The Dreadlocks Option

Fri, Dec 7, 2012

By publisher

3 MIN READ

Some persons wear dreadlocks to follow fashion trend while others wear it for spiritual fulfillment

|  By Ishaya Ibrahim  |  Dec. 17, 2012 @ 01:00 GMT

GIMBIYA Adams is a Lagos-based event organiser with a busy work schedule that does not give her the luxury of visiting a beauty salon as she would ordinarily want to. So, whenever she gets the opportunity to make her hair, she would opt for dreadlocks. Her reason is that unlike other hairdos, dreadlocks can be worn for a long time without looking unkempt. “Like this one”, she displays the one on her head, “it costs me N5, 000 to have it fixed. I have been carrying it for two months now and I don’t intend to change it until at least another month.” she said.

Like Adams, many ladies wear dreadlocks for a number of reasons. For some, a dreadlock hairdo last longer and therefore considered to be very economical while to others, it confers the feeling of being in the high class. Yet others simply feel it is a fashion trend they want to be associated with. Fixing dreadlocks could costs between N4, 000 to as high as N100,000, depending on the class and  quality of the locks.

It is not only women that are crazy about such a hairdo. Some men, though quite a few of them, also wear dreadlocks as a mark of identity. One famous celebrity who made dreadlocks his distinctive appearance was Ruud Gullit, former Dutch footballer, who played professional soccer in the 1980s and 1990s.

Dreadlocks started as a spiritual obligation in biblical times. Then, it was a form of piety to allow one’s hair grow without the touch of razor. The popular dreadlocks in bible is recorded in the book of Judges when God instructed Samson’s mother, who miraculously became pregnant after many years of barrenness, not to allow a razor touch the hair of her unborn child’s  (Samson) head because he had been consecrated to Him. Besides, the hair was the source of his strength.

The Rastafari movement of which Bob Marley, the Reggae Legend was a proud member, adopted dreadlocks as a sign of the ‘fear of the Lord.’ In Nigeria, adherents of white garment churches often get messages that no razor should touch their children’s heads for a period of time. Such children get special reverence for keeping their hairs in dreadlocks, which is popularly known as dada in Yoruba language. It is believed that such a child is spiritually gifted.

According to the Wikipedia, dreadlocks, also called locks, are coils of hair. They are usually intentionally formed. Because of the variety of different hair textures, various methods are used to encourage the formation of locks such as backcombing.  Leaving long hair to its own devices by not brushing or cutting the hair will encourage it to tangle together as it grows, the Wikipedia explained.