Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Collected notes on perception

I've jotted a few notes down here and there about the perception-altering qualities of dreadlocks.  Here's what I've got:
  • A friend of mine picked up my metal comb and asked me what it was for.  I told him, "That's how we put in my locks," and he froze for second, as if I had said, "That's how I cut open live kittens."  I don't think he noticed that I noticed.
  • The right side of my head - the nurture side - had a serious itching fit when I was out in the cold today.  Don't know what it means.
  • Is there such a thing as dreadlock assault?  Two people have told me tales about unconscious people getting dreadlocks put in without their consent.  In both cases the tale teller didn't know the alleged victim directly.
  • Having dreadlocks myself doesn't keep me from wondering if someone else's locks are clean.  There's no easy way to tell, not visually.
  • Only after I started locks did I have strangers compliment my hair.
  • I got a pretty bad eye infection a month or so ago, and I wondered if I'd scratched my eye on a lock.  They're every bit as annoying as unlocked hair is at this length, with the added features of bludgeoning mass and a cruel, spike-like tip of hair that's been deliberated roughened up for extra abrasive locking power.
Perception is subtly changed by this hair.  Some of that perception is mine, but not all, and it's usually hard to quantify it, but it's there.