Natural of The Week: Neil

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I contacted Neil last week about his dreads and was informed that he recently cut them off but I figure he can still help and inspire people who are looking to dread.

Whats your name?

Neil

Where you from?

Barbados, an island in the Caribbean

Although you recently cut off your dreads what made you dread in the first place?

I was looking for an easy to maintain hairstyle.  I had used to twist my hair weekly, came home one day with a shaved head and my mom asked me why I cut my hair?  I said, was difficult finding a girl to twist it weekly so she asked me why don’t I try dreads and I didn’t need to be told twice 🙂

How long did you wear your dreads?

5 years

What was your favorite things about wearing dreads?

It increased my attractiveness, not that I’m ugly but it just gave me more cool points.
What was your least favorite thing about wearing dreads?

Girls wanting to touch them. I don’t like everyone’s hand in my head.
Did you ever get any negative comments about being a man and wearing dreads?

Not at all, maybe where I’m from contributed to that though.

From your blog it’s apparent that you love and admire women, what do you think about women who wear their hair naturally?

I love a woman who wears her hair naturally, when I see a girl with natural hair I melt on the inside.  Girls talk and sometimes they want to know your opinion on a style, I always say “go natural”  lol.
What did you do to maintain your hair?

It was tough at first, being a boy  I was accustomed to washing my hair when I showered, but you can’t wash your hair everyday when you’re locing your hair.  People were telling me I should get my hair re-loced every 2 weeks and wash it then but in my head I was like nah, because my head wasn’t accustomed and itched like crazy. So I went against what people told me and I used to get my hair washed and re-loced weekly.  They would say things like “since you wash it so regular it wouldn’t catch”  but that is a myth.
What products did you use?

For shampoo I would use the Tea Tree Naturals Shampoo  (Green bottle, orange cap).  Then I would use Jamaican Mango & Lime Lock Gro to grease the roots along with Jamaican Mango & Lime Locking Gel to actually do the reloc.
Do you regret cutting off your dreads?

I don’t regret it but whenever I see someone with dreads I say damn lol.

How do you feel now without your dreads?

At first I had to adjust, my behaviour was still as though I had them and at times I would forget I have no hair but things like sitting in chairs became more comfortable at home because I didn’t have all that hair behind me to deal with.
What advice would you give to newly naturals?

If you’re going to go natural, especially with dreads, stick to it!!  I have a lot of female friends that would’ve started dreads and then got frustrated and gave up and when they saw my own they would say damn I should have not stopped.  It made me wonder if girls found it harder to grow dreads than guys.

Anything you would like to add?

Yeah, I didn’t want the salon looking locs that were perfect, I think a man should have a bit of roughness to his locs.  I only went to the salon for the last 2 years of my locs and that was because the gf I had when I started, well we broke up.

You can visit Neil at his blog here.

*If your interested in becoming Natural of the Week please email me at mjcarter09@gmail.com

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