31 Dreads Lighter

        I have cut off the dreads.  I have had them for about a year and I decided the time had come to have regular hair again.  I didn’t do it because I have become a mom, in fact I felt ready to cut them off several months ago but I wanted to wait until after Elwood was born for two reasons.  One, in case I looked like an ugly weirdo I didn’t want to have that look forever captured in Elwood’s baby pictures, and Secondly, I wanted Elwood to know oh-how-hip-and-cool his Mama once was.  He will probably think I was lame and dirty looking because he is my kid and I am his mom and at some point we all think everything our parents do is lame.  At any rate, the dreads are off.  So, of course, I have a few reflections on the dreads. . .

        I in no way regret transforming my long, pretty hair into tangled, salty, and way shorter than expected dreadlocks.   I was, however, disappointed that they ended up being so short.  My first clue that my dreadlocking hairstylist, Mama Star, was perhaps not the best choice was when she kept having to leave dreading up my hair to go throw up in the bathroom she was so hungover. (It was 9pm, by the by)   But I was so excited to be doing it, I ignored the warning signs.  I have run into many fellow travelers since having dreadlocks that share with me that they use to have dreads themselves.  Whenever I tell them how long my hair was, they look at me shocked that my current dreads are so short.  And they ask why I cut them.  Um, I didn't.  They all tell me that Mama Star did not know what she was doing.  I am not trying to bash Mama Star, even though I am certain she will never read this, but I am sharing this because it reinforces my belief that I think I should have had way longer, and perhaps even cooler dreads, during my short dreadlocked period of life.  I could have waited 5 or 6 years and had long dreads down my back but I don’t want to wait that long.  I waited that long to grow my hair so I would automatically have long dreads.  I know what I am sharing sounds close to regret but let me assure you, it is not.  I am just sharing that I think I missed my opportunity to have the dreads I wanted and thought I was going to have.  I was picturing long, skinny dreads that I could slip shells onto when I wanted and tie together to get them out of my face.  What I got was very short, thick, bumpy, lumpy, not uniform dreads that needed a hair tie and bobby pins to get out of my face.  I guess what I am getting at is that on the scale of "pretty, salon dreads" to "I stopped washing my hair and now I only have one huge dread", I would have liked to be a little closer to the salon and not as close to the one nasty dread.  Anyway, no matter how they came out, I am very happy I did it. At the end of the day, its just hair and I was getting sick of long hair so it was either dreads or a haircut.  I will forever be glad that I did it.  I know what I look like with them, I know what they feel like, and how to manage/care for them,  which leads me to my next thought on dreads.

        Dreadlocks are suppose to be the most low maintance/easiest hair style ever, right? Wrong, at least in my opinion.  They were surprisingly more of an effort than normal length hair.  If I didn’t use my crochet hook to tuck in the loose hairs and new scalp growth I looked like a fuzzy haired weirdo.  I had to spend at least an hour every few days tucking and grooming in order for my dreads to look "pretty."  Now I am not saying I did this all the time, not even close to that.  Ask Conor, he would have liked me to but I embraced the dirty hippy dreaded look more often than pretty dready.  It was way easier and I have quite a few cute headwraps that I used to cover the halo of fuzz by my scalp.  High maintenance and dreads just shouldn't go hand in hand.    

        Back to cutting them off.  I was so excited about it.  I have never had hair anywhere close to that short and I was looking forward to confidently rocking a cute short do for awhile.  I had not been doing any maintenaince on the dreads since Elwood was born in hopes of having a little extra length.  Con went around my head snipping through each dread as I nervously sat in the chair.  When he had finished, I looked at him with giddy anticipation and asked how I looked.  "Fu*#ing terrible."  He answered.  My heart sank.  "Seriously, Meg.  Your hair looks worse than before, I didn't think that was possible but it is." I gave him a doubtful look.  Worse than before? I thought.  That can't be true.  I am totally going to be cute with my pixie cut! I ran to the bathroom, confident that I looked cute, telling myself that Con doesn't know what hip, short hair looks like, I mean it might need some products or something, but terrible? Please, he is just being dramatic I thought.  As I turned and looked in the mirror a gasp escaped my lips.  What was looking back at me was a bad shag bob cerca 1970 hairstyle.  I turned to face Con and I exclaimed, "I have a Mom do!!! I've only had a baby for a month and I've given myself a 70's Mom do!!"  Conor laughed and agreed,  adding that he thought I looked a lot like Leverne, from Leverne and Shirley.  I wanted to cry but I laughed instead, remembering my mantra, its only hair.
M.  

In Case You Don't Quite Remember Who Leverne Is. . . 

Elwood and his mom, Leverne

We have some visitors coming soon, Conor's Mom and her two sisters, Kim and Ruth.  The whole family is very excited for them to come for a lot of un-hair related reasons!  However, a plus for me is that Kim use to be a hairdresser so I will look like a hipper Leverne soon! Hopefully, I'll look a little more similar to these modern celebrities.  

P.S.  I am not delirious, I know I am not going to actually look like these knockouts, I just want kinda similar hair.  

And maybe a nose ring. . .