Reason #9: dreadlocks teach approachability

Dreadlocks, without a doubt, make me more approachable.

Say what?

It's true, but it's counter-intuitive.  At first glance, they're messy, disheveled, and unkempt, particularly when they're first getting started, so I wasn't prepared for them opening doors.

But what I've discovered is that people will talk to me about my locks; they act like a kind of ambassador, allowing people who have some experience with them to start up a conversation.  I don't think it helps me talk to people who have no experience with locks, but that's why I want to keep them neat and professional anyway.

• People who used to have them, like the village board member I ran into one day who told me about how her life was very different back then.
• Or people who are just starting out kinda small and subtle, like the mom I know who put one (just one) in behind her ear.
• Then there's folks I've been introduced to specifically because I have dreadlocks, like the local Republican who had them for twenty years.

I wouldn't have known that any of these people have, or have had, locks had I not had them myself.  (Yep, I used that word five times in one form or another.)  I call that approachable.