The dreaded question.
So, I think I’ve finally decided the ol’ hair question, and I think (subject to change, of course, because I am hopelessly indecisive at the best of times, and this is, of course, no different) that I’m going to get my hair dreadlocked. I’m not certain, partly because the person I’d like to do it lives about ninety miles from here, and is currently limited in her transport options, having been let down a few times by public transport. I have decided pretty much for sure that I don’t want to risk having a go at it myself, courtesy of a few YouTube videos; after all, if I wanted to make a complete mess of my hair, I could just ignore it for a few months, et voila! So, I think getting someone else to do it is probably the answer, and you’d be surprised (or perhaps you wouldn’t) how few people there are around who do this sort of thing, particularly if you’re familiar with Devon and the south-west’s tendency to attract velvet-shirt-wearing types and the like. Sadly, Quercus doesn’t think he’s up to it in hairdressing terms, and the only other candidate has the nerve to live in Ireland… so that probably rules her out too, at least for the length of time my patience will hold out.
It’s funny, though – thinking, finally, that I actually am going to do this, after years of hankering after other people’s dreads and thinking I’d love to try it some time, has made me all the more interested in reading about other people’s experience, some good, and some bad. Some people have talked about the attitude of other people if you’ve got dreads (assumptions being that you’re into drugs, or a pikey [because having a static caravan, in a right state, in your totally destroyed garden doesn't give that impression at all], or that you never wash, or that you’re morally degenerate), and some have mentioned the practical irritations of finding the right shampoo or abandoning shampoo in favour of apple cider vinegar-based concoctions.
Mentally, I’ve been trying to think how I would feel about people judging me based on my hairstyle. Some of you might remember that the last time I mentioned this, opinions were divided, comments-wise, between ‘yay! for dreads!’ and ‘er – why would you want to do that?’, particularly in relation to the judgement people might form about me and the small girl. I’m not such a hopeless idealist as to pretend that these judgments won’t happen, but I do think that probably, if you’re going to judge me on my hair, it’s unlikely we’d get along particularly well anyway. I know it’s probably not always that simple, but seriously: we are talking about a hairstyle here, not a form of social terrorism, and I imagine that anyone talking to me for more than a second will form judgments about who I am, and what I do, whether I like it or not, and in ways that I may or may not agree with. For example, a colleague recently assumed that I was vegetarian (again). Yes, this is something which happens often, and no, I have no idea why: I think I’ve written before about how it’s possible to look like a vegetarian, and I’m still no closer to answering that, other than the fact that, for most of the people I’ve asked about it,what prompted their assumption was normally either to do with my perceived eco-consciousness, or with the way I dress. Of course, the assumption that I don’t eat meat isn’t a remotely offensive one, and, indeed, it’s not far from the truth in that I don’t eat very much meat, and I try to buy free-range organic meat when I do eat it, and I love love love vegetarian cooking (as most of the recipes here will testify). But it’s still one based on appearances, and I suppose that means it probably goes deeper than just thinking about what someone does or doesn’t eat; my colleague also assumed that I had been to Glastonbury at least once, and that I’d be the person to ask about how to make your own wine. So, no matter what I do with my hair, my appearance seems to give off a dreadlocked vibe, as it were, and surprisingly conservative friends have been all for the idea of a dreadlocked me. (Either that, or I have some very polite friends!)
Practically, I’ve been experimenting with the latter having realised some time ago that shampoo was what made Quercus’s hair more than normally crazy (he’s fine with the sort of eco alternatives, but ‘standard’ shampoo – just no, in so many ways); so far, I’ve tried bicarbonate of soda and a rinse of apple cider vinegar and essential oils, and the results were pretty good in that my hair didn’t need washing half so often, and smelled really delicious in the meantime. I still need to fiddle with quantities, mind you, as a couple of times I’ve ended up with a rather clogged feeling to the ol’ barnet – too much bicarb? Hard water? Soft water? Should I be trying baking powder instead? – but the overall effect is rather good, I think, and my hair behaves much better between washes than it does when I use shampoo (which makes it static, oily-looking far more quickly and prone to that fly-away rubbish); the shift from washing hair every day to washing it once or twice a week has not proved the challenge I’d assumed, in that I haven’t wandered about looking as if I’ve dipped my head in a chip-shop, and this bodes well, methinks, for the once-a-week washing epic which dreadlocks – and their attendant drying – might entail.
Gosh.
And there was me thinking this would be a quick post.
So, anyone out there with any advice on the alternatives to shampoo? Any experiences of dreads? And any thoughts on the whole appearance/reality dynamic?
Right. Back to the ginger wine, now, then, as we all have stinking colds, and GW is my drug of choice in this situation – bugger the paracetamol: pass the alcohol!
*Sigh, sigh, sigh* If I lived nearby, I’d offer to do your dreads if you do mine. My family ( = my two teen daughters; the Consort knows better than to give an ultimatum in a case such as this) is still pretty set against it, and although I kinda said I wouldn’t do it and therefore cut my hair by myself, I still might go the dread route (one day!!).
I used this page for baking soda wash/ cider rinse:
http://www.naturemoms.com/no-shampoo-alternative.html
Never had to use honey or anything else. When I did my dread research, I learned that diluted Doc Bronner’s soap is fabulous for washing hair with no residue. If you don’t like the baking soda method, you can always give that a try.
(How long is your hair now? Mine is about chin length, and I’ve read that you can do dreads with 3 inches or more. Hmmmmmmm)
I’ve been thinking about doing a thick green streak in my dark brown hair (one side only, two or three inches back) as I’m about to turn 30 and feel a little in the mood for this kind of thing.
Practically speaking I think with dreads or a green hair streak or similar there’s a balance issue. I feel like I’m going to have to be neater and also less colorful in my clothing to balance out or compensate the crazy hair streak. (This won’t be hard, I’m a New Yorker and wear mostly black anyway.)
That said, I think dreads do look neat and tidy and particularly lovely pulled back.
Go for it! You’ve been hankering after it for so long – remember you always regret the things you didn’t do more than the things you did…we will of course require pictures of the whole process…
Have I been reading too long if I know what GW stands for? Grin.
Can you please post your shampoo recipe? I’m curious. I’ve eschewed the bottled stuff for Lush’s soap like bars, but so far only the anti-dandruff one has been any good. (& by good I mean freaking fantastic. Goodbye itchy scalp & flakes!)
I admire your ability to write about dreadlocks in the current momentous political climate.
You do *realise* that there’s been an election and a change of government, that will undoubtedly change things a lot, don’t you?
I say go for the dreads, absolutely! It’s the Dr Seuss thing – those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. I’ve been growing my hair on the same principle – my mother thinks I’m insane, but I’ve always wanted hair long enough to do a Lady Godiva re-enactment (hypothetically). On the same note, my mother also gives me a stern scolding if she sees me with my hair in Heidi plaits. She says I’m too old.
Regarding hair-ness, I’ve been experimenting with various ways of going no-poo, and I’ve discovered that cornflour works fabulously as a dry shampoo. I imagine it’s not great for dreads, because it’ll be a pig to get out, but if you’re getting your hair used to less frequent washes beforehand, it’s a good way of stretching washes.
Imperatrix: My hair is now about the middle of my back at its longest; it hasn’t been cut for ages, so the layers are a bit wonky, but there’s certainly a fair bit of length compared to the last time I thought about this. I have read that dreads’ll shrink the length quite a bit (these pics certainly suggest so!) but hey… You know, if you really want to do it, you should do it.
Mary Beth: I totally agree on the holding-back-the-crazy in clothing terms; I too feel I’d probably be more cautious, to offset the overall effect. Is that paranoia, I wonder? Would love to see the green, if you do it!
Hels: you know, if I do this, I’ll probably be blathering on about it for ages. Put it this way: if there’s no comment about it, it probably looks hellish.
Nexus: I’m pretty much following what Imperatrix suggests in her comment above – bicarb plus water (though I think I’ve used more water than that), and then about half a cup of apple cider vinegar with two cups of water and about twenty drops of essential oil (this does about two or three goes). It’s working pretty well so far!
BW: um, clearly, politics et al isn’t really my thing, is it?
(And yes, I did vote. But I don’t choose to talk about that sort of thing in this space.)
Nickie: *reaches for the cornflour* I’ll bet that’s a handy mid-wash trick. And yes – the Dr. Seuss thing is it exactly! What a handy phrase. I need to have that emblazoned somewhere prominent.
Absolutely if you’ve always wanted to do it, DO it. Nickie has it right with Dr Seuss. I think I weighed in (to my shame) with something last time, but on the ass-vicey side of explaining why I wouldn’t do it myself (I work in a far more judgey place I think!). If you have a harmless hankering then for heaven’s sake, follow it and enjoy it as much as possible.
Can I ask though? What happens when/if you decide to de-dread yourself? I don’t know anything about the process so I am very curious about whether, and how it can be un-done.
Don’t know a lot about dreads except I like the look:) go for it you have been thinking for a while that you’d like to try dreads so don’t leave it any longer. What ifs can last a life time. I’ve just had my hair cut short, worked up to it over a few months going to college for hair cuts and last night was the night. Felt weird but everyone says how good it looks. Most importantly I like it:)
i want dreads but i’m not sure it’d suit me yet, i need to free myself bit more before i could…. but i say go for it, it’s not snap decision, it’s been a while
i use, 3 tbsp bicarb in ~750ml water, pour over slowly and rub in well, then rinse. next 1 tbsp cider vinegar in a litre of water and then rinse.
i came to these qties, by trial and error – i never opted for mounts, it just turns out the jug i use is a litre jug and i fill it about 3/4 to 3tbsps – please excuse abbreviations have smallest daught on lap!
Heh. I wouldn’t trust me to dreadlock your hair, love. Not in a million years. But, having said that, given that our company is losing people at an alarming rate, I’m starting to feel less fretful about the boss’s ire. It’s a pretty conservative company but, having said that, as it’s not customer-facing, I can’t really see why it matters that much. Perhaps forewarning them would be appropriate… Do your employers have opinions on such things?
I don’t have concerns about being judged on my hair (especially when there are so many other things I can be judged on at first appearances!) – I just have to convince TRM that it really is a good idea. He’s still smarting from someone calling me his daughter over the weekend. *snigger* I have some difficulty predicting exactly which words my mother would/will use, but then again we can fairly confidently predict the overall content, wouldn’t you agree?
xx
I think it would suit you – though get used to the thought of everyone assuming you’re vegetarian afterwards. But (being a cautious sort of cove who always knows where the exit is) the thought of the eventual unpicking would have put me off ever having it done. Not that it would have suited me, but I was never as pretty as you.
Anyway – I think that if you don’t have it done, you’ll always wish you had.
The synchronicity here is FAB!!
Oh, and *hello* from a long absence…:)
I am currently in the exact same position you are – with the addition of having to grow my hair out from it’s long-time pixie cut. I am currently obsessed with all-things dread and scouring the countryside looking for someone to do the deed – having a)no friends and b) no friends to do it for me…
Naturally my vote is YES! Go for it.
I’ve been doing the no-poo for a while now for both myself and the kids and am loving it….as do the kids because they hated having their hair shampoo’d and this means only once-a-week *rinsing*. Sadly I have to break down and actually get a haircut as my growing-out phase has reached the terrifying place of looking like I have a (purposeful) mullet. But I’m looking toward an end-of-summer dread-goal. I’m horribly impatient and now that i”ve decided this is what I want, naturally I want it done NOW. But I also don’t want to look like Sideshow Bob and so will wait for more length so the new little dreadlets will lie flat as opposed to standing out like I’ve just had a terrible fright.
Oh, it seems I’m still prone to rambling great essays in your comment box…
xo
But my DEAR! What will the neighbours say?
I’ve been thinking of getting a few dreads myself (scattered in amongst the rest of my rat’s nest)…not sure how to start the process though. I’m particularly inspired by one of the mums at my daughter’s school who has the most gorgeous set of glossy dreads. Let us know how you go with it, and if you glean any wisdom worth sharing as a result : )
go for it,otherwise you will always have it nagging at you,it doesn’t have to be forever!!read my blog”curly shirley and betty spaghetti”more dread than dred..and tho not quite my own hair,i had them for a while and despite the horrors,they were memorable!!
I have wanted dreads for years, but have usually tended to have very short hair cuts, because I don’t like how it looks in the between short and long stages. At the moment though i am growing my hair out to give me lots of options for a wedding later this year. If I can last that long without cutting it all off, I will seriously consider dreads. Make sure we get pics of yours when you do it!
My hubby simply glared at me when I mentioned non-shampoo shampoo about six months ago. You all have given me the courage to try it out. Though no dreads for me (yet). I have a girlfriend who undreaded/cut and donated the remnants to cleaning up the oil spill over here in “the states.” I told her she didn’t have nearly enough hair to really help that disaster, but, I guess if it makes her feel better…