The Natural Progression of Dreadlocks
Published in Widowism by chefswidowMy hair is falling out. It has been since the summer and I just got around to thinking about it. I wonder why?
I have been a master hair colorist since 1995. I started with pink and eventually turned to more traditional colors like brown, red, and black. For the past 5 years I have been a seasonal girl, coloring my hair red in the fall, brown in the winter, and blonde in the summer. I enjoy it. I like to change my look. Some might consider me the Madonna of Cleveland minus the whole Kabbalah and dating a 19 year old thing (though I totally would if I were unattached). Easy now widow, easy. Back to the whole female pattern baldness issue. So yeah, my hair’s falling out.
A few people who are actually professional stylist’s, have told me it could be caused by stress and I should go to a doctor. Some have told me it’s the coloring. I’m gonna go with the latter. Fourteen years of dying my hair with really really bad chemicals and I’m surprised when clumps fall out? Not so much.
With that I have come to a fork in the road. Dreadlocks or natural. I am either going to dread my hair (I have always wanted to be the girl with dreads & a Louis Vuitton bag, cheesey I know) or I am going to lay off the chemical processes for 365 days. Fuck. Last week I was full on the dreadlock bandwagon and then I realized that if I did go forward with the dreads, at some point I would have to shave my head. Which would have been cool had Britney Spears not gone that route a few years ago. And then…the Chef told me he thought my hair was prettiest when I was pregnant, au naturale. What a lovah. He makes my very important decisions easy. Pretty natural hair you will be mine. Muwah ha ha. Vanity wins again! As long as I can quelch this burning desire to run to CVS and buy as many boxes of Feria that I can get my hands on….
you look great with shorter hair! not that it doesn’t look good long, but from these pics, you can totally pull off short hair – not an easy feat!
Oh, girl, GOOD LUCK! I’ve colored my hair so many times, I don’t even know what my natural hair color is anymore. It’s funny how we can get married, buy houses, have kids, etc… but, committing to one hair color for the rest of my life is just too much to bear.
I haven’t colored my hair since last October. I was also in a similar pattern: going drastic from black in winter to bleached in summer. All because I hated the red that pulled from my natural (Irish girl) hair.
I LOVE my natural color now. I don’t know why I covered it up for so long. It’s been a bitch to grow out (mostly because I cut it into a faux hawk about a year-and-a-half ago) and you have to get regular cuts (to transition the color line from your retouched hair to the natural color growth).
It’s totally worth it! And it saves me around $800/year in hair costs.
you can do it!!
Alas I am not surpirsed by the Chef’s comment. The poster child for a Green Cleveland, he prefers you au-natural. A fitting paradox. A green enthusiast and practitioner, and his wife, supporting and loving, but likes the bad chemicals for the hair.
opposites attract I guess. I can’t wait to see the natural colored Chef’s Widow. Good luck on your endeavor
I went natural, stripping my hair at Aveda, about two years ago and have loved it. So much cheaper and I occasionally treat myself to deep conditioning treatments.
Good luck.
Mina~ Thank you girl. Usually when my hair gets this long I wanna chop it but I am actually enjoying it.
Jen~ I know I know. Although I still sometimes can’t believe how committed to everything else I actually am!
Mel~ I love YOUR hair color. Everytime we see each other you look super hot. I know now that it’s the hair!
As someone who has gone down the dreadlocks road before, I can tell you – they stink (literally)!
OhMommy
I love the color of your hair and you so made me want a depp conditioning treatment NOW!
Alyssa
I think I have decided to forgo the dreads, maybe when I’m a granny…???!!!
over the years i’ve gotten closer and closer to my natural color but I still dye it about 3x a year. Just some caramel highlights and some brown lowlights. Oh….how it pays to have friends in the hair industry.
i have “virgin” hair… having never colored or permed it… believe me, there were times when i wanted to have blonde/red/curly hair… but now that i have a beautiful little girl with the same color hair as mine…it’s all the reason to stay natural!
good luck with whatever you decide… i’m sure you’ll look fabulous! plus, either way, you’ll get to enjoy a day at the spa!
I think your hair looks great long but that short hair shot in the post looks great too.
I decided to stop coloring my hair about a year ago. My sister, who is 4 years younger than me, doesn’t color her hair and her hair is beautiful, grey and all. She was my inspiration to stop coloring my hair, that and I was tired of having to color it every 4 or 5 weeks and tired of the mess of coloring it or the expense of having it done.
I am so happy that I stopped coloring my hair. There is more grey than I expected but i realize that it is part of life and it doesn’t bother me. The big surprise about no longer coloring my hair has been the compliments I get on my hair. Strangers tell me that they love my hair. Weird but fun.
It was hard letting it grow out. That break line between the colored and non-colored hair was annoying. I wore a headband a lot until it was pretty well grown out.
I agree with the poster who mentioned that dreads can be smelly. Probably not a good thing for a restaurant person.