Discussion: Locks
Locks!
From: tojane
Posted: February 26, 1999
Can we have a discussion about locks? Most people call them "dread locks," but a little while back, Alice Walker insisted on dropping the "dread" from the locks, because, "there is nothing dreadful about them." Most people don't realize the politics (and the HISTORY) behind them. Shall we talk about this?
I've been considering locking my hair for some time now, but am not ready to do it, not because of any spiritual or political thang; but for the simple fact that I like to play with my styles, and change from time-to-time. But seriously, I love the way they look on so many other beautiful people!
Here is a little tidbit of politics that takes us beyond the side of the Atlantic. Back home, in Nigeria, locks have very definite meaning. The only people who wore them were either crazy, a part of a certain caste (outcaste) of society, or a "Rastafarian." I went back a couple years ago, and had a lengthy discussion with my aunt about them. She just couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want their hair free. Of course, she had a long, flowing weave in her own hair.
Anyone else have anything to say about locks? Any stories, interesting conversations they've had about them?
Replies
[1 of 5]
d_kakong March 7, 1999
Tojane, Tojane, I sympathises with your dilemma about locks. I am thinking about getting them myself and have been thinking about it for quite awhile. Doesn't Lauryn Hill has the most beautiful hair. The thing is that I think my mother would have a heart attack if I started locking my hair. This may seem silly, but I do worry about job opportunities and some of the social stigma around wearing locked hair. Even though more and more people are doing it and it is becoming more mainstream, there is a conservative element that still thinks locking your hair means your dirty because you don't wash it, and you smoke dope. The late Audre Lorde had a problem getting into the British Virgin Islands because of her locked hair - imagine that. She finally did get in, but she had problems at customs.
I agree with you Tojane about losing the word dread in dreadlocks. It's similar about the whole debate around the "n" word. Language is powerful, and what we say and the words we choose to use mean something.
By the way, sorry about taking a while to respond, I was in Barbados for the Spring Break where there was some serious hair going on. The only dreads I saw there were men on the streets who I think were Rastafarians. There were a lot of women with that neo-dread(please excuse the word) look of twisted hair. It looked wonderful and it was so pleasing to see so many sisters wearing their hair natural.
Anymore feedback on this topic? What do any of the non-blacks think about locks?
What about non-blacks who lock their hair (there are lots of them in Montreal)? What
do the men think about women who lock their hair?
[2 of 5]
tojane March 19, 1999
It's interesting you bring up the issue of non-blacks with 'locks.' Here's the difference, and I know, because I had a white friend who had them for a while. They have to do so much to get their hair to do it, comparatively speaking. All we have to do is stop combing, keep twisting, and we can still wash our hair regularly. My white friend put bees wax and a whole bunch of other stuff in it, and then not wash for unbearable amounts of time. The dirt mixed with the stuff she put in worked to mat the hair. It doesn't seem natural for naturally straight hair to be that way. While it is predisposed to 'tangle' it is not predisposed to mat in a few days.
Adding to the historical bit, I've had discussion with friends who have locks, who also notice the prevalence of whites with mats. There is a real sense of resentment because these whites are seen as appropriating a piece of our culture/history/identity.
Just another form of appropriation. The question most often is, 'why they gotta own everything?' I understand, and to a certain point, agree with this sentiment. The only problem, and it is more rhetorical than anything else, is: culture ownable? Perhaps it is; yet the nature of the way in which it works, culture is open, meant to be expressed, and even shared.
I guess the problem with whites matting their hair falls under the realm of
consciousness. Do they understand the culture/history of this piece of culture they are consuming. I guess we can say that not all blacks who have locks have this level of consciousness either. BUT, is it so much a necessity for them who already 'own' it than it is for whites who must consume it to make it theirs.
I'm not sure if I'm making myself clear here, so let me just stop for now...
Later,
Toja.
[3 of 5]
David_Seto March 24, 1999
White mainstream culture is not only appropriating culturally non-white hair styles, but look at other cultural hallmarks of American culture, i.e., jazz, cooking, pop music.
Does white appropriation lead to a consciousness of the origin of the cultural hallmark? To some yes, to others, no. It is the same thing with the proliferation of for example, take-out Chinese food and pizza seen on several TV shows. Is U.S. mainstream culture more accepting of Italians and Orientals? The former yes, the latter, less evident. So thus the same will too go for hair. Can those from whom these cultural hallmarks control or influence the diffusion and adoption (appropriation) by white main stream culture? Not likely, since these there is no monopoly or conglomerate of hair salons or of expertise to do so. The most important thing that can be done is to promote an awareness of the origins of these hallmarks in mainstream society that would serve to educate at large.
David
[4 of 5]
d_kakong March 24, 1999
Hi Everybody,
This is a very interesting discussion on appropriation, a topic that has made me very mad in the past. It's like White boys doing rap. The thing is, it's never really the same. Locked White hair just doesn't look like Locked Black hair and it fascinates me why any White person would go to all that trouble Tojane described to lock their hair.
There is this guy in my program that looks completely White, but he's actually half Moroccan. He says his hair is in locks to put him closer to his African roots. That is definitely the most legitimate answer I've ever gotten for why a White person locks their hair, although I have not done an extensive poll on this issue - I only ever asked him.
I wonder if locks will ever truly become mainstream. It's sad to say this, but it was Bo Derek wearing braids in the movie 10 that made it more acceptable for Black women to wear their hair in extensions or braids - but there is still a level where you don't see this hairstyle in conservative settings, such as women anchoring the news. Using Bo Derek as an example, I think White people wearing Black hairstyles doesn't really liberate the expression of the hairstyle into every facet of White society. I THINK that it takes a certain kind of White person to wear locks. They probably aren't the kind who vote Republican or for the Reform Party. This is just a guess.
Cultural ownership is a hard issue to address. There is such thing as intellectual property, and perhaps the expressions of Blackness, be it hair, or music, or clothing, is in a sense a collective intellectual property of Black people. This is just a thought, what do others think about this?
[5 of 5]
nubchewy March 25, 1999
This is a very interesting dialogue about locks. I plan on locking my hair one day but right now I am dedicated to showing people just how many different styles you can accomplish with beautiful, natural black hair. I know that a lot of sisters who have perms say "I would wear my hair natural if I could get long locs right away" but they are still dealing with that "having hair hanging down" issue. I think locks are a beautiful part of our culture (BLACK CULTURE) and, to be honest, I don't mind the "dread." It has long been an opinion of mine that it takes a certain conscious mind-set for a person to wear locs (that is, before it became a part of mainstream popular culture!) and that conscious mind-set is one that often fills white people with dread. So the "dread" in dreadlocks is not directed towards our hair but towards the feeling that our hair brings out in the oppressor.
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