# White guys/girls with "dreadlocks"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 3, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330 "2001-11-03T18:19:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/1 "2001-11-03T18:19:16Z")
Having recently lived/worked on a college campus during the big upswing in the anti-globalization movement, I’ve been exposed to a lot of the people who like to protest the WTO at every moment of the day and like to major in oh-so-useful fields like philosophy (Minoring in philosophy is a good idea, I think, but majoring is impractical beyond belief).
I won’t get into their politics, that’s too much substance for a Saturday, but I would like to comment on their HAIR.
A lot of these neo-hippies like to fashion their hair in something that tries to be dreadlocks but clearly, clearly is not. The locks are kind of haphazardly done on their head, and any part of their hair that isn’t done like this is just a plain mess.
And when you look at the hair closely, you see that the dreadlocks are nothing more than dried out, matted clumps of hair. GROSS!!!
Yesterday I was crammed on the subway standing right behind someone who had a ponytail done in this fashion. His stringy, greasy hair went down the back of his head and just sort of congealed into this dried-out mess that resembled the things I’d find when I’d look under the bed where my dog slept as a kid.
I swear, these things look like a cross between turds and hairballs. They totally gross me out. I mean, would it fuckin’ kill you to WASH YOUR HAIR?!?!
OKay… I’m done.
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### Author:  [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/2 "2001-11-03T18:24:42Z")
My hair being coarse, curly, and easily tangled (I’m white and Native American, FWIW) I get dreadlocks pretty easily, whether I wash my hair or not.
I can get good dreads if I don’t comb my hair for a week, even if I wash my hair every day.
Not that it has much to do with your rant, but I’m a fan of good hygiene.
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### Author:  [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/3 "2001-11-03T18:25:46Z")
By the way, majoring in philosophy is not such a bad idea if one is going to law school.
AND at my school, most of the philosophy majors are double-majors. The ones I’ve talked to say that philosophy training really prepares them well for other disciplines as well.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/4 "2001-11-03T18:44:13Z")
My dad majored in philosophy. His mother asked him, “What the hell are you going to do, open a philosophy store?”
He became a very successful bigshot New York City lawyer.
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### Author:  [@milo\_minderbinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milo_minderbinder)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/5 "2001-11-03T19:08:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by SNenc \*
> And when you look at the hair closely, you see that the dreadlocks are nothing more than dried out, matted clumps of hair. GROSS!!!_\*
AFAIK that goes for any dredlocks other than the slim pleated type whether the boomshakalack rood boy is white or black.
I tried twisting my hair into dreds years ago but after about a week and a half it was just too itchy and I had to give up.
What’s worse than crusty dreds, on us Mr Charlie types at least, _are_ the pleated types. A friend put this kind into my hair for me once. Only after an hour of tugging and smarting did I get to see the result. A weird looking grid of exposed white scalp against black hair.
Cue more tugging and smarting to remove.
milo
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/6 "2001-11-03T21:46:40Z")
My dad majored in philosophy and is now the national reporter for Montreal for Canada’s national news service. He doesn’t have any hair to speak of.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/7 "2001-11-03T21:57:26Z")
I find dreads sort of icky in concept anyway… just don’t see how you keep your scalp clean that way, but I’ve seen dreads that at least don’t _look_ that bad. But the ones that are as big around as prescription pill bottles and look like owl droppings are just nasty as hell.
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/8 "2001-11-03T22:05:43Z")
I see dread people!
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### Author:  [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/9 "2001-11-03T22:20:15Z")
I think you guys need to keep in mind that I know some really loose women with dreadlocks.
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/10 "2001-11-03T22:38:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bob Scene \*
> \*\*I think you guys need to keep in mind that I know some really loose women with dreadlocks. \*\*
Fantastic. Women so loose you strap a board to your ass to keep from falling in?
Marc
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/11 "2001-11-03T23:17:08Z")
The most attractive woman I know has natty, natty dreads. Sweet. (But I thought she was beautiful before they developed.)
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### Author:  [@absoul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/absoul)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/12 "2001-11-03T23:53:07Z")
I can’t believe you made your dog sleep under your bed. ☹
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### Author:  [@CyberHippy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberHippy)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2001, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/13 "2001-11-04T00:10:35Z")
My understanding, based on my limited comprehension of the Rastafarian religion, is that dreads are supposed to be developed naturally, i.e. by not washing or combing the hair. Ever.
Good old Google got me:
> [@](#):
>
> Perhaps the most familiar feature of Rastafari culture is the growing and wearing of dreadlocks, uncombed and uncut hair which is allowed to knot and mat into distinctive locks. Rastafari regard the locks as both a sign of their African identity and a religious vow of their separation from the wider society they regard as Babylon .
It is certainly ironic that the 90’s version of the hippy has taken on the look of the Rastafarian (which grew out of black slavery), but if they’re nappy and unwashed that just means they’re being true-to-form.
Another site:
> [@](#):
>
> The very act of growing locks in one’s hair is symbolic of the refusal to adhere to society’s notion of self-grooming as opposed to to letting the hair remain in a natural state.
So, while I _personally_ agree that not washing one’s hair is quite gross, the nasty, unkempt dreads are much more representative of the Rasta religion than those grown in a salon.
BTW, I’m really getting tired of people like **SNenc** calling people “neo-hippies” - are you, sir or madam, an expert? Did you grow up on a commune? Or do you just believe it is your Gawd-given right to decide who is or isn’t a hippy/hippie?
**[Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com)** says it means:
> [@](#):
>
> A person who opposes and rejects many of the conventional standards and customs of society, especially one who advocates extreme liberalism in sociopolitical attitudes and lifestyles.
Seems to me that the people you describe fit this perfectly. :wally
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2001, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/14 "2001-11-04T00:11:41Z")
In high school I knew a guy who grew dreds. (White guy. There were exactly three black people in my high school.) He looked really cool with them, actually. Especially when he was up on stage (he played guitar in a promising local band named A Promising Local Band), headbanging and going with the groove.
Then they started to smell.
He shaved his head and stuck with your run-of-the-mill spikes after that. I haven’t seen him since we graduated but last I heard he was going to try to grow a mohawk.
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### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2001, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/15 "2001-11-04T00:12:54Z")
I forgot to mention… towards the end of his dredlocked stage, when they were getting nasty, he looked disturbingly like the Disney animated Tarzan.
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2001, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/16 "2001-11-04T01:37:49Z")
In my oh-so-humble opinion, [url=“[http://www.sciflicks.com/predator/images/predator\_17.html](http://www.sciflicks.com/predator/images/predator_17.html)”]this\* is the only guy who looks really cool with dreadlocks.
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/17 "2001-11-04T01:39:10Z")
Dammit. I think that’s the first time I ever forgot to close a url code.
[HERE](http://www.sciflicks.com/predator/images/predator_17.html) is the shmoe.
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### Author:  [@CLedet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CLedet)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/18 "2001-11-04T02:19:29Z")
Look at SPOOFE padding his post count!
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### Author:  [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/19 "2001-11-04T02:34:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> My understanding, based on my limited comprehension of the Rastafarian religion, is that dreads are supposed to be developed naturally, i.e. by not washing or combing the hair. Ever.
According to [dreadheadhq.com](http://www.dreadheadhq.com):
> [@](#):
>
> We recommend washing your dreads about every 4 to 7 days when they are new… After they start to get tighter you can wash them as often as you like. Never use conditioners.
Then again, they are in the business of selling shampoo for dreadlocks. However, the Straight Dope™ can be found in the threads as well:
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=39115](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=39115)
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=11135](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=11135)
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### Author:  [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2001, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-guys-girls-with-dreadlocks/91330/20 "2001-11-04T02:54:36Z")
white girl who had dreads back in the day checking in here
not washing your hair regularly, dreadlocks or no dreadlocks, is just icky. Dirty hair won’t dread better–if anything, the built up grease makes it harder for the hair to cohere. The trick is to wash, but–like waterj2’s cite suggests–never condition, and throw away your comb. The rest comes naturally.
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