/Lɒkt/ and loaded

The locked hair of Pîhtokahanapiwiyin (aka Poundmaker)
chief of the plains Cree First Nation (1885)

Locked hair -- also known as dreadlocks, locs, dreads, jata (Sanskrit), goonat (Aboriginal Australian), among many other names -- is formed by twisting, braiding or coiling and then, using one of many methods, matting the hair into a permanent style. This has been done for centuries the world over for reasons varying from the spiritual to the aesthetic.

I first attempted to get locs in my hair about 30 years ago. I was a film school student in New York City and looking to express myself in a direction well away from the 'well-kempt', chemically relaxed look that was kinda sorta required of 'nice young ladies' looking to be taken seriously in 'professional' circles (more on that drama and all that jazz in a later post).

I was born in Jamaica, and being raised in a West Indian family and multi-ethnic community in Brooklyn and Long Island (FYI - Brooklyn is actually ON Long Island, but doesn't consider itself a part OF Long Island, but that is a cultural history for another blog), I learned by osmosis that dreads were for Dreads! Meaning, dreadlocks were for Rastafarians only. Of course that stricture was naive, and we've all learnt and grown and know more now.

There is a deep background to locked or matted hairstyles throughout human history. And along with my own decades-long journey from natural-to-straightened-to-natural-to-locked, I will be exploring in this blog all the various ways that humans have locked their hair all over the world and why. 

This is going to be a journey -- this is going to be fun -- really pleased you will be travelling these roads with me.

Thanks for reading the blog... & let's go...!