6 Misconceptions About Starting And Maintaining Dreads

The beauty of being a natural is that you get to be a reflection of your true self. It’s odd how people who believe in relaxers hold on to the notion that their relaxed state gives them more style or diversity — yet when you look around, there are millions of women rockin’ the same straight hair styles. But when you look at naturals, you get so many different varieties of textures and looks.

Dreadlocks are one of my fave natural hair styles because it makes a statement. It speaks of our heritage, shows strength and resonates our own personal taste. It seems like it’s finally starting to spread around, hence all of the women (and men) wearing faux locs. But there’s nothing like the real thing!

I want to go into the different misconceptions that have been spread about dreadlocks — including misinformation about starting, maintaining and even getting rid of them. So if you’ve been thinking about getting locs for yourself, hopefully this article will help you to do so with confidence.

Myth #1: You have to cut your hair to start dreadlocks

My husband and eldest daughter both have dreadlocks — he started from a mini-fro and she started with shoulder length hair. I twisted hers myself.

That was back in 2010 and today, she still has them and they look just like my husbands. So I can personally say that that is a lie.

I mention this because I know of people who wanted to get them, but didn’t want to do the big chop in order to get them. I do want to note that she has kinky* 4c-like hair, which definitely helped with her hair locking up on point.

Myth #2: You have to cut your dreads off when you no longer want them

I too used to believe this, all the way up until a few weeks ago. I can now say with confidence that it’s possible to remove dreads without cutting them. In fact, you can take them loose using conditioners and other products that help to loosen the locks.

But as you could imagine, it takes a heck of a long time! One woman I came across had very long dreads and it took her 8 hours per dreadlock.

Of course, this isn’t a rule of thumb — she decided to take her time and remove them herself. There are professional services that can be used instead, or if you have shorter, fatter dreads, this won’t take you as long.

Another option is to cut the dreads very short, then take them out — this is quicker and allows you to avoid shaving your head.

Myth #3 – You can’t wash your dreads

That’s pretty gross…and so not true. The only time you don’t wash your dreads is when they are twists. Once they have locked, then you can wash them freely without them unraveling.

My husband and daughter waited two months before their first wash, but there are others who have washed before then.

I simply spritzed their hair with water to keep retwisting them every other week.

Then during the first six months, I didn’t use any conditioners, because that could unravel the dreads as well. I now use herbal shampoo and conditioner on their hair.

Word of advice, try not to sweat a lot and do tie up your hair, so that you can keep it as clean as possible.

Myth #4: Dreads grow slower than unlocked hair

This is actually a surprise to me — I always felt that dreads grew pretty darn fast. My daughters hair is now down her back and my husband, who started with a mini-fro has surpassed her! His is almost to his waist.

To me that is fast growth. But technically speaking, your hair doesn’t slow down when you wear dreads, it just isn’t growing freely like unlocked hair is, so it appears to grow slower.

Myth #5: Dreads take a lot of maintenance

That’s a funny myth — especially since dreads have gotten a bad wrap for being a lazy person’s hairstyle. But I guess when you look at the men and women with the neatly styled dreads, it seems to take more work to get them to appear that way. But reality is that it is still a low maintenance hairdo.

Just like with anyone else, you have to wash your hair every week or every other week, and have it retwisted at that time. So if doing your hair weekly or bi-weekly is high maintenance, then I’d love to know what your current regimen is! Unless, you are wearing braids or weave*. For men, the only extra task is shaping up their hairline whenever they do their beards.

Myth #6: Dreads aren’t versatile

Dreadlocks and sisterlocks can be just as versatile as unlocked hair. You can dye it, highlight it, braid it, style it and cut it. I find that the skinnier the dreads, the more you can do. I’ve even seen men do nice designs where they shave their heads in the front and leave the back long and locked. The styles are even more versatile and unique, if you ask me.

If there’s one thing I’ll say about dreads, it’s that it takes commitment. When you opt to get dreads, you are committing to seeing it through and once they lock, you have to keep up with it just as you would your hair now.

It’s a long-term style, but is no different than wearing your natural textured hair. And just as we have done when we decided to go natural, we should embrace our dreads proudly. Now, only if I had kinkier hair, I’d get them myself!