Decorating your Dreadlocks

Dreadlocks are a blast to have. I’m sure you all have come to understand by reading my previous blogs that my dreads are definitely my life. Some people may look at dreads and think how funky they already are, but one of the most liberating parts to having dreadlocks is being able to make them your own.

Dreadlocks are already so individual, but decorating them really places your personality into your hair. There are plenty of ways to help your dreadlocks define who you are, not to mention it’s a blast!

You can begin making your dreadlocks your own by adding beads! Dread beads are a great way to personalize your locs. Some people even go as far as making their own beads out of clay or sculpted wood. Glass, wood and metal are usually the best materials to put in your hair, although, I also have a plastic bead in my hair. Instead of just collecting beads and placing them in your hair all willy-nilly, I like to think of beads like tattoos. I wont put a bead in my hair unless it means something to me. I have gotten almost every bead I own from a friend. My favorite thing to do is request beads as souvenirs when people I know travel. I even have beads in my hair from Poland! Another neat fact about using beads to personalize your hair is that you can constantly interchange them, or take them out when you need to be a bit more presentable.

Aside from using beads to personalize your locs, dying them different colors is also another option! Unless your hair is already blonde, it will be necessary to bleach the hair before you add any color to it in order to get the results you are looking for. When bleaching your dreads, you go about the process like you would with any other hair. The difference, is that when dying dreads, you do not necessarily need to massage the dye into the center of the loc. This is a bit dangerous, as it will be harder to rinse the chemical from your dread. Also, bleaching the dread about a quarter-inch away from the scalp is important for a couple reasons. A) You do not want the root of other dreads to be bleached, and B) it may be harder to rinse the scalp when you are dying individual dreads. Of course, if you are bleaching all of your hair, you wont have that problem. To utilize the natural options, many people prefer to use Henna-based hair dye. Whether or not the color takes well to your hair will differ based on the individual, but it is a safe alternative to chemical-based hair dye. For best results, you will still want to bleach the dread before dying it with henna.

Another way to make yours more personalized is to wrap them! You can use thread, or hemp to do this. It is important to stay away from wool, as it often embeds itself into your dread and is nearly impossible to get out. Wrapping your dreads is a fun and semi-permanent way to make your hair colorful and exciting! This diagram will help you understand how to wrap your dreads yourself! J Don’t get frustrated! Practice makes perfect!

There may be a break in posts between now, and the next few weeks. I am finishing up the second to last semester of my undergrad career, and things are a bit hectic. I plan to return to this blog in the near future. Thank you for reading my blog! Please give me feedback, or ideas for further posts you may like to see!

Until next time, folks!

A Meeting With a Fellow Dreadhead

I love people. I love to talk, and hear others’ stories. I love to learn what has made someone into the person they are. When my dreadlocks help me to meet people I can form new bonds with, I can’t help but be overwhelmed with excitement. Whether we, humans, like to believe it or not- each individual person you meet impacts you someway, somehow. Whether this impact is in the way you view life, the way you interact with others or even opening your mind to new hobbies or interest, interaction with others essentially molds us into who we become in the future. This past weekend, I met a man who definitely impacted me. After meeting this gentleman, I couldn’t stop thinking about HOW I could possibly be more like him…

This blog post is not like those I’ve posted in the past, that has existed to teach you something new about dreadlocks. This blog post is to tell you a little about a man that made me stop and re-evaluate my life. What does this have to do with dreadlocks? Let me enlighten you…

I was sitting at a bar with a few friends on Friday night. We had gone to a popular bar and grill in the downtown area of Plainfield, IL for burgers and beers. A friend of mine noticed an older man with dreadlocks on the other side of the bar, sitting with a few people at a table. My friend said to me, “dude, check out THOSE dreads, you’ve gotta go say hi.” Being the person who 1. Doesn’t refuse a challenge and 2. Loves to interact with others, I ran on over to my fellow dreadhead and said “That’s some sick hair, man!” He replied with a laugh “You too!” I didn’t realize it until he spoke up but ironically, a friend of mine, B, was sitting at the table with this dreaded older gentleman, and he yelled, surprised, “THIS IS THE CHICK I WAS TELLING YOU ABOUT!!” You see, B is running a recording company and we’ve been talking business for months now. He needs a PR person to help him out. This man with the dreads just so happens to be a DJ that he is about to go on tour with. I guess B was telling the man about my education, and a little about who I was as a person. We all sat down and started to talk. B asked me how I was doing and brought up recent, personal events happening in my own life that have me pretty stressed out… and as I told B how much I was “freaking out” the man interjected.

This guy began talking to me about how I must live life instead of worrying about what will happen next. I learned that this man was dreaded not because he thought it looked nice, but because he was Rastafarian. Rastafarians believe that dreadlocks are a symbol of wisdom and strength. I can tell you, he was definitely a wise man.  He began to talk to me about the Rasta religion. We also talked about why I should not place so much tension into my mental waves. He talked to me about how much stress affects your physical life as well. “There’s no point to do anything but go with the flow, love the life you live.” Something about the energy this man was radiating from himself really made me envious. I wanted, and still want, to be at peace with myself in the same way that he is. Even sitting next to him was making me feel better. I thought about this man for the remainder of my weekend… and am obviously still thinking about him now.

We must let go of stresses that we have no control over. We must stop, and enjoy the little things life has to offer us. Nobody can give us back the days that are wasted by worrying about what the future holds, and life is simply too short to be missing out on any of it. If you never appreciate the now, the future that you worry about so much will not be appreciated either. I’ve decided to take a step towards living life this way, and hopefully one day I will have a peace about myself much like the man I met on Friday.

If you’re the type of person, like myself, that worries too much about the stresses in life, lets make a pact to release that stress and begin to appreciate everything. Stress may not be the best to deal with, but it does make us stronger. Let’s begin by looking at the silver lining.

Come back next time for more From the Desk of a Dreadhead, and remember to go with the flow. 

Dandruff & Dreadlocks

Want to know what’s totally inconvenient? An icky, scratchy, flaky scalp depositing dry skin into your dreads… That’s what!

Photo courtesy of www.locrocker.com

Having dandruff sucks even without dreadlocks, but once you throw dreadlocks into the mix; it’s easy to be overwhelmed about what you should do next since dreads lock the dandruff in and showcase it extremely well (as if that’s a good thing). Nobody wants to be the guy walking around with flakes weaved into his hair.

There are multiple solutions for dandruff in dreads, but each solution has different results depending on the individual. You must find the fix that works right for you, which may take some process of elimination. Depending on the sensitivity of your scalp, not every solution will give you the results you are looking for. All your hard work will pay off as soon as your dreads are clean and flake-free!

If any of the following solutions results in MORE dandruff, simply try out the next one! Here are a few ways you can try to eliminate dandruff and moisturize your scalp:

Tea Tree and Rosemary Oils- According to an article published on Livestrong.com, concocting a spray for dandruff flares can be done by mixing 20 drops of Tea Tree oil and 20 drops of Rosemary Essential oil in 12oz. of distilled water. Placing the solution into a spray bottle, and spraying it directly onto the dandruff has been proven to work for some dreadheads.

Sodium Bicarbonate- (aka Baking Soda) According to dreadlockssite.com, using diluted Sodium Bicarbonate, with 1 part Baking Soda and 4 parts water, will help break down dandruff buildup on the scalp. Since Sodium Bicarbonate is rather drying on the skin, adding just a few drops of tea tree and rosemary oils will help to moisturize your scalp and leave it smelling fresh!

Apple Cider Vinegar- Using Apple Cider Vinegar helps for many sensitive scalps, because it has moisturizing essential minerals that benefit the skin while breaking down existing dandruff. Apple Cider Vinegar has been sworn-by by many dreadheads with dandruff. The vinegar smell is a little much to deal with, but will be gone once the hair dries completely.

Neutrogena T-Gel Shampoo- Although T-Gel isn’t natural, it helps to break down flakes and eliminate the visible dandruff that is weaved throughout the length of your locks. Although this shampoo helps to break down dandruff, it also dries out the hair a lot. Clean, dry hair tends to dread better, so you are looking at a win-win situation if this solution works to eliminate your dandruff. Be sure to separate your dreads from one another after washing with T-Gel as it may cause them to intertwine with one another. T-Gel is also known to help with itchy scalps!

One of these solutions should work for you, and if none of them do, try adjusting the amount of products you put in your hair. Comment here with your results and/or other ways you’ve found successful. Best of luck to your flaky scalp!

Come back next week for more From the Desk of a Dreadhead, and as always have a groovy day!

:)

Dreads From Around the World

Welcome back to From the Desk of a Dreadhead. This week I want to showcase some pretty marvelous people. As a digital native, surfing the web has become a hobby I cannot deny. I spend most of my time clicking around the Internet for hours on end. In my stage of pre-dreading research I stumbled upon an amazing dreadlock forum full of people all around the world with amazing stories, and gnarly dreads. For those of you unaware of what a forum is, it is a medium (such as a website) where ideas and views on a specific topic can be shared and exchanged. This forum is called Dreadlock Truth (DT), and it has helped me fill in a lot of holes that the Internet couldn’t. Let me introduce you to some beautiful people that volunteered to help me out and answer some questions about their knots.

Meet Cassie! Cassie was born in Colorado and currently lives in New Mexico. Cassie says, “I hated my non-dread hair, so I’d be happy with dreadlocks for the rest of my life or at least as long as they look good.” In Cassie’s opinion, the worst part to having dreadlocks is “when you have to cut them because they’re so long they’re getting in the way of things. That, and I miss scented shampoo.”

This is Caitlyn from Chicago, IL. Caitlyn has had her dreads for nearly 4 years and prefers to decorate them with “beads, rings, embroidery thread, peyote stitches and whatever will stay on!” Her least favorite dreadlock stereotype is “that if you have dreads, you identify yourself with the Rastafarian faith.” She plans on sporting her dreads forever!

Say hello to Chris from Sheffield, England. He has had his dreads for just about 6 years and he started them using the backcombing method. He doesn’t decorate his dreads because he doesn’t like things hitting him in the face. When asked what being a dreadhead has taught him, he replied that “everyone has a polar opinion on dreads and most of the time they’re willing to share that opinion with you… whether you want them to or not.”

The owner of these rockin’ locs is Jessie from Ann Arbor, MI. Jessie is a Registered Nurse in an ICU. Jessie says, “They’ve taught me about looking beyond a person’s physical appearance. I know who the ‘good’ people in my life are.  [Dreads have] freed me from being just “one of the herd”- I’m the ‘nurse with dreadlocks!’”

Meet Deven. She says, “The dreadlock community is one I would have never found without my dreads. Being a dreadhead has taught me quite a bit in my nine months of having them. It’s not a hairstyle, it’s somewhat of a lifestyle.”

The owner of these beautiful dreads is Olly. Olly is from the UK and has had his dreads for 4.5 years. He volunteers as a teacher and studio technician at his old college. “The Bob Marley/Rasta-oriented stereotypes” annoy him the most and he says one of the biggest cons to having dreads is that “they can be a nuisance while eating soup!” According to Olly a pro to having dreads is that if he were ever in a life-or-death situation where rope were needed, he would be just fine! “They just feel right for me” says Olly when asked what his dreadlocks mean to him.

This here is Paul from Stafford, West Midlands, located in England. Paul is a self-employed illustrator/art director and started his dreads with the backcombing method. To him, dreadlocks are a good ice-breaker to have. He sometimes misses being able to run his fingers through his hair, but doesn’t plan on getting rid of them anytime soon. Paul is happy to accept himself for who he is without automatically making choices based on what is expected of him “it’s a sign of my freedom.”

Say hello to Sarah from Derbyshire, UK. Sarah is a support worker for adults with learning disabilities. Sarah plans on sporting her locks for as long as she can, and she loves that she doesn’t have to mess with her hair in the morning. Her least favorite stereotype is that “we all take drugs, it’s not something [she’s] into.”

This amazing set of dreads belongs to Becca from Denmark. When asked what the biggest con was to having dreadlocks, Becca stated “Dryingtime after showering.” While the biggest pro is that it’s very easy to have a good hair day! “The world needs more love, peace and harmony. This dreadlock forum has that, and it is a great inspiration for many other things than just a hairstyle… makes me feel part of something positive and different in general.”

Meet Marc from Southampton, UK. Marc has had his backcombed dreads for 14 months. His favorite compliment was his grandma telling him how good they looked in front of the family. He loves that his dreads show people that he is who he wants to be; he doesn’t have to be anyone’s clone.

This is Holly from Edmonton, Canada. Holly has had her dreads for 4 years and would like to say “it’s completely possible to get jobs with dreads! I’m lucky and live in an area where the job market is good, but I’ve secured at least 4 jobs since dreading my hair. Even when it looked most messy!”

Say hi to Tracee! Tracee is from Virginia and she has had her dreads for almost 3 years! Being a dreadhead has taught Tracee “Patience, patience and more patience,” as well as the fact that many people assume a lot about her based on her hairstyle. Tracee enjoys dying her dreads and decorating them with thread and trinkets. The biggest pro to having dreads, in Tracee’s eyes is “all the wonderful people I get to meet, between DT and having my hair as a conversation starter.”

I wish I could have included everyone who I got the chance to hear from, but everything good must come to an end, right? I am extremely grateful to all of these wonderful people for allowing my to interview and showcase their lovely sets of dreads and I hope you enjoyed meeting them!

*Special thanks to Dreadlock Truth to allowing me to run into such positively delightful individuals.

Come back next week for more From the Desk of a Dreadhead!