Rasta

[Fethenwen]

So... have anyone of you ever had a head full of rasta? I'm am quite curious of this, but don't think I would have them myself. My dear boyfriend would literally cry if I would go and make myself a rasta head. I think he actually said so once himself.

But I would love to hear comments and stories about some rasta experiences, if there is any at all on this forum :p I can imagine many of you shudder at the thought of doing such a thing to once hair.
Or you could just post your opinions about this hairstyle.

[RavennaNight]

I'm assuming by Rasta you mean dredlocks. Rastafarian is a religion:). But although I wouldn't dred my hair, I think the look is cool. I know someone posted a thread here once about floorlength Swedish dreds. And if you want to read about removing dreds, I believe Kwaniesiam removed them successfully as did Madpiratebippy. I think an amount of cutting was involved though. If they are done right, on the right head, they can be a really cool, fun, interesting style, especially if they are really long and well-kept.

[Fethenwen]

Oh sorry 'bout that. Around here we call them rasta. I guess it's just slang.

[Drynwhyl]

I think kwanie didn't have them long enough for them to actually become so matted and hard, though.
I myself have 6 (well, they connected into 3 pairs) for the last two years, the bottom layer of my hair. I let them grow in my natural colour, just letting them be free :D
I wanted a whole head too, but now I'd be kinda sorry for my precious hair ;p
If you really want them, you can do something like me, like just a half of head or something.

They really are cool, much easier to maintain (nothing to do except washing really, once they're mature), you can put all kinds of beads and bobbles on them, and it's just awesome, leaving your hair alone and natural.
I swore one day I will have them :D

If you need any information about making or anything, just ask I'm kind of pro ;D

[simply_me]

I think dreadlocks are beautiful. I work with a few people that have them. I do prefer them when they are thin and neat. I am too old for them now, but if I were in my 20's......

[feralnature]

I had dreadlocks and cut them off and found this place as I was re-growing my hair. I loved my dreads but they were too hot for the hot climate here in Texas, also I work outside and they could not be washed everyday (takes too long to dry). So sadly I had to cut them off. They were hard and well formed and I saved one and added it to the necklace with the rattles from the rattlesnake I killed. Looks cool :)

[melrose1985]

I love dreads!

The lead singer of Incubus, Brandon Boyd had them back in the day. Oh man! Super hot.

In high school there was a girl who had them and she wore all sorts of funky clothing and make up. I always wish I could have done that myself!

I think kudos to people who have them- they are wicked neat!

[Deimos]

I think they're very cool, sometimes I see a woman around that has dreads that are at TB. Gorgeous!
I've had fake dreads on several occasions. First I had plastic ones, that were itchy. But a few months ago I had wool dreads in serveral colors. It was very awesome, they were so soft! And I liked have a full mane down to my waist ^^

[Spike]

I like them . . . but only if they are thin and neat. The curly curly types seem to grow them the best--on straighties they tend to be . . . all over the map, from thick to thin, and that doesn't float my boat so much.

It looks like this style would be a real commitment--forming the locks at the start (to keep them even and neat for that picky girl, Spike), and then removing the locks when you were done and ready to move on.

[star13]

You should know that not every person who wears locs is a rasta. As part of their religion rastas do not cultivate their locs, like many non rastas do.

I'm growing locs myself right now.

[MadPirateBippy]

I had dreadlocks and took them out. If you go to my profile page you can see the pictures. :)

[Pierre]

My beard is 4aC and naturally grows two locks, once I started hennaing it (before that, it kept fracassing in split ends). The rest of my hair isn't curly enough to dread.

[hairbrain]

I've never had them but you reminded me
of my trip to Jamaica:
(wow Im actually smoking in this picture. I quit about 4 years ago!)
this is Rasta Ralphie and me making a funny face
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/HAIRBRAIN/RASTA.jpg

[fishwich]

I was out shopping today and met a guy with the most marvy waist-length locks, and we had a conversation about them. He mentioned something called a "dred perm" which works great on non-curly hair: the stylist backcombs and shapes a loose dred then goes through the perm rigamarole to firm it up and keep it there. He had a headful of these himself, and they were gorgeous. His natural hair wasn't curly at all.

Apparently it's super-easy to add length to hair once it's dreaded up, too. His own hair was BSL-equivalent, but he'd crocheted extensions into the ends. I couldn't tell where the natural hair stopped and the crocheting started.

He looked so cool, and had all this super-sweet shiny stuff in his dreds...I WAS SO JEALOUS. Any style that allows greater employment of hairtoys is one I can get behind.

[Tornerose]

Oh sorry 'bout that. Around here we call them rasta. I guess it's just slang.

Over here in Norway, Rasta and Dreadlocks are two completely different things. I'm assuming it's the same in Finland?

Here Dreadlocks is braids that twisted with beewax, whereas rasta are lots of tiny tiny braids all over. You often see "ghettogirls" on TV wearing hair like that. I'm guessing you meant the tiny tiny braids when you said rasta, and not dreadlocks, right?

This is dreadlocks

http://images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com/image/A1087/108722/300_108722.jpg (http://images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com/image/A1087/108722/300_108722.jpg)

This is what we call Rasta

http://www.hadjabraids.com/sitebuilder/images/boxbraids32_1_-194x270.jpg

[Fethenwen]

Over here in Norway, Rasta and Dreadlocks are two completely different things. I'm assuming it's the same in Finland?

Here Dreadlocks is braids that twisted with beewax, whereas rasta are lots of tiny tiny braids all over. You often see "ghettogirls" on TV wearing hair like that. I'm guessing you meant the tiny tiny braids when you said rasta, and not dreadlocks, right?


No, by rasta I meant dreads, sorry for the missunderstanding. Around here we call them rasta, it's just slang for dreadhead. I think for the most part people use the word dreads here in my country (rasta is just a regional thing, we have a lot of slang in the swedish speaking parts of finland ;)).

[vampodrama]

Over here in Norway, Rasta and Dreadlocks are two completely different things. I'm assuming it's the same in Finland?


not necessarily. I don't speak finnish well, but in Estonia we call dreadlocks "rasta braids" (direct translation) and those little braids are called "afro braids". the words "dreadlocks" doesn't exist at all in our language space, and usually dreadlocks are simply referred to as "rastas". different languages adapt foreign words differently. as I understood from OPs post, it's kinda the same in finnish as well.

[Flynn]

If you like the look, why not look up "dread falls" sometime? Nice way to get it when you want it, but then you just take off the hairpiece when you get bored with it. XD

[aisling]

No, by rasta I meant dreads, sorry for the missunderstanding. Around here we call them rasta, it's just slang for dreadhead. I think for the most part people use the word dreads here in my country (rasta is just a regional thing, we have a lot of slang in the swedish speaking parts of finland ;)).

I don't agree with you really, it's more regional differences and Finnish speakers actually often talk about "rastat" meaning locs (which I think is really the preferred term). The singer in Amorphis is for example often said to have rastat, he has locs past classic length btw. The braids are often called microbraids or then afro- like in Estonian.

[Flynn]

Hey, why are we arguing over semantics? It's been established that what was meant was what is normally called in English "dreadlocks", and the original poster can't change the thread title if they want to, right? It's just... y'know, kind of off topic.

[Fethenwen]

Hey, why are we arguing over semantics? It's been established that what was meant was what is normally called in English "dreadlocks", and the original poster can't change the thread title if they want to, right? It's just... y'know, kind of off topic.
Yes, alright :) People seem to know what I mean anyway. Lets forget about the semantics.
---------

I'm also wondering if you guys have preferences over hair color and dreadlocks? I have seen them in many variations, but the black is of course always a classic and looks right. But I have seen a lot of blonds with dreads that look really awesome too.

[Nera]

My hair is so coarse, it forms dreadlocks when I don't comb it for about a week.
I once but some beeds in one hairlock, and now it's a dreadlock! Look at my album of you want to see it.
I still concider having all my hair dreadlocked, but too many people have stated that my hair is too unique to "ruin".

Once it has grown too long to maintain, I will stop combing it and have nice locks:) combing is so difficult on my hair.

[kakaa]

Dreadlocks are great, I had them for a year and a half but the problem was that they were pretty thich and extremely heavy when wet. They pulled on parts of my scalp quite a bit so I cut them off eventually. I unravelled some of them with extreme difficulty and you wouldn't believe how much lint and hair was in there.

[vampodrama]

Dreadlocks are great, I had them for a year and a half but the problem was that they were pretty thich and extremely heavy when wet. They pulled on parts of my scalp quite a bit so I cut them off eventually. I unravelled some of them with extreme difficulty and you wouldn't believe how much lint and hair was in there.

That's the main reason why I haven't had my hair dreaded. I absolutely LOVE the look of dreads, but I can barely stomach updos, because my scalp hurts. And it's not like I have a remotely large amount of hair or anything... :rolleyes:

But I love dreadlocks.

[brok3nwings]

Oh my... dreads..
well when i cut my hair for the first time (had 19 years old and long hair) i regreted for not having done dreads first and THEN have short hair..
Personally i got sick of it. For me its starting to be boring , in my highshcool (Fine Arts) its pretty normal to have them and also where i live so its no news for me. I can say i do love them mostly on black people and also if they are made thin and very arranged.

I used to want it, then just like it in other people, now i only like it on some and others really makes me a bit of confusion cause i can imagine very perfeclty how i would feel doing that to my hair! I am too sensitive now for that, I DO ADMIT IT! :)

[Tornerose]

No, by rasta I meant dreads, sorry for the missunderstanding. Around here we call them rasta, it's just slang for dreadhead. I think for the most part people use the word dreads here in my country (rasta is just a regional thing, we have a lot of slang in the swedish speaking parts of finland ;)).

Ahh thanks for clearing it up. Everyone just jumped over on dreads so quickly I was all "what? dreads? she didn't say that. Don't push her into dreads if that's not what she meant" lol.

But back on topic: If you want dreadlocks, make sure you know exactly the type you want. It's not easy to get them out again

[drquartz1970]

Dreadlocks can look great on some people, however I have never had the desire to have them on my own head and when I see dreads on other people the thoughts of itchiness, dandruff and issues of cleanliness come into my head. Cannot help it.

[longhairedfairy]

Lol. I had no idea what you meant at first. I was wondering if Rasta was a food or something (think "pasta") and why you would put it on your head. I'm such a dork.
I like dreads on some men, but not on women. It's not a "women shouldn't have this or that/men should only have this or that style" thing, it's just a personal preference. Of course, that's not really relevant to this thread, is it? :P

[ShoshanUhura]

I heart dreadlocks! I'm growing some skinny ones. They make me happy. Will have pictures up one day.:)

[theshadowpuppet]

I wouldn't be able to handle real dreads, even though I know it is possible to fix your hair after.

What I DO want is dreadlock extensions. I'd put weird colored ones in my hair, so it'd add thickness and a cool look without mucking with my natural hair.

[AnneAdeline]

I love the look, though I like thinner ones better. Before finding this forum, I even considered getting them. But then I realized I didn't want my hair to be that much work.

Nera - Your hair looks so great and that dreadlock is very cool.

[Sasha_S]

I used to have them :) Properly maintained ones are really gorgeous. Sadly, my hair is super fine and my dreads used to un-matt loads, so I ended up getting rid. I used to be really upset that my hair just didn't knot... nowadays I bless it! ;D
X

[Sasha_S]

I wouldn't be able to handle real dreads, even though I know it is possible to fix your hair after.

What I DO want is dreadlock extensions. I'd put weird colored ones in my hair, so it'd add thickness and a cool look without mucking with my natural hair.

Before you put dread extensions in your hair - it WILL damage the ends. They are braided into your hair, then tied off using tiny little elastic bands that snag, pull and snap your real hair.
I used to wear them around 90% of the time, even when I didn't colour my hair, I always wondered why it wouldn't grow... this was why!
x

[LovingLife]

As long as dreadlocks (like all hair!) Is kept well groomed and a healthy diet they can be SO COOL!

However I don't think my hair is curly enough to create them, they are cool though

[Drynwhyl]

But then I realized I didn't want my hair to be that much work.


Actually, they can be absolutely no work, just wash them once in a while, and that's it. That's the real point of dreads, leaving your hair alone. (to me, at least)

Well, I already wrote somewhere I cut mine off (pic (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=2085&pictureid=39865)), and I found SO MUCH green and red lint from scarves matted in them. Freaky.

[suffer-cait]

I've considered dreads on and off most of my life, but I am always afraid of the after-dread hair. I researched dread care alot, and the online community has fixes for almost anything though, even various ways to naturally and safely get rid of lice.

[Kuchen]

Itchiness and dandruff are no more an integral part of having locs than they are of having, well, any hairstyle. Depends on your scalp and how you maintain it, and if you're prone to those problems in the first place.

[meph]

I love dreadlocks, especially messy looking ones. I'm still a bit torn on growing my hair long or getting dreadlocks but as I am lazy and apparently new dreads need a lot of attention, long hair is easier for me.

[Fethenwen]

Actually, they can be absolutely no work, just wash them once in a while, and that's it. That's the real point of dreads, leaving your hair alone. (to me, at least)

Yeah, that's the biggest reason I feel drawn to having them myself. And also, it would be lovely to have the thickness, quite a contrast to fine hair.

But it's the hair after having them that makes me shudder a bit, wouldn't hair be totally destroyed from them?

[Sasha_S]

Yeah, that's the biggest reason I feel drawn to having them myself. And also, it would be lovely to have the thickness, quite a contrast to fine hair.

But it's the hair after having them that makes me shudder a bit, wouldn't hair be totally destroyed from them?

Not totally destroyed, necessarily, but it won't be a pretty sight! The back-combing required to matt them up is pretty vigorous, and you'll often have to crotchet in loosies if you want your hair staying tidy - often the crotchet going through the dread will break already matted hairs on the way through.
There is one massive bonus though, NO SHEDDING! ;D
x

[Drynwhyl]

A good plan is, when you decide to get rid of them, don't crochet the roots for a few months, cut off most of the dread, and comb out the rest, it really shouldn't be dried or destroyed in any way. One girl even said her hair was even prettier than before dreads, because of the "benign neglect". It could be true, because the hair in the dread gets virtually no damage.

[Fethenwen]

Hmm, that is very interesting. Now that you mentioned it I remember a girl in my class having her dreads taken out, and her hair wasn't too bad, she cut it a bit shorter, but it was not a catastrophe.