Monday, July 23, 2012

Sixteen Weeks

Sorry for my noted absence. I went through a crisis of faith where I'm like, "my dreadlocks aren't locking!" And they aren't, really, but I'm hoping that's just because as skinny locks, they're going to take a lot longer. I was hoping they'd be done by now, but then I probably should've put more effort into palm rolling. I hates palm rolling.

Anyway, almost all the bands are out. All the root bands are gone (all the ones I've found anyway), and I only have a few tip bands in that I put in on vacation to try and keep the tips from coming out. I had a small braid of hair that was somehow left out at the original backcombing, so I braided it and would leave it sticking out of my tam right above my ear to throw off anyone who might suspect I had dreads hidden under there. I called it my padawan braid. It is now a solid knot at the top. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it. I am also trying to start using my tiny loose hair tool, as I am getting the sneaky suspicion that a lot of the hairs I put in with the sculpta don't actually stay put in.

I have had two dreams now where my mom has gotten dreads and they have looked better than mine. Eh mom, wha'dya say to that?

At work, a women told me she really liked me hair and then said I looked like "a raggedy Ann doll... in a good way." She went on to tell me she liked my freckles and that she'd heard somewhere that "a face without freckles is like a night sky without stars." Well, now I feel undeniably cute, and maybe about twelve years old. What do you think? Too cute for dreads? (Ha!)

Also, I had to go downtown for something. I hate downtown with most of the streets being one way, alternating at every intersection and parking is a pain. But I was walking from my car to Java Joes and I passed by a group of people sitting on the corner of the sidewalk on an intersection. Mixed races, mixed genders, and I think they were holding a cardboard sign that said something about "slapping a traveler" and named a dollar amount. Great way to relieve stress, they said. First one I noticed was a black guy wearing something in camo with those perfect dreads that I can never obtain. Yes, I am jealous. Then I saw another one sitting on the ground with his back to me, and saw he also had dreads. Coming around the front, I realized he was white.

"I like your dreads, mama," he called after me as I walked past. I flashed him a quick smile and said, "Thanks!"

They were still there when I went back, maybe around a half hour later. The same guy started talking to me again as I waited for the Walk light. He asked me how long I've had my dreads, how I put them in. I said by backcombing. He said his were natural, all he did was mix salt with water and leave that in and it only took them like a month to form. By that time, the light changed and I said goodbye and they suggested that I come hang out with them at some point.

But my question is, am I forever going to be judged on my dreadlocks by how I put them in? We can't look at hair and think the hair looks good without knowing how it came to be? Will I always be considered a sort of poser because I decided to backcomb my hair instead of let it form naturally? That seems so narrow-minded. I'm white with more-or-less straight hair. I have a friend who is mixed with curly "nappy" hair and it took him around five years to get dreadlocks. His hair looked like a palm tree or Sideshow Bob for a lot of the time in the middle and he actually had the hair for it. If I were to go neglect, I would just look like I never brushed my hair for a good seven plus years. And maybe some people think you have to earn it, you have to go through all that for dreads. And I think that it is a hair style and if I can do it to my hair, then why does anyone else care? What makes it more a hair style or less a hair style depending on how you put it in? My ponytail is better than yours because I used a scrunchy.

I know dreads are more than a hair style to a lot of the people who have them. They are a spiritual journey, a memory, or representational of something. Mine represent freedom to me, and the ability to break past the cage of expectations, made by myself and others. But do I have to look like a mess for years to have them mean that to me? I don't think so.



































They look blue in the bottom one because I was trying to hide from direct sunlight in my balcony, but it was peeking over anyway. Actually, they kind of look cool blue.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Fifteen Weeks...I Think

Been busy. I thought that being scheduled for full eleven hour shifts meant you'd only have to work four days a week. I could deal. No, apparently it means that you work three full shifts and two half days. I think I was about four hours overtime last week. And then on the full days, I can pretty much choose one thing to do in the three hours of the evening I have left. If I want to raid in WoW, I can't exercise.

All that to say, posting on blogs takes a bit of a back seat. It's an excuse.

So, my dreads aren't maturing quite the way I want. I think some that didn't have much in the way of knots previously now have more, but they don't seem to be locking. I'm getting close to the four month mark and I'm rather worried. I keep trying to tell myself that they'll get there. I've started them and their natural tendency should be to continue to knot and lock and I just take care of the outside loose hair.

My rubberbands at the roots have been falling out. I took out the ones at the top around my part, so they basically covered all the others that still had bands. And they are reaching the point of decay that I cannot take them out intact. They just snap. And now they are starting to actually break on their own. I'll find one stuck to the shower curtain, one by my pillow when I get up, two on the floor after exercising. I actually found one on the back of the car on the trunk yesterday. I took a look at it and decided the sun had adverse effects on it. David came over, recognized it, laughed, and tried to pick it up. He then discovered that old rubberbands sitting on metal melt in the sunlight. It was a little gross. I need to get the rest of them soon. They are starting to get sticky.

Until next time.