Most people in my vicinity have by now gotten used to my different hairstyle, so I receive a lot fewer comments on my dreads than in the beginning. It’s fun to see people’s reactions when I travel (though it can be a bit intimidating when I want to go unnoticed- growing dreads is not really the way to do it).
When went up to North Carolina, there were a lot of positive comments mainly from African Americans, which has generally been the rule. This was similar when I was visiting Atlanta. In D.C., however, I haven’t received any spontaneous feedback. Perhaps the stereotype is true, and the higher up north I go, the more reserved people are. Or they notice less… Or it’s more common to see white people with dreadlocks. Whatever the reason, it’s a neat little sociology experiment that I get to carry on my head.
I’ve gotten a few negative comments from my family (I was even told once that I look like a witch) and I think they see it as a personality phase that would soon pass. It’s been a bit challenging to not have much support from them, but it also teaches me to not be swayed by opposition and stay respectful and gracious when explaining to them the reasons for my hairdo. I would love them to remember that my dreads haven’t changed me on the inside, and that I am still the same old Mia (only perhaps a little more self-confident).
It will be exciting traveling to Angola and Slovakia this summer, trying to remember that very thing that I want my family to understand, and observing how my dreads will get accepted in each of these cultures. Whatever the common good and bad associations that people have with dreads (Rastafarian, bohemian, "black-culture-appropriationist", hippie or homeless), as India Aire said:
I am not my hair.
I am not this skin.
I am the soul that lives within.
When went up to North Carolina, there were a lot of positive comments mainly from African Americans, which has generally been the rule. This was similar when I was visiting Atlanta. In D.C., however, I haven’t received any spontaneous feedback. Perhaps the stereotype is true, and the higher up north I go, the more reserved people are. Or they notice less… Or it’s more common to see white people with dreadlocks. Whatever the reason, it’s a neat little sociology experiment that I get to carry on my head.
I’ve gotten a few negative comments from my family (I was even told once that I look like a witch) and I think they see it as a personality phase that would soon pass. It’s been a bit challenging to not have much support from them, but it also teaches me to not be swayed by opposition and stay respectful and gracious when explaining to them the reasons for my hairdo. I would love them to remember that my dreads haven’t changed me on the inside, and that I am still the same old Mia (only perhaps a little more self-confident).
It will be exciting traveling to Angola and Slovakia this summer, trying to remember that very thing that I want my family to understand, and observing how my dreads will get accepted in each of these cultures. Whatever the common good and bad associations that people have with dreads (Rastafarian, bohemian, "black-culture-appropriationist", hippie or homeless), as India Aire said:
I am not my hair.
I am not this skin.
I am the soul that lives within.
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