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Dreadlocks happen. They happen to anyone with tangly or overcurly hair. Pigments in the skin have nothing to do with it. African hair, like other curly or frizzy hair, is ideally suited to dreadlocks. Rather than using chemical straighteners, hot combs, and all of the other harsh measures that destroy the hair, African hair retains its healthy shine and resilience in natural and easy to maintain locks. Blacks in America were told they had bad hair if it was spongy or frizzy until the advent of the afro style. The emergence of dreadlocks has given "bad" hair a reprieve from dozens of nasty chemicals or a life sentence to short styles! They also carry a stigma-that of a uniquely tribal and primitive style-which evoke some choice reactions from thoughtless, stupid, or racist individuals. They serve as an accurate tool for evaluating people, a sort of "jerk" detector.

A hairdresser for years, and out of necessity from having "bad hair", I settled on dreadlocks as the final solution to all of my hair woes. Ultra fine, thinnish, and wavy, my hair tangles, and when untangling, breaks off or pulls out by the roots-OUCH! Cowlicky and with a babyish hairline, short hair on me was awful looking-like a sweaty two year old. Long hair hung in tangly strings, flat and requiring expensive bodifying shampoos. I had to wear it up or in braids to prevent the constant snarling. Mid lengths brought out the worst of both! Wanting the impossible, I braided hair extensions into a hideous mid length coif, and as they grew out, dreadlocks came in at the roots under the braids. They were hard little mats and I knew I'd have to shave my head to lose them.

So I have dreadlocks. Short at first, the locks grew much faster than my hair had in the past. I know now why-no breakage or excessive shedding. I keep all of my hair where I want it, on my head, not in clogging the drain or in a comb. I cut them from waist length to shoulder length about every two years when they start to weigh so much my neck hurts! Sometimes hair escapes and I use a tatting hook to pull the strays back into the appropriate lock. Swimming perks them up in summertime, "tightening" the hair at the scalp.

Learn more about this author, Laurie Jackson.
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