Half a plan for the new year

Right now my locks are pretty fun:  they're still short enough that they can stick just about everywhere when I want them to, but long enough that they'll point more or less down when I ask really nicely.

They're about half-locked, so there's more to go to make this locky thing happen.  Of course, how to take the next steps is going to be important, particularly if I want to do explore the options in anything approaching a systematic fashion.

stop trying to fix them. the more you work on them the longer it will take for them to get really tight..after a year or two you can blunt your tips if they dont do it on their own

That's what Cherubim666999 said on my six-month dreadlock update video.  It's an argument I've heard before.  Messing with them, including the usage of products like wax, slows down the process.  I'd be better off letting time, and the compression of many nights of sleep, do the work.  Naturally, they will lock on their own if I just let things be.

An after-and-before shot.

Ignorance is bliss

I didn't know any of this when I started my locks.  All I knew was how a metal comb could put the locks in, and how using wax to keep them compressed (frequently at first but reducing in the number of applications over time) helps accelerate the process, leading to the tight, stray-hair-free locks I was looking for more quickly.  I knew that there was an alternative; I had considered and discarded a full neglect method as an option.  The only thing I didn't know about at first was the controversy.

Wanted: Doctorate of Dreadlocks

So I started waxy, then I gave wax up.  By October I wanted my wax back, because my hair felt like it was falling apart.  That could also be a sign that wax is bad news in the first place, but I didn't have enough evidence either way.  People swearing up and down that wax is good or bad is terribly interesting, but what I really wanted was some actual research on dreadlock techniques and their effectiveness.

So that's my plan for the new year:  I'm going to go back to using wax on half my head, and leave the other half be.  I'll still wash the whole head as always, but the right side will go back to an alternating cycle of one week of wax, one week of palmrolling, futzing with the crochet hook, and generally screwing around in the hopes that I can make the locks tighten up faster.

It won't be exactly scientific, but at least it will be systematic.  In another six months or so I should have some idea of which method works better.

One week in: let's talk about waxing dreads

I can't believe that one week ago today my scalp was in agony as we backcombed the hell out of it.  Where are my locks now?  They're in lots of different places:

One week in, professional and stylin' in one slick package

• some are poofy with a wall of hair around a hollow inside
• others are really narrow, closely-packed little spikes of hair
• a couple of them, shorter ones, are really only sticking together because of the rubber bands

which I would call progress, all in all.  There's a halo of loose hair around every lock, and combined with the sprinklings of salt in my pepper they lack visual definition.  On the other hand, they're staying together better, and when I've worn my hat for awhile they're willing to stay down until I palmroll them.

I've been cautious about overwaxing my dreads, and I realized that what I thought was wax was actually the hair starting to lock up, which is a lot faster than I expected.  (The flipside is that they'll probably take a lot longer to mature than I'm expecting, but we'll see about that.)

Waxing dreadlocks is very controversial, it turns out.  I am waxing my locks, but I don't know enough to say that it's the right thing, or a good thing, or the best thing, or the dread thing.

I just don't have wax on lockdown.

Here's a good example of the argument against using wax:

Man, that screen shot is not flattering, is it?

So wax will cause problems like mildew, wax will slow the locking process, "you won't have dreads, you'll just have candles on your head."  That last one's funny.  But hey, I didn't know there was a controversy, and I'm learning by living.  In fact I bought my wax from one of the companies named in that video, although I found my information about using wax elsewhere.

In truth, DreadHeadHQ recommends a very minimal amount of wax in dreads.  I don't think I would need another container, because I'm supposed to use it less and less frequently.  I'm cautious about not adding wax if there's any left, so worst case scenario I've been sold something I don't need, and something to remove it with.

The opposition seems to like videos:

It's passionate, but is it accurate?  Some people believe that anything other than neglect isn't "natty" enough, but I'm going for a more controlled, cultured look; bonsai instead of banyan tree.

I'm going to follow the regimen I'm on, which calls for wax in the locks for the first month, reducing after that.  I already own the wax, so it won't cost me money.  If wax really slows down locking, well my hair likes to knot anyway, and it's been pretty well backcombed, so it's just going to take longer.  If it works, though, I will have smooth, tight locks in two or three months under the best of circumstances.

Either way, one week in I'm continuing to take a laissez-hair attitude about my dreadlocks.  At least when I'm home and no one can see them.

What a dreadful idea!

Maybe it's just a way to have a midlife crisis that costs less than buying a sports car and a new mail-order bride, but I have decided to lock my hair, as in dreadlocks.  I'm also going to write about the experience . . . how it gets done, what it's like to have and maintain dreadlocks, and most importantly, how it shapes how people perceive and interact with me.

That last part - chronicling those perceptions - inspires the name of this project.  Dread Like Me is a play on Black Like Me, John Howard Griffin's story of how he became black in order to experience racial oppression in the southern United States.  I know that there's a good amount of negative stereotyping and perceptions about dreadlocks, mostly because I've shared a lot of those perceptions myself.  People who wear dreadlocks are dirty, aimless people who can't get a job, right?

Of course, I've also worked with attorneys who have locks, and it didn't keep them from commanding respect, so maybe it's more than just the wearing of the hair that forms those perceptions. The name is also rhymes with Dead Like Me, which is a bonus.  Maybe the creators of that show wanted to remind people of Black Like Me; I don't know, I just had the idea this moment.

I'm a writer whose greatest challenge is finding things to write about, so I'm hoping I can milk an ebook or maybe even a publishing deal out of this idea.  Can't hurt to try, hmm?