locks for almost 5 years now, and I really love dreads and everything that they stand for. In the beginning, they were made by back-combing and twisting, and later I used a technique where I sort of pull the dread through itself at the root, to knot it, and I do so in alternating directions, so that the bundles of hair get interlocked.... All the while, I've used various techniques to get loose hair into the locks, such as using a special crocheting needle. They sort of look like tight sisal ropes of various thickness, if anyone knows what those ropes look like. I'm a white male, so don't have the best hair for dreading. But I succeeded after many attempts, and I have really enjoyed growing with them over the years.

Now, I am close to cutting them off, not to rid myself of dreads forever (and definitely not to rid myself of the mentality and philosophy that brings upon dreads), but what I plan to do is start fresh and make new dreads at some point, using a technique that feels more natural and less forced. The act of pulling them through themselves, and having to constantly guide the dreads so that it doesn't become one big mess of a dread altogether, has started to seem unnatural to me. I would rather have dreads that developed more naturally, and in a somewhat controllable manner of their own. Probably just by lightly twisting and rubbing the locks...

Anyways, I want some fresh perspective from anyone who has experience dealing with the likes... I don't want to stand weeks down the line, after dealing with all the hype and questions from family and friends relating to my new do, and think, "FuCK!(% Why the helllll did I chop those things?!"
But I do find the thought of standing under the shower with a head cleared of hair quite tempting, as well as the feeling of wind on my scalp, etc. That refreshing feeling that always followed a buzzcut and subsequent shower back in the day.

So as this is a big deal, both personally, socially, philosophically/religiously, and so on, it's not something that's going to go down prematurely and ill-advised. Therefore, I'd like some input from any ex- or re-dreaded folks, and anyone else who feels they have something to say on the matter

 

[azzazza !?]

i had dreadlocks for about 5 years. i cut them off somewhere halfway through university. but it wasn't a big deal anymore for me, i felt like i had grown out of it. i never had or have plans to go back. it felt a bit strange, as a fellow dreadhead can imagine, as it is such a strong external definition of ones identity; but to me, it felt rather liberating. instead of relying on an external, outward and, in my opinion, somewhat limited identity, i could now simply define myself from the inside out, in what felt like a more authentic way of being. i felt much more independent from what is such a very strong social identity in expressing myself, and able to do so in a much more nuanced fashion. to me, it had become a bit of social straitjacket (lol). my studies into Heidegger at the time probably also had to do something with it; he holds that authentic identity is essentially a nothing which bears something forward from within its nothingness, deriving its strenght from this freedom, while an inauthentic identity is one that holds itself to an external definition of itself, deriving its strenght from the others and how they percieve you. mind you that 'authentic' and 'inauthentic' are technical terms that serve to denote a 'being at one-ness' (the 'self-as-self') of the self, as opposed to the defragmentation of the self that comes with being pecieved differently by others (the 'self-as-others'). in his opinion, it is the difference between a fluid, constant self-(re)defining and a static, inauthentic (as far as the being of 'dasein' ('being-there', ie. the self) goes) definition; the last one being in a constant struggle with its own non-being of its identity (ie. its freedom). a fear of the 'not-being anything' and the inability to communicate itself that comes with that would be the culprit of this peculiar attachment. but thats just heidegger of course. it is debatable whether such 'authenticity' as he describes it is uberhaupt reachable.

anyway, you seem to be in an entirely different spot then i was though, so i'm afraid that might not be very helpful

 

[bwanajzj]

^I follow you, and I agree with many of the viewpoints. I think I seek this liberation that is the bottom line of your post, even though I still stand firmly by the same beliefs that led me to grow dreadlocks in the first place. But these beliefs should develop from the inside out, and not be forced in from the outside, speaking in terms of Heidegger No? Anyways, it's exactly the sort of response I was hoping for. I'm not really ready to respond to the entirety of your post right now though, but I really appreciate the honest input.

I hope to hear from more people as well. All dreaded, ex-dreaded. re-dreaded people, what made you grow dreads? And what made you chop them?

 

[Jabberwocky]

I'm going to rename the thread 'All dreaded, ex-dreaded. re-dreaded people, what made you grow dreads?' and move it to Second Opinion where I think it will fit in better.

P&S------------------------------------------------------SO

 

[muvolution]

Cut em off. It's a good change and a chance to see if your ideals are more than just hair-deep.
I had dreds for like 4 years during school, and ended up taking them off just because i was tired of the upkeep which felt unnatural, like you describe. I say do it - you'll be happy for it.
The only way to grow them really naturally is to live by salt water an sun and to go out daily.

 

[malakaix]

You guys all have many more years on myself.

I grew mine for self-expressive and spiritual reasons, aswell as a means of further understanding myself through other's reactions. I also find it interesting from an experimental point of view with how your treated from different people, authority figures, and general stereotypes.

it felt a bit strange, as a fellow dreadhead can imagine, as it is such a strong external definition of ones identity; but to me, it felt rather liberating. instead of relying on an external, outward and, in my opinion, somewhat limited identity, i could now simply define myself from the inside out, in what felt like a more authentic way of being. i felt much more independent from what is such a very strong social identity in expressing myself, and able to do so in a much more nuanced fashion. to me, it had become a bit of social straitjacket (lol).

I could probably say this is also part of the reason i decided to grow dreadlocks, going to the extreme with self-expression through personal appearance in identifying one's uniqueness, and then liberating themselves from that limited identity and been able to fully embrace their internal self as there unrestricted identity is ultimately what i wish to accomplish.

But i can't fully understand this, without first going through it myself. My philosophy on life is; i must experience it, in order to truly know it.

 

[bwanajzj]

Cut em off. It's a good change and a chance to see if your ideals are more than just hair-deep.
I had dreds for like 4 years during school, and ended up taking them off just because i was tired of the upkeep which felt unnatural, like you describe. I say do it - you'll be happy for it.
The only way to grow them really naturally is to live by salt water an sun and to go out daily.

I hear you! Now I'm craving the tropics - i.e. Home Sweet Home!

 

[bwanajzj]

I'm going to rename the thread 'All dreaded, ex-dreaded. re-dreaded people, what made you grow dreads?' and move it to Second Opinion where I think it will fit in better.

P&S------------------------------------------------------SO

Thanks... I was also a bit confused as to where to put it, and figured since it is a spiritual and philosophical topic for me, maybe it is for others. But Second Opinion is fine, maybe even better!

 

[bwanajzj]

You guys all have many more years on myself, i've only had mine for just over 6 months.

I grew mine for self-expressive and spiritual reasons, aswell as a means of further understanding myself through other's reactions. I also find it interesting from an experimental point of view with how your treated from different people, authority figures, and general stereotypes.




I could probably say this is also part of the reason i decided to grow dreadlocks, going to the extreme with self-expression through personal appearance in identifying one's uniqueness, and then liberating themselves from that limited identity and been able to fully embrace their internal self as there unrestricted identity is ultimately what i wish to accomplish.

But i can't fully understand this, without first going through it myself. My philosophy on life is; i must experience it, in order to truly know it.

First of all - "I must experience it, in order to truly know it." - I wish all people in the world had this attitude.

I grew my dreads as a means of self expression, and also a way for me to spread the love through the entirety of my being. But now, the upkeep is tedious and unnatural, and I know that I can spread the love without the dreads too, so I'm caught in the middle... dreads, no dreads, dreads, no dreads, it's constantly ticking back and forth in my mind. I think I am going for the liberation soon though, all things considered. Funny right, dreads are a way for your hair to stay natural, and grow with the flow, so growing dreads in the first place is a gigantic liberation from societal norms and social barriers. Dreads for me, amongst many things, were a way to signal to people that I will not conform to their nonsense, that I am a naturalist, and that I am on a mission to spread the peace and love. And now chopping them will also be a huge liberation?!? Maybe one liberation leads to another, and with each one, the freedom becomes bigger and stronger. Life is wonderful isn't it?

Edit: I also find it intriguing that dreads can have such a profound effect on people's initial reaction to you. In many cases, I have experienced a very positive first reaction from people, but in a lot of cases you also have to deal with the most prejudicial and premature bullshit ever... there are some unbelievably narrow minded people out there, and dreads help suck 'em out from the crowd. Also, I have been very lucky in terms of my dreads not interfering with my job oppurtunities, but I know some people have a hard time with this one. And not to mention the ladies... I remember getting a lot more pussy pre-dreads... but that might just be coincidence or dependent on the people I surround myself with and so on. But I do have a feeling that the majority of modern girls and women, have a negative sexual association with dreads (they interpret them as dirty, lack of upkeep potential, etc.). Even though they should get wet as soon as they see them, cause they know they can get it going good all day and night long like lions! I haven't let my dreads get in the way of my pursuit of girls though, I still go for it when I can, regardless of their initial reaction to my locks.

 

[bwanajzj]

And another thing...

What did you do with your dreads, after chopping them off?

Enshrine them? Throw them out? Burn them? Did you make a ritual of it, or was it just another day and another bag for the garbage truck to collect?

 

[n3ophy7e]

Merging with the existing dreadlocks thread

 

[azzazza !?]

i grew them mainly because of the well-defined social identity and status, which was a very attractive prospect for an (almost) 17 year old in the middle of his pubescent identity crisis. it made things easy plus you were insta-cool i also liked smoking weed, and they made it very easy to move around in such circles and meet like-minded people.

unfortunately, i found out that much of that was, to a certain extent, superficial. which is somewhat self-evident, looking back now. i think my deepest self always remained somewhat of a 'ghost in the shell' exactly because it was an externally applied definition. it is clear to me now that this shell functioned precisely as what i needed: it gave my deepest self a sense of security from the (in the eyes of an adolescent) threatening world. its a defence strategy that enables you to let any negative judgements about you simply slide off off that shell, because 'it isn't really me'. the price for that though, is that much of your social contact, especially people that didn't know you before you had dreads, tends to have a certain superficiality about it, in that it doesn't really touches you as a person. the more one begins to make use of this (pricey) 'invulnerability', the less genuine meaning you'll find in your social interactions.

and the (perhaps subtle) derealisation and depersonalisation of smoking lots of weed works so perfectly in tandem with this, that it may become very difficult not to succumb to this slippery slope even when amongst very close friends.

but this is all the hindsight of a period of which i am glad its over actually; at the time, i did enjoy them very much, and did feel identified with them. now i think that, at the time, i didn't really have an idea of what identity actually is, but when one is unaware of that, it doesn't quite disturb one, of course. which carries a certain tenderness of naiveté to it.

What did you do with your dreads, after chopping them off?

Enshrine them? Throw them out? Burn them? Did you make a ritual of it, or was it just another day and another bag for the garbage truck to collect?

i actually went to the hair-dresser for it (i wanted to keep as much of the still normal outgrow as i could). i personally didn't care at the time, because i just wanted to get rid of it. funnily enough, my mom insisted i'd take one back home for her to keep as a souvenir. as far as i know, its probably still lying in that same drawer for the past 4 years or so.

 

[bwanajzj]

It's going down tonight. I decided that earlier today, and I'm going to stick with it since I still strongly feel that it is the way to go for me. The dreadlocks are coming off. I am going to make a nice cup of chai, smoke some good herb, put on some chilled music (chliché, but possibly some Bob Marley tunes), and cut them off. I have a decent buzzer to trim it down completely afterwards. What to do with the chopped dreads I haven't figured out, but I'm sure it will hit me when I have them all lying in front of me. The weather prospects are grim for the night... frost degrees and plenty of windy wetness. I think I'm gonna go for a midnight stroll to the nearby lake and forest, to feel the icy droplets trickle down my shaved head.

^I think it's cool that your mom wanted one as a souvenir... maybe I should put mine in a small basket so that I can hand them out to friends and family as visitors gifts. I'm sure some of them would have good fun with that. Speaking of which, my family is going to be shocked, so are most of my nearby friends. Most don't know I've been considering cutting them, many would even go as far as to deny the idea, as they thought that me and my dreadlocks were for life! Can't wait to hear the gasps and giggles...

 

[bwanajzj]

I am now dreadless. They will be missed.

The shower after cutting and buzzing my head was amazing. For the past many years with dreads, I have had to hold the shower head, and make sure that my hair did not get wet, and to do so, it was usually easiest to stand very close to and facing the wall. This was usually not the case when I was in the tropics, as the hair would dry quickly there after showering, but in the colder parts of the planet, wet dreads are a no-go, unless it is during that one day of the year where it is actually hot and sunny enough for the dreads to dry in a matter of hours, or if I spontaneously jumped into a river, lake or the ocean. But now I can stand underneath the wall-mounted shower head, with my back against the wall, and let the hot water splash on my head, down my back, and just basically all over - and it feels fucking great. Not to mention the sensations of wind, rain, sun, and others touching my scalp... WOW! Total orgasmafuckinggasmic! And laying down my head to rest, doesn't require me shifting about and getting the dreads out of the way any longer.

My long-term plan is to enjoy the baldness for a while, and then hopefully grow my hair long again, try that for a bit, and then make fluffy twisted and rubbed dreads - unlike the tight, braided-like dreads I had. But first, I am gonna let this liberation sink in, and feel it's full effects for a while Although I am not looking forward to the useless and naive comments from grandparents and the likes (e.g. "Wow, you look so good without that hair of yours, I am so happy you cut them off... why did you ever want to grow those dirty things anyways? Yap, yap, yap, yap") Anyways, I am keeping my locks until I find out what I want to do with them. I wrapped them in a Rastafari t-shirt that I never use anyways... and I did listen to some Bob Marley while cutting them, which didn't make it easier to make the first scissor move - not easy to take away something from myself which has been with me for well over 4 years, while listening to the man himself sing about these things... I sort of felt like I was deceiving a lot of things... amongst other things, my dreads symbolize my yearning and fight for true freedom, and my devotion to love, and I hope that people will still be able to see this in me, because I do look a lot less sympathetic without dreads...

Anyways, all the best to everyone. I'm going to go out and boast my scalp.

 

[justsomeguy]

before and after pics please!

 

[bwanajzj]

^I'll post some later, as I don't have anything close to a decent camera. Once someone has taken a cool picture of me with the new do[or non-do?], I'll post 'em.

 

[bwanajzj]

I was just re-thinking the fact that my thread was merged with the dreadlocks thread, and came to the conclusion that the topic of removing dreadlocks is deserving of it's own playing field... Anyone else second the idea? Or do you think that the topic will be covered in enough detail in this thread? Personally, I think the topic will drown amongst all the pro-dreadlock posts... Anyways, it's all good with me that my thread was merged, as it might get some more attention here for the time being. But in the long run, I really think there should be a spot for an individual discussion limited to chopping off dreads.

 

[malakaix]

Well i eventually followed suit and cut mine off today, spent a few weeks prior contemplating it.. and after dramatic changes in my life within the past month i decided that the dreadlocks were no longer representative of who i am. I stood there with the scissors lined up to one of my dreadlocks for about 5 mins before deciding 'fuck it'. They will be missed, but i really feel like a new person.. you don't realize how much they are apart of you until you cut them off, to which i am glad because i was tired of identifying with them.

Mine were only just over a year old, but they were resting on my shoulders (I had pretty long hair before dreading it).

 

[Max Power]

I was just re-thinking the fact that my thread was merged with the dreadlocks thread, and came to the conclusion that the topic of removing dreadlocks is deserving of it's own playing field... Anyone else second the idea? Or do you think that the topic will be covered in enough detail in this thread? Personally, I think the topic will drown amongst all the pro-dreadlock posts... Anyways, it's all good with me that my thread was merged, as it might get some more attention here for the time being. But in the long run, I really think there should be a spot for an individual discussion limited to chopping off dreads.

TBH, I don't think a thread on removing dreadlocks would get much traffic on it's own.

edit: Also, when I opened the thread this song came on in my head:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlIGmEEvWbM

 

[That-Strange-Guy]

I want to grow dreads but i have a scalp condition and have to use tar shampoo that feels like motor oil..... and i dont think that will go very well with dreadlocks. But I have always loved them