My Friends Cut Off Their Dreadlocks Because Of Health Issues

My topic today is about another friend of mine that cut off his beautiful dreadlocks because of health issues. 

I did a post in 2011 about a lady, that I met in Trinidad, who had her dreadlocks cut in a bob hairstyle and it was dyed blonde.  I had a mini interview with her and asked why she cut the hair and she informed me that the hair was heavy and she was getting a lot of headaches.

Click the following link to read that post Heavy Long DreadLocks

My second friend (Kat), I also did a blog post about her in 2014, and she too cut her dreadlocks but this time she cut everything off.  She said that it was an injustice to the rastarfaian tradition if she just cut off some of her dreadlocks.  She was experiencing headaches as well and had problems sleeping.  After numerous massages and trips to her family doctor, she made a finial decision to cut off the dreadlocks.   The length of her hair was to the middle of her back. 

She is doing pretty good rocking her short natural hair.  But honestly she looked fabulous with her dreadlocks anyhow health comes first. 

Click the following link to read that blog post - Interview with my friend who cut off her dreadlocks

Now this year I saw a post on Facebook from friend's (Kat) husband that he too cut off his dreadlocks!  His hair was always nicely maintained and the length was up to his buttocks.  I had the opportunity to speak with him briefly a few days ago and asked him why he cut off his dreadlocks and he said that he was having some neck pain.  I know that his hair was his pride and joy so I am sure that this was a very difficult decision for him.  He too is donating his locks to the local cancer society!

Note to my friends:  you can lock your hair again and begin another journey!

Dreadlocks Stocking Cap

Interview With An "Ex-Hair DreadLocker"

I recently learnt that a friend of mine cut off her dreadlocks . I wrote about her in one of my older posts. I knew her from when she started this dreadlocks journey which is about six years ago - 2014. Now I am seeing her at the end of the journey onto a new journey. Of course I am very interested in why she took this drastic step because I know this is not something that you will get up one day and decide to cut of our dreadlocks. It would have taken some time to make the decision. So I asked for an interview and here is how it went:

Question: What made made you decide to cut your dreadlocks?

Answer: I fought with the decision to cut the dreads for about 6 to 8 months. The feeling was up and down. I have been experiencing neck and back pain for over a year and after going to the chiropractor, massage therapist and physical therapist on different occasions, I had to make a decision. I have been spending alot of money at the doctor to get medications and to calm down and relax the muscles. So after much thought, I felt I had to cut the hair in order to get some relief.

I was told to cut off some but I think it would be a huge disrespect to the dreads to cut off some so I decided it is all or nothing! My head sure feels light and free. I miss the dreads ever so often but I am at peace with my decision.

I am now able to sleep comfortably and wake up with no pain. I can go to the beach and get all into the water without having to worry about the hair and the trouble of drying it after.

Question: What are your plans now that you have cut off your locks aka dreads?

Answer: I plan to keep it low for a while since I am swamped for time and this new style is soooo easy to maintain. Eventually I may decide to grow it some more but I will never put any chemicals into it. 

End Of Interview

This is the second person I spoke to about cutting their hair and apparently the locks can be very heavy (when it has grown to lengths like these) and can cause headache, back problems for some people. Who would have thought? Well I wish my friend alot of peaceful nights, and pain free days and of course no comb, no maintenance hair days! She looks absolutely fabulous with any hairstyle!

Wait I am done yet!!! In addition to a change in hairstyle, my friend (who I will call 'K') has decided to donate her locks/dreads to cancer patients. What a humble gesture! I am so proud of her! I want to take this opportunity to thank for the allow me the opportunity to interview her. Thank you 'K'!

I just thought that I should mention that this post is not to detour anyone from making the decision to 'lock' their hair. Everyone will have a different experience. So do give it a try if you are thinking about going on this journey!

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DreadLocks Wrapped In Tight Curls

I met this young lady today.  I really like her hair style.  But under close investigation, I realized that her hair is in dreadlocks and the locks were wrapped tightly for form these cute curls.

The curls remind me of a weave that I installed in my hair many years ago the name of the weave was called Senegal twist.

Dreadlocks Stocking Cap

Old Friend With Very Long Dreadlocks

Wow I am so excited about this post today.  My model today is an old friend of mine.  We have known each other for many years.  As a matter of fact our mothers were very good friends and WE became friends!  Her family migrated to USA more than 20 years ago and thanks to Facebook, we can now keep in touch with other on a regular basis.

As you can see her hair is in dreadlocks, she has beautiful hair.  In the first picture you can see the length of her hair.  The gentleman with her is her nephew.  Hopefully I will get pictures of him some time in the future.

This is Lev with her hair down, she normally has her  hair all tied up for work to have a professional look.  She untied her hair specially for me and took pictures.  I wanted to see the length of her hair.  Thanks Lev!

Dreadlocks Stocking Cap

I asked Levi what are the possibilities of going swimming on a regular basis and what are the dislikes and likes she experiences having her  hair in dreadlocks and the following are her responses:

Swimming is very enjoyable, just have to be careful on the environment due to the fact that its so much hair things can attach itself and u are not aware. Ocean no problem let it all hang loose. rivers etc. wrap it up. this is just my opinion. I am very protective.

Hair drying depends on the season. Summer beautiful you can allow it to dry naturally. Winter it takes planning and time allotted to do a complete job. Before you go out in the elements.

Issues: I have tender scalp, so to carry or style this amount of hair is a sensitive thing. Strangers just walking up and touching without my permission (very bad).  When you sit, it gets it out the way because if you forget it could be very painful (neck wise). Will miss it when I cut it!

Likes: its fascinating to see all my hair on my head for the pass seven years and not in the shower drain.

This choice was accidental. My daughter is amazed at the growth every time she comes home. (I still can't get her to take care of my hair she is always asking me to do her hair. 

Headaches Caused By Heavy Long DreadLocks

I met this lovely lady, Mary, on my trip to Trinidad in June of this year and my first question to her was if the dye in her hair was not causing her hair to break and she responded negatively.  Another piece of information that she provided me with, is that her hair was much longer and she had to cut it because it had gotten too heavy!

I was very surprised as I never thought of long locks being heavy.  Apparently the weight was causing her headaches etc. In addition when she washed her hair it was even heavier!!!  I can relate to this because on the few occasions I installed braids in my hair and when I washed it, I felt the weight of the hair on my head.  Very interesting piece of information.  Dreadlocks Stocking Cap

This is Mary before she cut her hair!

Beautiful DreadLocks II

Unwanted 'DreadLocks'!

Okay people, this is my latest update. In my last post, I had a picture of my hair braided. Well even though it looked great, I did not want to leave the braids in my hair for any lengthy period of time. So the next weekend I decided to have my hairdresser style my hair. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures. 

She twist the front and put the balance of the hair in one and rolled it into a bun. I left the salon feeling good about my hair and saying to myself that I can keep this hairstyle for a few weeks.

Well after the third day I found that I was scratching my scalp alot and it was quite aggravating. Make me feel as if I was unclean. I don't think I made a week after I had my hair styled. A few days later I unwrapped the hair and applied some moisturizer to my scalp. I felt alot better and I noticed that I was not itching as much after that. 

Well on Friday evening after work, I decided to remove the braids, wash my hair and have it relaxed on Monday on my day off (the braids was looking very untidy). It did not take long to remove the braids because the plaits were large. But after I washed my hair, the nightmare began. 

Certain parts of my hair knotted up and I was unable to untangle them. It was so ironic. I was thinking of ‘locking’ my hair and here I was with parts of my hair in unwanted locks!

So Saturday morning bright and early I want to my hairdresser to have her untangle my hair. I was a bit scared as I thought she would have told me that I would have to cut my hair to remove the knots. But it went well.

Having His Dreadlocks Re-twisted For His Wedding Day

This is the groom for the wedding that I had to attend in St. Vincent on August 1, 2010.  He wears his hair in a dreadlocks hairstyle and was having it re-twisted for the wedding.  I took the opportunity to chat with his hairdresser, telling her about my thoughts of wearing my hair natural, maybe in a dreadlocks hair style as well.  I saw alot of people wearing their hair in locks in St. Vincent.  Some were looking a bit untidy. 

This young lady told me that she too was thinking about locking her hair but she keeps changing her mind for two reasons.  Eventhough she can do it for herself, it would be quite difficult to do so plus it would be a bit costly to have it done.  To have it re-twisted would take about 2-3 hours.  As you see the gentleman took the opportunity to have a little nap!

Dreadlocks Stocking Cap

Orlando - Model Of The Day

This is one of my co-workers, and friend Orlando.  It has been a while that I wanted to take his picture and I finally got it yesterday.   When he saw the pictures he was very surprised at how his hair good looks.  He said that he does not really get the opportunity to see his hair from a back view.  So my response to him is this is what attracts the ladies.  LOL!!!

He expressed that the maintenance of the locks could be quite time consuming. To have a good looking head of natural hair, it has to be washed and ever so often the hair has to be re-locked. He said that this can be a bit painful (I did not know this). And there is also the financial aspect of it. Certain products will have to be bought to keep the hair looking healthy.  Some men have their locks styled - maybe in braids for example.

Very Talented At Styling Dreadlocks

It has been a while since I have posted pictures of other peoples' hair.  You see when I first started this blog, I took pictures of my friends hair and posted them here.  Last night I met a young lady who does hair as a hobby and this is one of her samples.  I will be posting some more pictures of her work.  She is very talented.

Guess What?

This fine gentleman came into the store but left before I had a chance to approach him. You see I was so busy, I was unable to leave what I doing to do my thing.

But guess what? He returned later on in the day and I had the opportunity to attend to him and take a few pictures. I told a friend of mine that she should not be surprised if I decide to wear my hair natural because I admire people who wear their hair like this and keep it in perfect condition like this gentleman! 

I Am Thinking About 'Locking' My Hair!!!

I saw these photos on Facebook, of this young lady with beautiful locked hair (look at the length of her hair!) and of course I had to get consent to post them on my blog. 

You know something I think I am liking this natural hairstyle thing. I notice that people who choose this hairstyle, the hair grows pretty long in a very short space of time. The model in these pictures said that she has been growing her hair for eight (8) years now and her regime is very simple, she just uses hair grease and when she washes it, she twists it so it gets nice and curly. 

One of her comments was that she was amazed how fast the hair grows with dreads and when the hair is any other way it takes forever to grow. I guess black people are meant to have dreads.

Speechless!!

My friend sent me this picture of her husband this morning and I was absolutely speechless!!! I was lost for words. Oh my!!!! Let's see if I could at least come up with some adjectives:  AMAZING, AWESOME, GORGEOUS, WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, FANTASTIC

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