Dreadlocks, A Fashion Statement

BABOKI KAYAWE
Staff Writer | Friday March 19, 2010 00:00

Twenty-seven year-old Patrick Molobeng and Kabelo Mosetlhe aged 31 years are the proud owners of Destiny Dreadlock Parlour, an enterprise opened in 2007 after financial assistance from the Department of Youth and Culture.

Molobeng who sports a clean dreadlocked look told The Monitor, the pair were given a P50,000 grant  which has boosted their business. He said he is passionate about dreadlocks, a hairstyle popularised among the black community although some hairdressers are not so adapt at it.

'So having studied hairdressing for a short time at Gaborone Technical College, and later specialising in designer dreadlocks with Jabu Stone in South Africa, I am confident that I offer the best for clients' money,' Molobeng said.

He said designer dreadlocks are those that have a good foundation and described the founding blocks of the hairstyle as important as they determine how the dreadlocks will be maintained in terms of treatment and styling.

While the business itself is thriving, a situation he attributed to their professionalism and passion for the art, he lamented the challenges they have to overcome in an industry with well-established competitors like Jabu Stone who have already made a name for themselves.

'The other thing is that we train our dreadlocks specialists indoors, and employees leave at some point, hence the need to train others,' he said. The salon currently employs seven people.

The dreadlocked Molobeng, said the service is time consuming but also profitable. In a busy day, usually during month-ends he said one hairdresser can attend to 10 customers. As much as the service itself is time consuming, Molobeng said dreadlocks is a hairstyle for patient people as it does not come overnight.

'This is for people with patience, as it takes years to be achieved,' he said.

Though, it was initially a hairdo common amongst the black community, nowadays even some people of Caucasian descent have embraced it. Molobeng also attests to having some Caucasian clients.

Molobeng said it is always a pain to the dreadlock artistry when he sees somebody with dreadlocks that are not done well, and unattractively styled. He said gone are the days when the style used to be associated with things like lack of personal hygiene and that the hairstyle has climbed its way to the corporate boardrooms.

Dreadlocks - also named locks or dreads - are matted coils of hair that are intentionally formed. Because of the variety of different hair textures, various methods are used to encourage the formation of locks such as backcombing sections of the hair, twisting or a process involving the weaving of the hair with a crochet hook to form knots. They are mostly associated with the Rastafari movement.

However, Molobeng said though there is that association, dreadlocked people are not necessarily Rastafarians but individuals who prefer keeping their hair locked as a suitable hairdo for them, and in most instances believe it is a friendly afro hairstyle.

According to Wikipedia Africans and other people of African descent are known to wear this hairstyle. Members of various African ethnicities wear locks and the styles may change from one group to another. The warriors of the Maasai nation of Kenya are famous for their long, thin, red dreadlocks. Many people dye their hair red with root extracts or red ochre. In various cultures what are known as Fetish priests, sangomas, or shamans, spiritual men or women who serve and speak to spirits or deities, often wear locks.