The dreadlock

An Indian monk was slowly moving through the roads and people were looking at him with surprised interest. The dress, the attire, the posture were all alien to people of the western world but what attracted their attention most was the matted ropes of hair on the head of the monk. That is exactly what we call the dreadlock, hair on the head allowed to grow without cutting, combing or brushing to take the shape of matted ropes.

Origin

One of the universal phenomenons that have survived the onslaught of time, dreadlock has its origin rooted in the ancient Vedic Hindu culture. In the Hindu mythologies it is described that Lord Shiva took the force off the holy river Ganges coming to the earth on his dreadlock and thus saved the earth from destruction. Historically too the earliest evidence of dreadlock is found around 2500 years BC and have been mostly the favorite hair style of sages and monks.

The immediate impact

Hinduism had its influence on Buddhism, Jainism and even the Greek and Roman cultures of the past. In the Roman Celtic culture dreadlock was referred to as hair knotted like snakes. The royal families in ancient Egypt not only adopted the dreadlock but also used dreadlocked wigs as archeological discoveries have revealed.

Other cultures

Dreadlock was used not only in Egypt, Rome, and Greece but Germany, Mexico, Far East, Africa and several other countries. In Germany the Vikings, in Far East the Naga tribe, the Bishops of Jerusalem, Aztecs of Mexico were all well attached with Dreadlocks. Dreadlock was one of the most popular hair styles in these countries during the 14-16th century AD and they were also found with the Sufi Order in Senegal.

The modern era

During 1950s in Jamaica the people followers of Young Black Faith took heavily the style of dreadlocks following the cue of poor people there who had been using dreadlocks since the 1930s. It is also said that when Hindu and Naga saints started visiting Jamaica in pursuit of jobs in the 19th century, the dreadlock culture came up with them to Jamaica. A few others trace the origin to the Mau Mau rebels who were fighting against the British colonialism of the time.

Why dreadlocks?

Dreadlocks have been used by people coming from different cultural backgrounds with different reasons. Sometimes it is due to their religious and spiritual convictions like it is sacred among Hindu saints and monks and at other time social and political environments like used by the Mau Mau rebels. To avert the derogatory use of the term a new term has come up to replace the term dreadlock and it is often referred to as African Locks, the aim being to remove the feature of dreading from the terminology.

The importance of dreadlocks in Eastern countries

Dreadlocks are considered sacred by the Indian religious preachers since it has its origin with the holy Lord Shiva. In China too noblemen and ascetics used dreadlocks combined with long fingernails denouncing all earthly attachments. In some other Asian and African countries the dreadlock refers to the fear of the almighty.

Dreadlocks and the western world today

When the reggae music made a big stride during the 1980s, the dreadlocks used by the world famous singer and lyrist Bob Marley caught the imagination of the audience world over and there was a rush to wear dreadlocks. This became most popular among the African-Americanized people but white people did not remain far behind. Especially the people who raise their voice for anti-globalization, and the activists who support the cause of environment-protection find dreadlocks to their choice, a symbol of registering their protest against the possible evils of globalization and environmental pollution.

Author: Arjun Mukherjee
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

It is almost an incontestable fact that African Americans are among the most artistically inclined societies in the world; and it is therefore no wonder that their there is such a great variety of African American hairstyles – seeing that a ‘hairstyle’ is first and foremost a work of art. Another possible explanation as to why there are so many African-American hairstyles has to be the fact that there are so many ’sub-cultures’ within the African American society, with almost each of these sub-cultures having a unique hairstyle for identification purposes among its members, and typically with each sub-cultures hairstyle being one of the features that add up to the member’s ’sense of belonging’ in the group.

While going into naming and describing each of the numerous African-American hairstyles would be a huge task enough to make a several thousand page thesis, a number of things can be said in general about the African American hairstyles.

One is that, as would be expected, there seems to be a greater variety of such African-American hairstyles for women that there are for men – though the African-American men are not altogether bereft of ‘outstanding’ hairstyles. One of the most remarkable of these African American hairstyles of men (which by and large remained an African American hairstyle because other hair types could simply not accommodate it) is the so-called ‘Afro’ hairstyle that rocked most of the 70s and 80s: where the hair was let to grow tall and thick (but not long enough to fall over), then combed thoroughly and (vertically) straight to come up with a very outstanding look on the part of the wearer that worked wonders; especially when worn with the ‘belly bottom’ trousers of that age when the ‘Afro’ ruled African American hairstyle circles. And since hairstyle fashion trends go in cycles, it is not surprising that the ‘Afro’ is increasingly making a comeback though to be sure, nowadays, it is the ultra-stylishly minded individual who doesn’t mind being labeled ‘eccentric’ who is likely to be seen wearing an ‘Afro’ today.

Among the women in the African-American society, braids (and the whole range of braided hairstyles) are extremely popular – with some of these even finding acceptance among men who ‘are in touch with their feminine side.’ The black hair is, of course, easily workable into braids – which is why the braided look has found little usage outside the African American society in the USA.

Closely related to the braids are the African-American hairstyles based on weaves – since the strength of the African American hair makes it possible to weave it into various shapes. Unlike the braids, though, the weaves mainly remain popular among the women, with only the occasional man who is not afraid to ’stand out’ sporting one or another variety of the weave.

Dreadlocks (and associated hairstyles) are another popular variety of African American hairstyles, especially among the subscribers of the Rastafarian faith ands its sympathizers; who were for quite a good number of years almost in a majority in the African American society, before the hip-hop revolution of recent years which has seen the numbers even out between those who are sympathetic to the Rastafarian cause and those who prefer the much more easy-going approach to life epitomized by the hip hop subculture.

Author: Jamie Gram
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Proper African American wig care is very important if you want your wig to look good for a long time. Of course, proper wig care depends on what type of wig you have whether or not you have a synthetic wig, a human hair wig, a dreadlocks wig, etc.

General African American wig care:

1. Wash your wig after you have worn it around 8-12 times. In truth, though, you may be able to go longer without washing it, or you may have to wash it much sooner this depends on the humidity and the air quality. And, for instance, if you go to a smoke-y bar, you may want to wash that smoke-smell out of your hair that night, even if you washed it just a few days ago! Be your own judge.
2. Use a towel to gently blot your wig dry again, be gentle! Do not wring out your wig!
3. Now add a conditioning spray.
4. Allow your wig to dry. You can use a Styrofoam head, but it could stretch out the cap. You may, instead, prefer to set your wig on top of something like a vase or a towel-covered hairspray bottle.
5. Do not brush your wig unless it is fully dry.
6. Do not leave your wig out in direct sunlight to dry.
7. If you decide to cut your wig, make sure that you are wearing it for the best results.
8. When not wearing your wig, leave it on a wig stand so that it can keep its shape and not get tangled.
9. When traveling, carry your wig in a wig box you dont want it to be flattened.
10. To wash your wig:

• Use a wig brush to brush through your wig.
• Be sure to use a wig shampoo. It is important that you do not use regular shampoo, it can damage your wig.
• Fill up a sink with cold or lukewarm water and add the wig shampoo (generally about a tablespoon read the shampoo bottle for precise directions).
• Place your wig in the water and gently swish it around be gentle! Do this for about a minute.
• Rinse your wig in cold running water until thoroughly rinsed.

African American wig care for synthetic hair includes not using a hair dryer or any heat-source stylers like curling irons these could actually melt and frizz your synthetic hairs. Use only your fingertips or a wig comb/brush to style the wig. Also make sure that you keep your wig away from excessive heat like opened oven doors, fireplaces, and barbecues.

Also, most synthetic wigs should not be worn in a swimming pool unless otherwise stated. It is also very important that you do not use brushes made for human hair they can stretch out the synthetic hairs, damaging them or frizzing them or breaking them. And do not try to color or bleach your wig.

Wig care for human hair wigs is actually very similar to that of synthetic hair. The main difference is that you can treat a real hair wig more like you would treat your own hair.

You can use hot tools blow dryers, curling irons, etc. to style your human hair wig. Of course, if you have a skin-like plastic cap, you need to be aware that the plastic could melt when under high heat.

An important note about wig care for dreadlocks wigs is that both dreadlocks and spiral curl wigs should not be combed or brushed. Doing so could undo the dreads.

Author: Anne Clarke
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

“An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, GOOD HAIR visits beauty salons and hairstyling battles, scientific laboratories and Indian temples to explore the way hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of the black community.”

I am really looking forward to this documentary. From what I have read about it, it is very eye-opening and informative … and of course hilarious.

This video shows exactly how to use synthetic hair to extend dreadlocks in kinky afro hair. Well done Bri, this will get a lot of views for sure!

Great how-to style video from shanikasears

Send us links to your own pictures and videos, and we will post them for you on dreadlocks.org.

Q. Are my brand-new nappy locks going to be presentable after just being done? Or is it a take-a-week-off-work type thing?

A. If you choose to use a good dreadlock wax to start them, your dreads will definitely be presentable the day after locking up. That’s what’s great about it – makes you look like you have dreads right away, even before it’s had a chance to start locking for real after a couple of weeks. Just try dreading one or two to make sure you like how they look, and then go for it!

If you chose to not use wax to start your locks, it really depends upon your method whether they’re going to look like anything for the next few months, other than loose, matted hair. It usually takes at least six months before neglect-method-locks start to look like locks unless you really work at them and keep them groomed, clean and on-track. Both methods work, but wax simply speeds it up when used properly.

We used to have step-by-step instructions on this site, but since then Knotty Boy has made this video. Also check out the dreadlock videos section for more.

Part 1

Part 2

This dreadlocks video Also can be found on www.knottyboy.com.

The background image for this site is a foggy mountain. It is a beautiful photo, but has nothing to do with dreadlocks. We are looking for submissions from our users for new headers – the best, will be placed permanently as the header.

To submit photos, place your photo online, and comment this post with a link to the photo.

Thanks,

D

Dreadlocks.org just got a face lift, and has been upgraded to the new wordpress. We are now able to handle multiple writers. If you have natural writing ability, have in interest in the topic and community of dreadlocks, and would like to contribute to this site – comment on this post and we will contact you.