There's a woman I see occasionally at dance functions who wears dreadlocks. They suit her well. I saw her Saturday at a drum workshop, and she had them tied up, and decorated with bits of things, including a safety pin. I was amused.
It got me wondering how dreads are made, how they're maintained, does it hurt the hair, all kinds of questions. So I spent a portion of today learning about them and looking at lots of pictures.
I've decided the dreads I like best are the long thin smooth ones that it seems like only black folks' hair can make. They are actually mostly twists, using the natural corkscrew tendency of the hair, like this guy's:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=navagnf-njQ]
(That's Eric, and he has some cool stuff on YouTube.)
I don't much care for the very thick and matted looking ones, like the guy on the right.
Unfortunately, most hair, especially straight or merely wavy or loosely curly hair, needs to be teased into the dreads, and that's what contributes to the matted look.
My hair is an odd texture. It's very fine, has no weight, and even though it looks mostly straightish or wavy, it's actually crinkly. If you've ever handled theatrical crepe hair, that's the texture of my hair. I can take a lock and twist the length of it, let go, and it will stay twisted all day.
If I wanted to, I could probably make twisted "unlocked" (i. e. false) dreads all over my head. Except that my arms would get very tired. I'd have to get someone to do it for me.
Interesting.
What a waste of a day.
.
3 comments:
This post, or the second picture, really made my head itch.
and I'm not joking.
it's pretty funny that you mention that. The woman you are referring to actually has pieces of jewelry attached into her dreads that can't come out. It grew that way...
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