I’m always the first to rave about how awesome dreadlocks are. From faux to curly to thin to thick, dreadlocks come in all sizes and lengths, giving us the freedom to do many creative styles with them.
If you have dreadlocks, you’re probably in love with them by now. It’s been seven years since I’ve had mine and I absolutely love them. Like me, you can’t wait until they grow intensely long and you certainly can’t keep your hands off them. But of course, like all great things in life, having dreadlocks comes with struggles. Perhaps all my fellow lock wearers can relate to these struggles:
- “Do you wash your hair?” Yes. We wash our hair. Shocking, isn’t it? It’s the golden question we’ve been asked at least once in our lives and man, is it hard to answer without being sarcastic. You’d think it would be obvious from how great our locks look (duh), but I guess most people seem to think dreadlocks wash themselves. So we answer as politely as we can with hard smiles.
- Finding shampoo. Even though we wash our hair, finding a shampoo to wash it with isn’t easy. Most shampoos have chemicals that can cause our locks to thin or have build up, so searching for organic shampoos that keep our hair healthy and strong can be quite the journey. It can also be awkward when we have to buy them at health food stores and it’s the only thing we stand in long lines for.
- People assume we’re weed fanatics. I wish I could blame Bob Marley for this, but it’s not exactly his fault. Since he became an icon for weed smokers in the 60s and happened to have dreadlocks, it manifested into the stereotype that people with locks love weed. We’ve been offered more weed at parties (and sometimes on the streets) than friends who are actually loyal pot heads. Sometimes for people with dreadlocks, going out for a fun night with friends can be tedious when you have to deal with pot dealers who are convinced you smoke weed. It becomes especially difficult if you’re a reggae fan and have to avoid the weed clouds at reggae festivals and concerts.
- We’re automatically Jamaican. In addition to weed, being Jamaican is another automatic label that comes with having dreadlocks. Just like most Jamaicans, we too have to deal with strangers speaking to us about their boring vacations in Jamaica and doing bad Bob Marley imitations.
- “Are you a rasta?” If we had a dollar for every time this question came up in conversations, we’d be able to actually afford rent. Since all Rastafarians have dreadlocks, of course it becomes our label as well. But that doesn’t stop the question from being annoying. Especially, when we have to explain how we don’t worship Haile Selassie I or why we’re not vegan.
- Lint is our worst enemy. When it comes to shopping for clothes, we have to be weary of how much lint they contain. Due to their texture, dreadlocks are magnets for lint which is why we’re always careful to avoid it or else our hair will end up looking weirdly polka dotted.
- Finding the right hats. When it comes to having long dreadlocks, finding the right hat can a bit hard because wrapping up our hair can cause it to hold a lot more weight on our heads. On the plus side, we look similar to Egyptians in the past. On the down side, it’s hard to lean on anything without feeling like we may have crushed our brains. Oh and then there’s having to avoid hats with lint.
- Surviving winter. Dreadlocks tend to dry out easily during winter even we moisturize them with botanical oils. We’d like to leave our hats at home sometimes and let our hair roam free, but when we have to watch the scary site of our locks literally cringing against the cold, we don’t have much of a choice.
- Waiting for them to grow. Dreadlocks like to take their time growing longer and it’s sometimes the most frustrating thing for some of us who desire for them to be really long. I mean c’mon, they look majestic that way.
- Putting on our nighttime scarf. In order to keep our locks healthy, we have to wrap them in silk scarves before bedtime. This can be a hassle for those with very thick and long dreadlocks because we have to find effective ways to keep them nice and tight without bruising our heads in the process so they don’t fall off at night. No one wants to wake up in the morning to find oil stains on their pillows.
- Touching our hair. Don’t do it. You can ask us, but expect the answer to be no. We understand how tempting it can be for people to play with our hair, but when they do, it turns into a search to see if we have mold or hidden roaches and things get uncomfortable. So yeah, better to keep your hands to yourself.
- Finding the right accessories. Finding the right beads and trinkets for our locks can be a bit hard because we want them to match our style. We don’t want to put too many beads because it could make us look rather childish nor do we want to put trinkets that may give off the message that we’re hippies, so some of us try to find a balance. Either way, we can’t deny accessories make our locks look flawless.
