Reason #21: letting go and moving on

One of the things I'm really digging about my reasons for dreadlocks series is the patterns that crop up!  Today's reason is from Dianna, and it's really two, and together they offer something I see a lot of -- which I think is akin to a rite of passage, maybe -- and something new to me, but probably just as common in the world.

Dianna's more mature than I am

First time out, Dianna made what was a big commitment to her:  a full year with dreadlocks.  (Now that I've passed the year mark myself, I wonder if my five-year commitment was biting off more than I can chew.  No . . . but it's still a bit nuts.)  She says it was "an exercise in letting go" of her appearance, so she could "focus on [her] inner beauty" instead.  It actually also "helped me to see my outward natural beauty" after she looked beyond mascara and eyeliner.

After her year was up, Dianna's hair had clumped into some pretty big sections, and her scalp wasn't digging it, so she took 'em out.  Awhile later, she applied that experience to her second set of locks, which are a couple of months older than mine.

This time around, Dianna was specifically looking to mark a transition.  As she told me via Facebook:

My marriage fell apart, my grandmother passed away, and I left behind a masters degree to take to the road. I travel now, and I earn a modest and plain living working various renaissance festivals. Many of us who travel have or have had dreadlocks. I suppose you could say some view them as a rite of passage. For me, perhaps they are just that, and more.

So yeah, I've heard similar stories, and I will probably hear more of both types of reasons in the future.  Now I'm starting to think I should be doing a better job tagging these posts so we can see what types of reasons we've all got.

Feel free to suggest tags in the comments!  Do it generically or, if you're in a super-helpful mood, visit the list of reasons for dreadlocks and suggest them directly on your favorite post!

Reason #20: life transformation

Only her hairdresser knows they're fake

And then there's Donna, who's the first person I've talked to who had fake dreadlocks put into her hair to start things off.

That was the first thing she said, in fact:  "You obviously know that they're fake, right?"  

As it happens, I did not.  Donna's locks are made of synthetic hair, but it's not easy to tell that they're not all her hair if you don't know better.  She's had plenty of people assume that hers are natural.

"I was going more for Matrix than hippie," she said; cybergoth is more her thing.  She's always had lots of colors, ranging from blacks and blondes in the professional world to rainbow hues back in college.  "I thought if I were ever to do dreads, I would put in extensions."

She has hippie friends who call them a travesty, but she just sees her hair as a way to have fun.

For Donna, her hair was a way to signify the major changes in her life.  "I lost my job a year and a half ago, and I had a major transition," she said, which also included losing over a hundred pounds.  "I figured I wanted to have fun, and have fun hair," she said.

"I had this conservative, straight life, and now it's the reverse," she laughed.

A year ago: scared to shampoo

I left the mirror steamy as a courtesy

A year ago today I was nervous about washing my hair.  It was the first time I was going to try it after the locking, and I had to wear a stocking to make sure I didn't rip them apart.  My hair sucked up shampoo like Jewish cooking does salt, and then, hours later, after they were finally dry, I had to wax them again.

If you're one of those people who believes that white people shouldn't have dreadlocks because all the extra work should be telling us something, you're preaching to the choir here.  By this time a year ago, I realized that making and maintaining dreadlocks, at least using my chosen methods, was much more work than I'd ever done on my hair before.

Of course, I also was starting to have more fun with my silly hair.  I asked a dreadlock poll question which had such epic rhymes that thirteen people have answered since I asked it a year ago.  How cool is that?

One year later, I'm still spending more time than I should be on my locks (well, on half my dreadlocks anyway), and I'm pretty much done with that.  Once this test period ends next month, I will be very, very glad to neglect my locks like a normal person.

5 Reasons Why People Wax Dreadlocks

If you're considering waxing dreadlocks, be advised:  you're about to step into a big pile of hot wax yourself.  Waxing is very controversial, and passionate, intelligent people argue for and against it.  I finally decided to test it out on my own head to benefit people who are thinking about getting dreadlocks.

But the controversy doesn't have much effect on the decision to use wax.  I've compiled these reasons why people use wax in their dreadlocks to help explain why.

1. Google loves wax.  Do a search for "dreadlocks" and what do you see?  If you're like me, your eye drifts down past the paid results, and because I'm looking for more in-depth information, right on past Wikipedia, and I click on Dreadlocks.com.  That site gives a bunch of advice, and has prominent links to DreadHeadHQ, which is where I got my start.
   Bottom line:  sites which advocate wax come up higher in search engine results.
2. Wax replaces patience.  "If you want tighter locks faster, you will use wax."  Dreadlocks, like yoga, is all about patience, but there are plenty of people who are interested in getting the results in as short a time as possible.  If someone wants it badly enough, he or she will decide that the information supporting wax is more compelling than the warnings against it.
   Bottom line:  People believe what they want to believe.
3. Smooth is sexy.  Locking hair involves a lot of fuzzy areas.  Getting dreadlocks tight and smooth is a goal for a lot of people, because it is easier to maintain a clean, simple profile with mature locks.  Fuzzy gets connected with dirty in peoples' mind for some reason.  Smooth, not so much.  Wax can indisputably create less of a flyaway appearance, and that's something a lot of people value.
   Bottom line:  People like the look of waxed locks.



Short dreadlocks laugh at gravity

4. Waxed locks behave.  I've had my locks for a year now, and those first few months were rough!  I had to cover my hair or beat it into submission on days when I simply couldn't afford to look ridiculous.  (There were plenty of times when I actually reveled in how silly my hair looked, but it definitely was ridiculous.)  I used a bunch of techniques, including hats, water, and wax in various combinations, one of which I would not recommend.  A small amount of wax in a dreadlock makes it go where you want it to.  If a waxy core really does build up inside a waxed lock, it's not enough to make it permanently into a bendy figure.
   Bottom line:  Wax gets young locks to lie flat.
5. Marketing.  What wax opponents wish wasn't true is that marketing matters.  Every tale told about the horrors of wax may be true, or they could shameless anti-wax rumors, but none of that matters.  What matters is that dreadlock wax is marketed to fulfill a perceived need.  The information is easier to find, and its reported benefits speak to the desires of a wide swath of people.  Opposition to waxing has little to no money, and without a profit motive it also lacks a really cohesive strategy which would link its facts to the desires people have.  In the "industrialized world," people are programmed to seek out the product which will solve the problem in the most efficient way.  That solution doesn't have to be effective, it just has to be convincing.
   Bottom line:  Marketing works because people want the easy answer.

For every argument against wax, there is a plausible counterargument.  It can be frustrating to try to figure out the truth.  The one thing that is absolutely true is that no harm will come to your hair because you choose not to wax your dreadlocks.  Using wax might make them lock faster, or it could put them on the path to ruin, depending on what you choose to believe.  The truth probably is more complex, containing aspects of both sides of the story.

When it comes down to it, wax is a personal decision.  Some people don't ever know it has baggage, and other people don't care.  There will always be waxers, and those who try to talk them out of it.  Which will you be?

A year ago: Styracosaurus

Something about constant, low-grade pain must make my creative juices flow, because the post I wrote a year ago about my first day with dreadlocks is a really entertaining read.

Don't let the smile fool you.

After I warmed [the wax] and worked it in, Robin took the blow dryer to it so it would melt andreally get in there. The heat was enough on my inflamed scalp to make me gnash my teeth and rend my clothing, which is why I'm glad I was wearing a high-quality sweater from L.L. Bean, for it was quite resistant to rending.

In amongst the colorful language I used to complain about how much my scalp hurt, there is an interesting insight:  on Day One, my locks were about three inches long, and the first inch (at the base) wasn't locked.

Down locks are happier

One year later, my locks are 5-7 inches long, and the first inch or two isn't locked.  When I compare the nature and nurture sides, the length is about the same, but natural locks have a longer unlocked base -- they're the ones hovering at about two inches.  I don't think it's logical to believe that wax makes the difference, and I stopped experimenting with root flipping before I started this test, so that's not it, either.  I believe the bands I have used at the base of the locks (which also make it harder to measure how much is unlocked, so I focused on those locks without them at the moment) are helping the bases lock faster.

I kind of miss looking like a spiky dinosaur, but I don't think I could afford enough wax to make that happen again.  Maybe armature wire?

A year ago: What's on TV?

A year ago I sat mostly still for something like six to eight hours as my wife yanked a metal comb through my hair over and over and over again.  Getting ready I was excitedly picking movie selections, and in summary the day looked more or less like this:

. . . which doesn't even remotely begin to capture how horrible it felt, but I really needed to grin and bear it.

One year later I have locks that stay put, and are older than some of the things in my life.

It's obvious that my video skills are still not even close to as cool as my wife's.

A year ago: excitement builds!

A year ago I was nearing the day when my hair would be forced into submission.  I had researched how to lock my caucasian hair, and was convinced that my best choice would be to get a "dread kit" from one of the product suppliers.  A friend of mine, intrigued by this wacky hair-as-art-experiment, started talking it up.

One year later, I am well aware that there are more locking options than I had realized.  I've learned that wax, in particular, is very controversial, and I'm well into a test of dread wax and other techniques to see if they are as good, or bad, as some people say.