Do You Ever Feel Like...

here on the north coast of NSW, AUS.

dreads label you as a hippie stoner.

the predujice against dreads really hurts me. i've had to brush out my 4month dreads [they just started improving!!!!!] due to the bad stereotyping of dreads.

 

Would You Be Up Around Byron Perchance...??..



Cheers Glen.

 

Not really I just see myself as me a person

No but other people label me.

Neither I just wanted to try them out.

Not a bit. But the only people who stereotype are those that pass me by. People that stop and talk to me don't stereotype

No because like BrayingDonkey, once people get over the initial shock of my hair they actually think I'm a nice person. Apart from some brain dead people shouting at me in the street "Drrreeeads!", I've never been treated differently. My last employer liked my hair and thought having a person with dreads work for them would show that they're not discriminatory.

I really can't see myself having them when I'm in my 50's. I don't know I'll have to see how I feel.

Right now there is no reason why I'd consider cutting my dreads off. I did recently think about cutting them off soon because I'll be finishing uni in a couple of months until a lecturer said to me "Why would you want to work for someone who is so closed mind over hair?"

 

Only inadvertently... I also think I would be stereotyped if I wore leather bodices to my son's school. Isn't everything a stereotype in this world?

I do not label myself as anything by having dreads. It is a very personal statement and it is not an outward statement to society by any means. I do not wish for anyone to treat me any differently from three months ago before I had dreads.

I have no clue how long I will have dreads for... I imagine I will cut them when they become to heavy for me to lug around, but that will be years from now and will make that choice when it comes.

Something I will outgrow? hahaha. I have wanted dreads since I was 12 and I got them at the age of 29... so outgrow them? Hmm.... lol


There are a lot of statements about the work it takes to maintain dreads depending on what journey you have taken with them, but I have never had more interest in my hair than when I got my dreads. I had straight hair and often grew it out really long and didn't do anything to it. Brushed it maybe once a day... never conditioned it... nothing. Dreads are the first hairstyle I have had that feel like "me". I want to do stuff to them, I want to treat them nicely. I will totally admit that I thought dreads would be the easiest style in the world (and for some, I'm sure they are) but I like trying to figure out how to condition them the best, etc. =) But at the same time... you never have to take an extra three minutes in the morning to make sure you do not have any hair out of place. lol

I hope we have answered soem of your questions.

 

I dreaded my hair because I like dreads. Thats it. There is no spiritual connection...Im not a rasta or stoner or hippy. Im just me...a person who likes dreads. My dreads make me happy because theyre so unpredictable and always changing. I enjoy daydreaming of the day when my dreads are down to my ass and long enough to wrap around my head a million times with pretty trinkets and wraps.....Gleeeeeee!

 

you didn't have to brush out your dreads - you chose to. why let other people's thoughts have control over your actions?


to answer BraveSirRubin, I think dreads help you to see how stereotyping works because you put yourself in a situation where other might do that to you. To me, it acts as a reminder to not stereotype others because I dont want to be stereotyped. It helps you to see people for people, and not by the clothes they wear or other trivial things.

I hope that i would be labeling myself only by the actions that I do and not by anything else. But of course, labels don't really do anyone justice. no one fits into a neat little category.

Sometimes, it has bothered me that other people stereotype me because of dreads. When someone's trying to get your attention from behind your back by calling you "Bob Marley," that annoys me. But mostly, it depends on who's saying those things. Once, a friend's dad (middle-aged, not very hip at all) asked me with a grin on his face if i was feelin "errie." he meant "irie" ... I've never once made any connection with myself and rastafari.

i also noticed that people have treated me differently because of dreads. i had my first set for almost 6 years. once i cut them off, less people would approach me at bars, less people would randomly ask me for weed, less people would say stupid shit to me. again, they're a reminder (for me) to not stereotype or judge people based on some physically outward thing.

i cut them off because some were starting to smell in certain places. not necessarily a bad smell, but i guess any smell coming from your hair isnt really a good thing. i had come to the realization that i would never choose to cut them off. it had to be because of some outside force or inicdent. something else was going to be the deciding factor of them getting cut. it didnt matter one bit to me becase they're importance was more about the changes they caused within myself than the actual dreads themselves. they laid their roots and caused the change they needed to cause.

I have thought that I might have dreads for the rest of my life, but who's to say? like i just mentioned, they've laid their roots - so in a way, i will always be changed by them. my second set are currently atop my dome and will be for a long time. throughout the past 8 years or so, i've only cut my hair once. i'm used to this kind of "schedule" (or more appropriately, lack thereof).

i remember once reading a comment that somebody said on a different dread message board. in response to pictures of someone else's locks, they said, "those are really long. long enough to cut!" as if you would just naturally cut them once they reached a certain length. i felt like this person was too caught up in the whole message board thing. like everyone was on a timeline with their dreads and you would inevitably cut them off because you outgrew them or something.

i've seen a lot of people cut off their locks because of wanting to make a change in their life, or start anew, whatever. i think that's entirely possible without cutting your hair.

for me, dreads have become something more from when i first had them. after years of contemplation on them, your point of view is bound to change. when i was a kid, i hated my hair. i have very naturally curly hair, which i tried to control by brushing/combing. i never liked my hair and always wished it were different. it wasnt until i gave in and let me hair be my hair that i was finally at peace with it. and that's what it's all about - being at peace with what/who you naturally are.

 

back when bsr was much younger (he is young but has been on these boards for a lonnnnnnngggg time)he ventured more than he has of late... he was way kewler back then too... not that i dont like him now just he has been doin the growin up thing ... te quiero mucho mi amigo

but to answer you nope ..i am just me, my hair has always been my " artist palette" and the dreads were always gonna be my retirement piece of work... when i felt ready(lots of factors, not just "spiritually") i let my hair do its thing...

i am also older than many when they do the dready thing which i think aleviates most of the labels. I have tattoos n piercings as well so i am accustomed to having labels thrown around. I do think many feel comfortable around me though because of the images people auto conjur up in there heads of dreadie people,,( hippies, marley, peace, love yadda yadda..

i have no plans of ever cutting them, but bein that i am gettin old, it also means i am gettin all the old people issues (cept for the pants peein bits) so to aleviate aches n pains as my hair grows and i get old , i may trim them to a manageable length..

i dont find the stereotyping much either. I have never had a bad thing said to me by anyone. I do get some weird looks but as i said i have always been a bit of a freak show in the tiny towns i live in... I take the time to talk with people if they ask questions, want pictures, want to pet them (ol ladies luv them) and when i choose to be a proper female "in their eyes", i think most even like me

of cours if i continue working the job i am now i will have to be really careful as my hair grows... wouldnt want the cougars to think my head is a giant ball of yarn

 

ditto.

totally because I like the way they look. and they do not hinder me in anyway. I intereact with a variety of people and professions, (generally heads of cardiology, nursing or transplants at hospitals we visit.) and don't find I am treated differently at all.... besides the odd "wow I love your hair" and then all the basic questions.
i wouldn't mind the hippie stoner dirty hair stereotype if I came into it though. I would love to be a dirty hippie stoner, but have too much stuff to get done.

I think the worst thing that has ever happened to me because of my dreads is my mother telling my sister not to fear losing me in a crowd, because I'm easy to locate because of my "nappy hair" *shrug*

 

I do hate when others assume that I am a rasta or hippie because of my hair.....I am neither.

 

I don't think I am stereotyping myself as a hippie, stoner by having dreads, but others certainly do. ....And I really don't mind because I guess it does kinda fit with me being more or less a granola, earthy, organic food growing, tree hugging stoner.

I also kind of enjoy those who stereotype me in a negative way and make assumptions based on my hair. Those people, often rednecks with the dirty looks, highly underestimate me as I have a successful well paying career, a home and land with no mortgage, productive hard working kids in college, and am in general a functioning, productive member of society.

 

To be honest, I outgrew my dreads. I don't know if I grew in any particular direction, by which I mean I am not sure my growth was significant or merely a needed change. However, I was tired of being pigeonholed well before I cut my hair. The final straw came when someone stopped me at a grocery store to tell me it was Bob Marley's birthday. He believed I'd care because I was wearing a tam. I am not particularly familiar with, nor do I care, about Bob Marley's music. Also, I grew disillusioned with the dread subculture I was viewing; the battles over "natural" and "backcombed" and wax and stuff seemed so irrelevant. More so this time than previous, perhaps because I grew dreads simply by not brushing my hair or using products on it and I saw absolutely nothing in the least to be self righteous about it over. I still love dearly the Rainbow culture, and hippies in general, but my view of hippies are more back-to-the-landers and people who are probably closer to mennonites than rastafarians. So, there you go.

 

nope,other people do the stereotype shit cuz they are a-holes to me. u seem like a nice person though.

 

People are going to be stereotyped no matter what. I was stereotyped before my dreads as I'm sure I am now. I don't really care, if i cared then it would be awfully hard living this life as myself. If i honestly cared what people thought, I don't think i would have jumped on the dread train.

As to something mentioned earlier on in this post, I don't think it is childish or immature to hold meaning to dreads * or hair in general*. It's just a difference in people. Personally I don't hold a large amount of significance to mine but there is some. Yes the man I loved made them for me and it was a great day but aside from that it is just my hair. That in itself means something to me.

I got them because every girl i have ever seen with locks has been beautiful. They just looked so naturally pretty. So yes a natural form of vanity is a big part of why I got them. Though I'm sure my visions of beauty are quite different when compared to the majority of society.

No i wont have them my whole life. I love long flowing hair and I'm sure that's what I'll have when I die. ...unless i get hit by a car or something before then. Death is quite unpredictable

 

I didn't do it because I want to be a 'stoner' or anything. I did it personally because I like the hairstyle because it's really the only natural one out there. I didn't do mine naturally but I'm not putting shit into it and stuff. I think it helps me connect to nature and my surroundings. I don't think I'll grow out of them tbh. People don't stereotype me as a stoner because of my dreads, they stereotype me as a stoner because I smoke weed. Well used to smoke weed. I gotta quite because I'm on house arrest now ='[.

 

i used to love it on the farm when i would get sent to the veterinary/ large pharma company seminars. No dreads then but had 9 piercings visible and had rainbow colored very short hair.. More often than not the stupid looks i got ceased when i would ask a question absolutely no one could answer .. Dealing with the public school systems has always been a bad trip too..