Dreadlocks: Pros and Cons?

Cops will search you more often.

are you afraid of potentially having to shave your head to “undread” yourself down the road?
do you care about the quality of your potential dreads, and if so are you willing to put the time in to work on them? They take alot more work to look nice than one generally thinks.
You’ll ge the judgemental people, and the people that high five you for “cool hair”
Do you have a job that would care? (not that I think an employer should care what your hair looks like but often times they do…)

I think you should do whatever you so please, I’ve never had dreads myself, but generally I like them! One slightly off putting note: one time a friend of mine had an entire dread fall out of her head leaving a large bald spot—I can’t imagine this happens regularlly but maybe something to keep in mind?

I don’t know that I would shave my head but I’ve been wanting to get a really super short pixie cut so its an option… The quality is very important to me. My hair itself is very important to me. I don’t dye it or use gels mouses or hairsprays because I appreciate its health. My bosses boss has some really lovely dreads herself so I don’t think work would be a problem. Not sure how Id feel about a whole dread falling out…. sounds kinda scary- was it in a really obvious spot?

It was sort of hidden on the middle of one side, but she also didn’t take the best care of them.
It was really odd, I know alot of other people with dreads too, and that’s never happened to anyone else I know. Also – her dreads were alot larger than most I’ve seen…I think that if you want them, and you’ll take care of them, and also want really short hair at some point- I don’t see why not, you’ve got my vote if that means anything :]

Tally
Yes: 1
No: 0

@poisonedantidote are said searches viewed as positive or negative?

hahaha <33

Pros: Ability to score weed has gone dramatically up.. and, aesthetically they can be pleasing.
Cons: They must be called Dreadlocks for some reason.

Pro: They look really cool
Con: They seem to be uncomfortable to me, like a matted dog that might have all sorts of critters living in the matted ropes.

How do you wash your hair with dreads anyway?

It seems like a lot of work .
Personally I can’t commit to a hairstyle that long.
Anything that can potentially cause rot in my hair simply isn’t for me.
But if its what you want, than make sure your well informed.

A good friend of mine has thin, white girl’s hair and got the long tubular dreads—she has to have them chemically treated and twisted every so often to keep them dread-like. She says it will take her at least 2 years total for them to get to where she wants them to be. She can’t put her hair up yet because it pulls out the tangles, so she uses a bandana often.

People will judge the tubular, swingy dreads much less than the big matty masses that some people have sticking out of the back of their heads.

Also, she doesn’t wash her hair- only treats her scalp, and can’t swim in chlorinated pools.

Pros; it looks cool.

Cons; it’s a permanent state, and one that requires a lack of hair hygiene. Also, once the dreadlock is dead and falls out, that’s your pretty long hair all gone. I always liked how they looked, but the finality of the process scares me.

GA for your links, @everephebe.

simple if you are a white person with caucasian hair dont go there -not a race thing it just don’t work

peace and this is from a person with waist length hair in a part of the world where dreads are common

People will make Puli jokes about your hair.

@Coloma @linguaphile @Symbeline Do you think that people with dreads are viewed as less clean by society? I have read several misconceptions about the requirement to not wash your hair with dreadlocks.

@trailsillustrated I’m of mixed races, one of those being an African race. My hair is very similar in texture to Alicia Keys natural curly hair

@abysmalbeauty I’m sure the people keep themselves clean, like anybody else. But wanting it or not, the dreadlock, as I’ve seen, isn’t the cleanest thing ever. That has nothing to do with how I see people in society, although there probably is some big stigmata around the whole thing.

Going on @everephebe‘s third link, I might be wrong though…that guy has to have super healthy hair for it to be that long…if there is a way to have dreadlocks and still keep my hair clean, I’d love to know how. Any ideas? I’d totally get some done if it didn’t mean I would eventually lose them.

I’ve read that some people use a WaterPik to wash their dreads.

@Symbeline The Sadhu hair of the Hindus I’ve seen online is really cool, however their methods… may not be to your liking, see below:

“The Shaiva Nagas, ascetics of India, wear their jata (long hair) in a twisted knot or bundle on top of the head and let them down only for special occasions and rituals. The strands are then rubbed with ashes and cowdung, considered both sacred and purifying, then scented and adorned with flowers.” -Jimmy Wales

I can’t speak for society because it really depends on where you live. NYC? Foo, that’s no problem. California or Florida, no problem. Ames, Iowa… you might have a problem.

@everephebe Holy crap. That’s some epic beard work right there.

@Jeruba that thing looks really refreshing..i might get one for my mouth lol

@abysmalbeauty I think it will work out to look lovely!