Dreadies

I've been wanting to write a blog post for weeks now but i just can't seem to think of something 'deep' to write about so i thought i would write a blog post on dreadlocks. Why i have them, misconceptions and just a general "why they're awesome" post.
I would do a video on this but i'm not able to that at the moment and the sound on my phone camera isn't the best. Hopefully soon i will be able to get a proper camera and then i'll be able to do videos again.

Lets start with the misconceptions on dreadlocks such as "do you wash your hair?" *gasp*.
Yes, i wash my hair. Of course i do, can you imagine never washing your hair? Eeeew. I don't wash my hair as often as i used to but i still wash it. My 'normal' hair is not thin but it's not thick, it's naturally wavy which makes it a bit more high maintenance, maybe it was because of the bleaching that i used to do on my hair that made my waves limp and 'lifeless', but it took a lot of time and effort to get my waves to look like something other than bed hair and even then, i'd go to sleep and wake up the next morning with my hair looking .... terrible. I had to wash my hair every 2nd day and it was beyond frustrating because then i'd spend 30mins in the morning either straightening or curling. I hate spending so much time on my hair.
So now i wash my hair about once a week or every second week. That might still sound gross but since my scalp is used to not getting washed so regularly it doesn't produce as much oil as it used to so i can get away with it. It's a huge relief let me tell you that.

Another misconception is that dreadlocks is a black person hairstyle. Granted, i live in Africa and i only see black people with dreads, i've only seen 2 white people with dreads in my life (and those looked terrible). But honestly, your hair dreading is a natural phenomenon - even for white people.

Another one is that the only way to get dreadlocks is to never wash or brush your hair. Again, not true. As i stated, i wash my hair and never brushing your hair (neglect method) is not the only way to get dreads. It's one way, but it's not the only way.

And the last one that i can think of is that when you want to get rid of your dreads you have to shave your head. My mom always told me this but then i Googled and found that you can comb your dreads out. It will take a really long time depending on how long you've had dreads but it is possible to comb your dreads out.

Moving on to "why i have them" and "why they're awesome".

I have them because i'm a very creative person. My style is very bohemian and having dreads kind of completes that look for me, that sort of wild, untamed look. You can put beads on them and wrap yarn around them etc. Headbands just look better with dreads and they just look plain awesome. They're extremely low maintenance and everyday is a great hair day. No more freaking out if your hair isn't doing what it wants you to do one day, no more having to spend a long time in the morning styling your hair. All you do is wake up and BAM. Done.

I am not a Rastafarian and i am not some hippie freak. I know that you get some weirdos out there who are into the whole nature worship thing that have dreadlocks because it "draws them closer to nature" ... i am not that person. I have dreads because i like it and not for some 'spiritual' reason. Some people think that dreadlocks do have some bad spiritual meaning to it and that's fine, each to his own i guess. The way i see it is that dreadlocks are natural. If you don't brush your hair for a long period of time your hair will naturally form dreads. It's God created. Now some people can take something that's natural and twist for their own sick reasons but that doesn't mean that it's inherently evil. Take animals for example. Owls, elephants, cats etc. are worshiped by some people but those animals are a natural, God created creation. I used to avoid wearing anything with owls because of the 'meaning' behind it and the fact that some people worship it (just look at Bohemian grove) but then i realized that it's an animal that God created. It's not evil.

An example of 'lumpy' dreads

Will i ever get rid of my dreads? Right now i'm saying a loud, definitive NO! I can't imagine getting rid of them because i can not imagine going back to high maintenance hair. I won't always have some electrical appliance on me to fix my hair. Dreads also takes a lot of time and patience to form. You don't just make your dreads one day and they're all of suddenly perfect. No, it takes months and months for them to start neatening up. I've had mine for 6 months and they're still lumpy and, as one guy in the mall told me, they're 'fluffy'. Just Google timelines and you'll see how long it takes for dreads to form so if I decide to chop them off in a few months it almost seems like a waste. All that time and patience down the drain.

What method did i use? You get many different methods out there, neglect, back combing, crocheting, twist n' rip (I've heard someone dip their hair in Sprite and palm roll, can i hear an EEEEEW?). After doing a lot of research and experimenting on my hair i decided that the twist n' rip method was the easiest. I did do my dreads myself. Some people go to professionals but i don't think that's necessary. I hate people fiddling with my hair because it never turns out the way i hoped it would.

I don't do anything to my hair now. No wax, no palm rolling, nothing. I'm just leaving it and letting my hair do it's thing.

How did i decide to get dreads? I actually didn't think about it for very long. Maybe a few days. I was getting fed up with my hair so one day i was on Pinterest and typed in 'Bohemian hair' and found this picture:

When i saw these dreads i was amazed and then started looking at more pictures of dreads. I always thought that dreads looked like this:

EEEEEEEEEEEEW!!!!!

But i realized that they can actually look really really pretty like this:

For more pics you can check out my Pinterest board - Da Dreads