Dreadlocks

Nowadays, people generally have deep-rooted prejudices against other people wearing dreadlocks. They have become associated with ideas such as smoking ganja and a permanent feeling of relax. As a consequence, just a few persons know the real history of dreadlocks, and particularly what are their meanings?

First of all, we will define what a dreadlock is and introduce the real history of locked hair, and then we will try to explain the phenomenon of Rasta’s, which, sometimes, have bad connotations.

Which is called a dreadlock is a kind of tube made of hair, which had fused together. It can appear if the hair can grow naturally without any conditioners for a long time. But today, a lot of hair dressers are specialized in making dread locks artificially with special conditioners in few hours.

The origin of dreadlocks descends from the ancient Egypt. The royal family used to wear dreadlocked hair.

Then, for the Sâdhu and the Sadhvis, Indian men and women practicing asceticism, the dreadlocks had become sacred. Their hair trains a religious rite and expression of their negligence to the vanity and a demonstration of a spiritual experience where the physical appearances have no importance.

But meanings of dreadlocks are various all over the world, and are not always in relation with religious and spirituous things. In the countries of East Asia, such as China, dreadlocks and variations of locks were supposed to bring a good health, and were carried at the same time as nails of the hand very long.

The name dreadlocks comes from Jamaica; it carries a mystic and revolutionary meaning, which is related to the arrival of these braids in the island: dreadlocks means an anti-authority aspect in front of the system capitalist or westerner generally.

A person with dreadlocks is similar to the lion, and so, has the same qualities: pride and strength. It is a refusal of the mental and physical slavery.

Bob Marley, coming from Jamaica

Since the 70s, dreadlocks arrived in the west thanks to the influence of reggae music.

It is now an effect of fashion; it is to say that the religious and historical meaning has nearly disappeared. It is now, more a way for young people to translate their rebellion against the society, and more generally, a way to integrate teenagers groups. As the dreadlocks appears when, obviously, people don’t wash their hair for a moment, they were quickly assimilated to person lazy and rebel. An

d as a famous singer, Bob Marley, use to smoke a lot of ganja, it is also assimilated to smoking weeds and so on.

Today, the dreadlocks, that were a powerful meaning of appearance and

belonging to a way of thinking or a group, are now wore by Christian Dior models for his new collection, and help a lot of companies all over the world to make money…