I said they are a lifestyle.... ...and they are. So, yeah, there's no real mystery here. Fully formed dreadlocks take years to mature. I'm hardly an elitist, as I went to a salon to have mine back-combed. *shrug* No one ever (well, at least "I" never) said that they are some magical journey. That is, unless you think seeing a percentage of your friends and family turning away from you, and complete strangers commenting on your hair as being "magical." My goal is to be real and honest about what dreads require. People either need to learn, or need to be honest with themselves about how long it ACTUALLY takes for dreads to form. Dreads (especially on Caucasians) take FORRRREVERRRR to form and mature. These back-combed messes that most of us sport are baby dreads, if you even want to call them that. True "locking" takes a minimum of 6 months from what I gather, and the old schoolers will tell you that generally it takes a year, if not two. ...or more! So for you n00bz thinking you can step into (and out of) this LIFEstyle, you're going to be in for more disappointment than you think. Yeah, you MIGHT be able to comb them out. But don't take my word for it. Read around- then look at the reality of how many people have to cut.
