Jackson Free Press

Daniel Johnson's face is distinctive: eyes bold and blue, nose prominent. He sat across from me with a comfortable reception of each question, his hair down by his face, fine and straight. But, upon closer observation there are intricately matted groupings of hair mixed in with the fine strands. No warning, just growing a personality of their own.

Johnson says everyone has their own way of getting dreadlocks. He knew a man who separated his dreads out with rubber bands. It worked well except he had to cut out the rubber bands when the dreads formed. Some people use beeswax but, to Johnson, that seems sort of sticky and goopy.

"I just don't mess with it," he says. He washes his hair every three weeks. The stigma of dreadlocks being unclean does not have to be true. He says the moisture is good for them. Dreads are made up of the hair that people generally lose each day.

He adds: "A good friend to wind it (a dread) between their hands" makes the experience of having dreads possible. "I need people to help me rip them apart, unless I want a big nest on my head," he says.

Johnson recalls his friend Joseph Williams saying, "You have to love dreadlocks before you have them." Johnson began his dreads because he just liked the style, the ease of it. Now after two years of growing his dreads from a fresh cut, he says, "It has become more since then. It has become more about patience. You cannot be worried about your hair."

He has eight dreadlocks now, mostly in the back, tightly matted at the ends. "Starting dreadlocks and following through with having them completed, you have to first decide that you want that. Ask people how they got theirs and what they do."

As a cook, Johnson wears his hair in a ponytail most of the time. When asked if having dreadlocks has ever held him back professionally, he responds casually, "I don't want to work somewhere where they want to give me a hard time about my appearance. That would not be a place I would want to be."
— Jessica Kinnison

Previous Commentsshow

cog_4u here Just wanted to applaud u 4 your decision to wear dreadlocks . I think there are wonderful but like u say u must decide that is what u want to do first. I a young woman that decided 4 years ago that I would no longer put a relaxer in my hair and go natural and wear braids, it's the best decision i could have made , but the problem I run into a lot is different people will say girl u better get a perm u know how we do some time , but I just tell them it's for the best because i don't have to worry about all of those chemicals being release into my body. (burnt scalps) :) :) know if i could only find someone in this area that is a good hair braider and knows how 2 take care of your hair also. so if u all know someone send them my way Again I applaud everyone that has decided to wear their hair natural. You b Blessed till next time. Contact me @ [email]VNNMS@YAHOO.COM[/email]

COG4U

Jan 7 2005

i just wanted some advice !!! ive thought hard and long about having dreads (like 1 half years to be prcise) and i really want to have them done but 1) i dont wan to have to pay like 2oo pounds and 2) i'd like to do them myself it would feel more of an achievement and plus i'd be at one with them just me and my dreads!!(possibly with a little help from a close friend if need be) could you throw some advice on how i would go about doing them myself?? i dont wanna just leave my hair to knot as it pleases and end up as one dread! help would be greatly apreciated !! thank you :))))))

yarr

Nov 14 2005