Bravo.
As a guy who shaved his head (and has maintained a smooth dome) recently.
Bravo.
I think nice dreads are pretty cute.
This reminds me of an elderly lady whom I see everytime I frequent the local Sally Ann’s. Her hair is done up in one giant stooping dread that could be pulled right out of Doctor Seuss.
If I understand what you’re saying, the problem here is failure to wait a cap or hair net that enclosed the hair–as any professional cook should, regardless of hair style. Nothing particularly to do with dreadlocks.
I’ve closely known two people with dreads; both were happy, well-adjusted, and had navigated a good place for themselves in life.
Dreads, like aggressive piercings and whatnot, do make it harder to integrate into the mainstream. Some folks, however, don’t want to integrate into the mainstream – and it’s easier to integrate into subcultures if you do look the part.
My son decided to grow dreads when he was 17. He said it was to emulate one of the kids graduating from the high school band, so there’d be always be a kid in the band with dreadlocks.
He spent far more time maintaining his hair than just about anything else. My wife and I talked it over, and decided we had bigger battles to fight, so we never bugged him at all. He kept the dreads through the rest of high school and college, finally cutting them about 3 months before he graduated.
You know, he did look kind of cute, in a Bob Marley sort of way.
For most people (white or black…but especially white), wearing locks is a temporary thing. They are actually high-maintenance if you want them to look nice and clean. It’s harder for white people to lock “well”, so they have to put extra effort into it. I think that this, in addition to their unconventionality, is why they are often a phase rather than a permanent fixture.
But…a wearer needs to be aware of the obvious. If you decide to give up on them, it’s not as simple as combing them out. No, it’s “grab the scissors!” time. You will have to sport the Sinead O’Connor look for a while. So you better hope you’ve got a nice-shaped head!
That said, both my mother and sister have locks. I think they are rather nice looking, but they spend time and money keeping them that way. One downside, though, is that as they grow longer and longer, you can experience traction alopecia. My mother and sister have this and not even a little bit. So this would be something the niece might want to know about.
Sure, but I think they mean 13-17, while the kids live at home. 18 seems to be well after the cows are out of the barn.
It’s my opinion that dreadlocks usually only look good on black people and simply aren’t flattering on the vast majority of white people. Nonetheless, it doesn’t really seem like that big of a deal. I agree this is a harmless form of experimenting. Just because I don’t think a hairstyle looks good doesn’t mean that nobody else should wear it.
However, I would be very ashamed of having a child who was so ridiculous as to write a pamphlet about it being wrong for white people to wear hairstyles that originated in other cultures (or anything else that silly). I might have to disown them for that degree of cluelessness.