Printer friendly page
Email this articleKnot your ordinary hairstyle
E-mail this article | Print this page
By: Samhitha Murthy
In the past few years, the renowned Chi and its counterparts have ushered in a takeover of straight, sleek hairstyles. However, a few students have not only resisted their smoothing effects, but have actually gone to the opposite extreme in adopting the dreaded look - not dreaded as in frizzy, but dreaded as in ... well, dreaded! A proud minority group on campus, dreadlockers affirm their hairstyle as being cool, clean and convenient, albeit often misunderstood.
Michael McDaniel, a senior history major, said he wanted dreadlocks forever. Finally, two years ago, McDaniel found the help he needed in two girls that he met on Northgate - a bartender with dreadlocks and her friend - who were happy to spend almost nine hours dreading his hair.
"There are two ways of dreading your hair," McDaniel said. "If your hair is curly, by not combing it, you can get it to naturally knot up into dreads. But for people like me with straight hair, the process involves sectioning off your hair and back-combing it toward the scalp initially. The hair eventually locks up."
Andrae Lewis, a junior general studies major, decided on dreads because more than anything else, he was tired of having to get frequent haircuts. He did nothing to his naturally curly hair and ended up with dreadlocks. The story, Lewis admits, always draws a fair share of skepticism, though he swears by it.
"I didn't do a single thing," Lewis said. "Even my cousin went to a beauty parlor to get her hair twisted, to get it to start locking up. I wash my hair everyday, and I don't put whatever - dreadlock juice, I don't know - in it."
Many wandering minds might question what people with dreadlocks actually put into their hair. The question seems to be one of the more common ones, Meghan Knobel said, and several fantastically ridiculous answers have enjoyed high levels of popularity among the uninformed.
Knobel, a senior political science major, denied that dreadlockers, as many may believe, use honey, peanut butter or glue in their hair.
"You don't put food or glue in it to make it tighten up!" Knobel said. "Just regular beeswax sometimes."
Toothpaste, McDaniel said, is another substance mistakenly assumed to be a styling product for dreadlocks.
"Some people put oils in their hair - like sandalwood - for the nice smell, because the shampoo is unscented. But other things?" he said. "When people ask me if I use toothpaste for my dreadlocks, I always answer by saying that if I ever get gingivitis in my hair, I'll be sure to try it out."
McDaniel, Lewis and Knobel all emphasized that, contrary to what many believe, they wash their hair often - either daily or every few days. However, because dreadlocks act like sponges, McDaniel said he is hesitant to go swimming in rivers, as he has concerns dealing with the bacteria in the water.
Rather than gooey substances and condiments, the hair-care regimen for dreadlocks involves a special shampoo and hair wax. And more than being physically troublesome or time-consuming to maintain, dreadlocks require a level of patience, commitment and mental-preparedness that deter many from the style, Knobel said. The locking process, by which the knotted-up hair sets, can take up to six months.
"It's definitely a lifestyle - it's an all-out kind of thing, not a fad," she said. "And that's what attracted me to it. You have to change a lot of things, and you have to be prepared for a lot of people to look at you differently.
"Typically, people are inquisitive. They grab my hair, which can be annoying if they don't ask first. Lately, I've had a lot of people asking if this is my real hair."
Because she is Caucasian and has dreadlocks, Knobel said she is often stereotyped as a hippie.
"I'm not a hippie. A lot of white people with dreadlocks are called hippies," she said. "People yell out of their cars all the time, 'Hey hippie!' as if it's an awful insult!"
McDaniel has had similar experiences.
"People definitely stereotype me," McDaniel said. "They'll say, 'Hey, Bob Marley,' or because of my dreadlocks, I get pigeonholed as a pothead - if I'm at a party, people will always come up to me and ask me if I have weed, or if I know where to get weed."
Owing to his Jamaican heritage, Lewis does not get as many strange looks and comments on his hair.
"I guess dreadlocks are more normal for a Black person. Like a Mohawk - that would be more of a 'white thing,'" Lewis said. "Still, it's all whatever. It's just a way to express yourself."
However, Lewis said his dreadlocks have caused his identity to be questioned.
"I have been mistaken for a girl, not just once, but three times!" he said. "I'm pretty big, so I don't know how people can mistake me. My hair's kind of long, maybe that's why."
For anyone who is interested in dreading his or her hair, Knobel advises the individual to get help with the process, as she had a hard time doing her own hair. Knobel further suggested two websites - headhq.com for information and knottyboy.com other for styling products.
From being stereotyped as a pothead to being mistaken for a girl to being unable to wear hats, the less-desirable consequences of having dreadlocks are in most cases fully eclipsed by the wearer's love of the style. Knobel has no plans of cutting her dreadlocks off - the only way to "undo" them - anytime soon.
"My plan is to continue school, so I don't think I will need to cut them for that," Knobel said. "I'm also a tattoo artist. I intend on having them for awhile - I might let them get long."
McDaniel, too, hopes to hang onto his hairstyle for some years to come, citing its advantages - he finds his dreadlocks to be great conversation starters, and he notices that people rarely forget him.
"People always ask me, 'So when are you going to cut them off?' as if that's something I'm supposed to be thinking about," he said. "As if I can't possibly have intentions of keeping my dreads. But I like them, and I'm not going to worry about cutting them off."
Source: The BattalionAll rights reserved.