hi, i used to have dreads, and they're the best hair style ever, and then i went to prison, and they made me comb them out, because i supposedly could have been smuggling something into the institution in my hair. isn't that the dumbest thing you've ever heard? i would have had to have planned going to prison long in advance to do something like that! mine were pretty thin too. nothing would have fit in them. i asked what i could possibly be smuggling, and they said that people have put needles in their braids before. but those are braids that you can do in minutes, like while you're in the back of the police car. dreads take time and effort. you know what, when i re-do them, i should put a needle in one just to be cute. yeah, i'm going to. anyway, they tore about two thirds of my hair out and it's very thin. not eating for two months while i was there didn't help, and i bleach my hair as well. nevertheless, i'm trying to dread my hair up again, and i desperately need help. i will offer whatever compensation i can afford to anyone willing to help me. i have no friends to ask because i travel too much to keep the same friends except when they have reliable internet access. PLEASE HELP MAKE ME CUTE AGAIN!
there's an entire forum for dreads. Anyway, why don't you just stop combing and separate as they form... takes time but then you'll have true dreads. The whole backcombing thing is relatively new. Everyone I know just let their dreads grow natural.
yes, i was in the dread forum when i posted that, but it redirected me here and somehow got posted there. whoops.
oh and by the way, i have never combed my hair, and it doesn't just dread up on it's own. it doesn't tangle at all unless i go months without washing it, and that's gross. well not like never ever combed my hair, but it's not a habit. i like it looking messy, but i have to put wax or gel or something in it to make it look messy. otherwise it just stays straight and limp and falls to the sides and looks lame.
I can assure you... all hair dreads naturally... some just take longer than others. My hair is fine and straight and it's been dreading fine (and I keep it very clean). I've seen asian hair dread natural and hair doesn't get much straighter than that. It seems to me you want dreads for a certain look, which is fine, just not my thing... so sorry I can't be of help. good luck though
i don't live near chicago, unfortunately. there's tons of info on the board about how to get started on dreads. do you know what method you're thinking of using?
i didn't mention prison because i wanted you to ask. i just type as i think and don't hold back anything. i was there for working for the needle exchange. yes, i volunteered for the chicago recovery alliance (www.anypositivechange.org). i did outreach to the suburbs, since i know junkies in the suburbs, and there aren't many service outside of the city. my boyfriend volunteered as well. we would carry many clean syringes and when we met people that needed them, give them to them, and we had a sharps container to collect their dirties so that people don't just throw them out or something. i believe that i was doing a good thing, because (well, some) people are going to shoot up regardless, and even if they will only shoot up with cleans, i don't think that doing drugs is bad, so i think they deserve clean needles. and i don't like AIDS and hepetitus and endochronitius, etc., and i don't think that people deserve diseases just because they do drugs. i'm pro-drugs. one time, i argued with some guy in a restaurant about whether or not the needle exchange is good. he said that anyone who does drugs deserves AIDS, and he hopes they get it so they get killed off faster and then the world won't have any more drug addicts! haha. and i was like, "what about sex? what if someone doesn't do drugs but they can still get AIDS from fucking a junkie?" and he was like, "anyone who would have sex with someone who does drugs deserves AIDS too!" that's some funny shit, huh? because it's not like i've told my entire drug history to every casual sex partner i've ever had. what a stupid guy. anyway, yeah, my boyfriend and i both carried needles, and they were in the trunk of his car, and i was driving it, and i ran out of gas, so i was pulled over on the side of the road waiting for my friend to come with a gas can. and then the cops came, and they said, "we've called you a tow truck, ma'am, so you can come with us to the police station to get a ride!" and i was like, "i can't afford a tow. besides, the vehicle is fine; i just need gas. give me half an hour, and i'll be gone." so they said, "if you don't cooperate with us, we'll charge you with disobeying the direct orders of a police officer and take you to jail for that." so i was like, "uh, ok, i guess i'm getting a tow." so i got in the police car to go call for a ride, and they locked me in and illegally searched the vehicle. i had all the paperwork saying that what i was doing was legit. not only a needle exchange card, which allows me to possess as many syringes as i want, but a CRA employee badge, paperwork from the needle exchange explaining what we do, etc., and photocopies from the lawbooks of the statutes regarding syringes and exemptions. i could have beat the case if i fought it, but i plead guilty, because it was complicated, because i skipped bail, and i could have gotten more time for that, so my lawyer told me to take the two months. but now they've got my DNA, and i've got a prison number, and now i'm on parole, and it sucks.
wow . . wow . . I don't know what more to say. What was jail like? To think people go to jail for murder and you went for what? Realising that drugs are a part of life (a bad part I believe but each to their own) and rather than ignoring reality you were being prop active and trying to stop the spread of AIDS and other diseases. Did your boyfriend get put into jail too?
wow, that's bullshit. there should be needle drop-boxes in every public bathroom, and needle exchange programs are a great idea. my dad died of hepatitis from shooting needles as a teenager, and i wish there would have been programs like that around which could have prevented that. thanks for doing what you do.
thank you for encouraging me, those who replied supporting what i did at the needle exchange. my boyfriend was not with me at the time, and i took the rap for it all. the needle exchange is 100% legal here, that's the fucked up thing. i just messed up being able to win a trial by taking off to california. it was worth it though. haight street in san francisco is an amazing place, and i wouldn't have seen it otherwise. i can't wait to go back. i believe in what i did, and i want to work for the needle exchange again someday.
Jesus that is bull shit. I just want to throw out a little "Fuck the police." Anyway I think what you were doing was great, people need to take matters into their own hands and try to help each other. I applaud your selflessness. But it really blows that you had to comb out your dreads for 2 months.
