Providing a history of dreadlocks is a dense endeavor, as tangled and matted as each lock of the hair itself. Or perhaps it should be called a lack of hairstyle.
It’s hard to trace the history of dreads back to any single point of origin. The more information a seeker uncovers on the quest for a definitive story, the more complicated and obscure it becomes. In cases such as these, the best thing to do is provide information that reliably correlates across the spectrum of available sources.
Dreadlocks are a naturally occurring phenomenon. Perhaps this is obvious — if a person neglects to maintain their hair, dreadlocks will begin to form. In this sense, dreadlocks have been around since the dawn of humankind, because, clearly, there was a time when combs had yet to be invented.
A religion intimately associated with dreadlocks is Rastafarianism, which officially formed in 1930 and was influenced by the philosophical doctrines of Marcus Garvey. Rastafarianism’s place of origin was originally Jamaica, although the religion and its influence transcends beyond any one place or country.
Harald Hammarstrom, who formerly maintained a Web site about dreadlocks, recounted a brief history of the style’s origin.
“There’s solid evidence for at least five genuses, namely: India (say from 1000 B.C. or further back), Papua New Guinea (20th century or further back), Aztec Indians (16th century) and various tribes in East Africa (since the 19th century at least) and West Africa (since the 19th century at least),” he wrote in an e-mail.
Hammarstrom also acknowledged biblical connections with dreads, but said that the meaning of the word “dreadlock” in the book is ambiguous.
Because dreadlocks mean many different things to so many people, they can signify more than any of these descriptions. However, people most often wear them in one of two ways. One involves displaying them in the sense of setting, or embracing a fashion statement. This is a growing trend cross the Pacific Northwest. The other mode involves a deeper, more thoughtful and conscious choice. In this sense, the decision to externally sport dreadlocks is merely one part of a larger choice. Of course, in both cases, one’s personal identity is reflected in the decision — more so than any other hairstyle because dreadlocks are so obvious and pronounced.
Lane Community College student Alyssa Van Pelt has had dreads for close to two-and-a-half years. She visited Ghana, a West African country, and said dreads are socially frowned upon in the country, associated with poverty and insanity.
Dreads can be manufactured in a myriad of ways. One method involves sectioning hair (after washing and drying it) into small amounts, using rubber bands to hold it back, then removing the rubber bands and “back-combing” the different sections. Finally, adding a small amount of wax to each section and rolling it should solidify each lock. There are other methods similar to this, using twisting, or a combination of twisting and pinning, instead of back-combing. And of course, there’s the aforementioned method of neglect, which simply involves waiting for dreadlocks to form.
Wax is one of the many available products that can naturally aid in the creation of dreads. Hair salons can also create dreadlocks professionally, but it’s a costly endeavor and often involves using chemicals.
Whether or not the method of creating dreads connects to the method of choice for their creation is a question that each person must answer for himself or herself. Van Pelt said she cultivated her dreads through patience and a mixture of ingredients provided by her friends. It was only about a year ago that the dreads “started getting firm, or in their prime,” she said. Van Pelt added that the formation of her locks brought on a loss of vanity and less emphasis on hair maintenance.
“That was a humbling experience — having really ugly hair. It was kind of like, I’m not going to care,” she said.
Self-described “professional bum” photographer and Eugene resident Nelson Kittler had dreadlocks for six years. He said he started them by accident after spending time at a Florida beach.
Kittler said dreadlocks represented incredible amounts of energy “locked” into each strand of his hair. He finally got rid of them in 1998, among political controversy during a visit to Vail, Colo., when an Oct. 19 Earth Liberation Front arson attack on a ski resort prompted their removal.
“I was tired of being associated with people I wasn’t associated with,” he said. “It’s advertising, and I think people should choose their battles wisely.”
Kittler said that because of the numerous stereotypes and preconceptions associated with the hairstyle, the mere subject is a touchy issue.
Anyone looking to further their knowledge of dreadlock culture can pick up a copy of the book “Dreads” by Francesco Mastalia and Alfonse Pagano. Yahoo! also hosts an Internet group on dreadlocks. Manifold sources of information can be explored by directing a Web browser to a search engine.