Dreadlocks
Besides my height, my dreadlocks are probably my most memorable physical attribute. There are only a couple of kids in DHS with dreadlocks, so I guess that makes us a bit of an enigma. I am always asked various questions about my hair; if I can wash it, if it comes out, if i plan on cutting it, etc. It seems that the longer my hair gets the more attention it brings me. And, being a pretty outgoing person, I don’t mind the extra attention up to a certain point. Most guys, especially black guys, seem to have the generic shaved head look. My dreads are the exact opposite of this, so they make me stand out even more compared to them.
However, the attention I receive through my hair is not all positive. Looking at my hair from my classmates’ perspective, they have not had much prior information about dreadlocks beyond what they have seen and heard through popular culture. Because of this, I am often given nicknames referring to famous people with dreadlocks. I have been called names such as Asante (referring to the NFL player Asante Samuel), Bob Marley, Li’l Wayne, and so on. Now, as far as the scale of nicknames go, these are not very offensive names. However, this shows that when these people think of me, they do not think of me as a person. They merely see the hair, and end the thought process at that. They don’t see me for who I am because they have already plastered the image of various famous people over me. They expect me to do and say things like those famous people with dreadlocks, because they for some reason think that just because we share hairstyles we must act the same. Ironically, even though my hairstyle is much more visible than most, sometimes it makes me feel more and more invisible.
