Wednesday, October 15, 2008

"Dreadlocks Skeeve Me Out"

Last night while my roommate was braiding my hair so I could wash it she said something that kind of annoyed and offended me a bit. We were talking about locks and she said "I don't know, I never really liked dreadlocks, they kind of skeeve me out." Of course I inquired into why they "skeeve" her out and she said because they're "dirty" and that grosses her out. I asked further into why she seemed to think your hair was dirty if you had locks and she said "Well isn't that how you get your hair into dreadlocks?" Obviously she wasn't including me in this because she knew I was about to wash my hair but we have 2 friends who both have locks (very nice locks, I might add) and this whole time she was thinking that they had dirty hair?

I always knew that it was a common misconception that people thought that individuals with locks did not wash their hair but i didn't know it was that common. The hair actually needs to be clean and oil free in order to not disturb the locking process, right? That is something I am pretty sure goes for all locks...not just sisterlocks. It just kind of surprised me hearing something like that because she has so many African American/Black friends (she's Caucasion) that I would think she would have asked by now. I schooled her though so now she knows that locked heads do not equal dirty heads.

4 comments:

CarmenNC said...

Thank you for stopping by my blog and giving me love. The best way to lock is with clean hair. There are people out there who will go a month without shampooing because they have wax/gel holding the hair into place. Sleeping on damp locks can breed mold = stinky locks. BLAH.

Those earrings you got from the conference are HOT!

Au Naturale said...

carmen, i wish you had been there when i was explaining the real deal to her...and thank you...i will make sure to post the earrings i get from tomoka's twists!

Anonymous said...

There are many black people who think the same thing. I've met traditional lockers who use beeswax, shea butter or other hair products to keep their locks locked, so locking without products is not always the case.

When I was in college I knew a white guy who was locking his hair. In order for it to actually lock he used eggs, beeswax, lotions and anything he could get his hands on to keep them together. He might have washed it once every 6 months if that and the smell alone haunted me for years.....WOW!!!

Because of the method used for Sisterlocks, no products are necessary, but I don't know if you can be using the palm rolling method without some form of gel or maybe even some aloe vera gel....

I think I've rambled too much but I'm happy you schooled your friend.

Kara said...

oh yes, not washing is how us white folk get the lock look. so yes, white dread locks skeeve me out too ;)