Forums > Social Chat > dreadlocks and friends.

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 16th Jan 2001
Books are my friends and they are only part of dead trees with ink used to imprint the workings of different peoples minds on them.Different people have different things that are important to them. Before criticizing somebody elses idea of what having a LIFE is why not examine what unimportant objects (money / car / cd collections) are important to you. Then you can criticize someone else.Everyone has something 'dead' that is precious to them.Kat------------------"London is a city coming down from its trip and there's going to be a lot of refugees" - Danny,Withnail & I

Come faeries, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame.

- W B Yeats

Posted: 17th Jan 2001
Okay Arialtetsuo - are you just looking for posts to instult or is this just the type of person you are? How can say that someone (who you don't even know) can't be friends with something? Sure it might sound strange to you but everyone is different and has different opinions that what makes people interesting - maybe you could try looking at someone elses point of view once in a while.

Posted: 17th Jan 2001
Yeh, I've only had my short-but-sweets for a few days, and I've allready grown to love them! Rob

Posted: 17th Jan 2001
hey arialtetsuoDo you/have you eva had dreads??? (I'm assuming you havent)Well i have and i think they are great!!Anywhay all hair is dead cells whether it is dreaded or not ,the only living part is the root and i find dreads feal more "alive" than when my hair was "normal".Some dreads even have their own "personalities".So if you dont have personal experience in somthing don't go around gudeing othersAnyway i just thought i'd say somthingShale Khale (PS i am "white")

Posted: 19th Jan 2001
Hi, all. It was I who posted about my dreads being my friends. Great to hear all of you sticking up for that concept.Kat- I aggree. My own relationships with "dead" things, and dead people for that matter, are very important to me, not only for what they give me in terms of contentment and constancy but in how I know myself because of those relationships.Rob- yeah! wicked! hope they become an even better part of you. oh, p.s. there was a post in the old discussion page about a liquid flameproofer that could be used on clothes that the woman said also worked for hair. I always braid my hair back for spinning, and if I was just going to let the braids hang, I'd want to have some of that stuff, if not just water, on 'em.Purple Dragon- right on. the world is a better, brighter, more vibrant place because people can think outside their own box.vulcan- how long have you had your knotties? The personality mine seemed to have were that they always wanted to play. If I was dancing they were happiest, but just turning my head while I was sitting and reading made them get all excited.to arialtetsuo, if you've bothered to come back to this BB and read this, I hope that you will eventually get to experience what it is to have your own love echoed back off someone or something else. I assume you're from the city, and I assume you're a teenager. Neither of these are insults, just getting a picture. Friendship is conceptual and moving, this argument is semantic. I wish for you the gift of open perspective, and good times free of hang-ups and worrying about what other people think. Good burns to everyone! -Rickdr_gizmo@hotmail.com

-Rick aka Loki
oh, man, a signature?... uuh... this is like coming across wet cement... uuh, shoot, I had something clever I was saving... I hope I don't run out of sp

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 19th Jan 2001
heheheh... your replies made me laugh.To the following ppl listed in order of response.(1) Books simply cannot be compared to dreads. I really didn't think anyone would be slow enough to post this kind of response. Books can take you into a different mental world while dreads are just adornments for your head. C-o-m-m-o-n s-e-n-s-e . I also don't own any material possesions e.g. money, cars, CDs etc. In fact I don't value these possessions at all. Try again if you feel you need to.(2) Purple dragon - your previous posts already describe your obvious narrow minded views about things I really don't think that you have anything at all to stand on. (3) Rob .. I'm pleased that you love yourself so healthily now that you have changed your hairstyle. No, really, give yourself a pat on the back.(4) vulcan, your wrong straight off as well because I had dreads only a few months ago. Assuming things doesn't always work, although since everyone loves themselves so healthily assumptions are made quite quickly around here aren't they.. I have plenty of what you call ' personal experience ' with dreads and as far as I'm concerned there's no *personality* so to speak in dreads - it is merely hair's coming out of the roots all over your head at differing speeds. And so some grow sometimes more kooky looking than others. Where is the actual LIFE FORCE in that?!?Ricki boy,No insults taken because again (wow EVERYONE does have a healthy opinion of themselves don't they) your assumptions are incorrect. I am neither from the city nor am I a teenager. And again while everyone is protesting against this silly topic in such vehement strains - I would like to point out that it is amazing to see so many narrow minded individuals in one single spot. No offence intended - just telling it like it is.arialtetsuo.

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 19th Jan 2001
what's up your butt, arialtetsuo?did you come to this site to rag on people and start shit with them?you've got a chip on your shoulder like I can't believe!get over yourself, man. R-E-L-A-X...

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 20th Jan 2001
Dear alien and whoever else is bored enough to reply:I came on this site to see shit and I just happened to discover along my little journey that you're all full of yourselves =) But I think its funny how some people see the need to reply when someone is being an obvious troll. cya!

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 20th Jan 2001
I'm with arieltetsuo on this one - dreads are just another fashion for phoney hippies, just another one of the items for sale at festivals round the country ( a bit like poi). Lets face it - there must be so much vanity involved to make you spend so much time growing them! Black guys are exempt from these criticisms...it's quite natural to grow dreads in their background. It doesn't compare to these hippy white boys who'll rub any kind of crap into their hair to try to get them to dread.

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 20th Jan 2001
dear arieltetsuo. I'm posting because I'm homesick, bored, and lonely. Luckily I have my one remaining dreadlock to be friends with. Handily positioned on the top of my head (where male Hare Krishnas have hair so they can be pulled up into heaven), I have discovered I can attach things, rotate my neck, and they will swing around. I've tried this with a fire juggling club (unlit), and now have visions of some long fire contraption attached to my head. Alright! I can also tug at my dread when thinking, or bored. I find this comforting, just as a friend would be. Hair may be dead, but it's semi permanent attachment to my head makes it an obvioius part of me. It's more visible to me than some other more alive parts of my body, and the proliferation of dread-attachments for sale around the world doesn't stop me, or anyone else, from having a meaningful relationship with my hair.Lynley

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 20th Jan 2001
Lyn,*IF* you could pull of swinging a lit club around your head by your single dread while at the same time twirling away I (and I'm sure a lot of others) would be pretty impressed. I've never seen anyone do this and that, to me, would make that dread actually useful.However, most psychologists will tell you that playing with your hair (with your hands) is a nervous habit or points to an undernourished part of your personality. Or low self esteem. This is just plain old human behaviour. Plus dreads are just natural for quite a number of people. One of my friends has hair so much like a golliwog its dreads itself. They aren't new... but the idea of thinking of them as seperate beloved members of your family seems to be.

Posted: 22nd Jan 2001
I don't have dreads - but I have friends that have nurtured and love theirs - dreads take a lot of caring after, more so than a few 'living' house plants do..You say you don't care about possessions - bravo to you, a sentiment I applaud, however if I was robbed I know I would be devestated if my books,music,paintings and clothes were nicked. Shallow of me I know as they are (even though you seem to be selective about what is living and dead) only objects, however I feel that these objects are an expression of me and I love them.I therefore respect what is important to other people.Came back after a lovely weekend - logged on, checked the site and I thought - Who is Arialtetsuo and why do they seem determined to criticize everytime they post a message?? And by criticize I should really clarify and say bitter, hate filled diatribe. I really enjoy this discussion board, and I think its a shame that somebody is using it to vent their anger at others. A lot of good advice is given on this board and a lot of useful and interesting information is sent out. I am presuming judging by past posts that you will want to have a go at me now, just wanted to say that I, and many others, really enjoy this board so why not dismount from that high horse. Looking up at you must be what makes your posts such a pain in the neck.Rant over *just wanted to say my piece* [image]https://www.homeofpoi.com/ubb/images/icons/tongue.gif">Kat------------------[/image]- Danny,Withnail & I[This message has been edited by Kat (edited 22 January 2001).]

Come faeries, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame.

- W B Yeats

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 22nd Jan 2001
to someone who cares about their clothes and books;To be honest, I don't really care about the process of looking after houseplants, or how you like your books and clothes and music. I believe the original TOPIC of my 'critical' posts was that I said dreads aren't real 'friends'. They are simply a popular hair-do. I am aware of the amount of time some people put into their hair to make it stay dreaded and in my opinion its absolutely ridiculous to think they somehow start to evolve and become living breathing spirits. I also think that you misread my previous posts and *ASSUMED* a few too many things, now being one of those times. Another thing - I said somewhere along the way that 'we're all just about as bad as eachother'. Just because I disagree with someone who needs his dreads to be his friends this somehow makes me automatically above you? You must tend to become unhappy if that's the kind of attitude you hold.That's really great for you that you enjoy this board so much and all that.

Posted: 23rd Jan 2001
Hey Juggleloser and arialtetsuo what do you know, you guys have become predictable! When all you do is criticize, that's what happens. If you have such an immense disliking of this message board, heres an idea, leave! I know your dying to respond but if you truly are so unhappy with how superficial we all are here, then go about your, bitter, unhappy way. arialtetsuo- if you do have the disrespect to respond, tell me, why have you given up material possesions?-PSM[This message has been edited by psychomonkey (edited 24 January 2001).]

One can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind.-Alphonse Bertillon

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
Jeez, these guys really get hot under the collar when confronted with other points of view!

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
HA!I guess its the weight of our dreads squishing out our open-mindedness dang wet dreads...Hows this for an idea to try out your new found open-mindedness on;Dont judge a person by how they wear their hair! [Josh]

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
but they always prove me right!

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
pssssycho:"what do you know you guys have become predictable" I could easily say the same for the majority of replies.Whoever said my disliking of this message board was "immense"? I dont really see how you could 'immensely' dislike or hate something so insignificant like a message board. Or so (usually) spanned over such a large audience with differing views and opinions. It seems to me that most people around here have an 'immense' dislike for different opinions eh?And no, my response to your message was not written with a furious and desperate passionate need to reply - more of a relaxing cup of tea at the end of a day.My way is far from bitter and unhappy, but thank you for your concern =)How am I disrespecting you by responding to you? I'm *fairly* certain that is just the way message boards work - and I think you'll find that people responding to messages directed at them to be quite a common thing. (i.e. nothing to do with disrespect)Life is so much remarkably simpler the less you clutter it up with stuff.Josh,I was not judging a person for how they wore their hair. I was never saying hairstyles made any difference in someones' personality - in fact I was saying quite the opposite. However I shall stick by my original guns when I say that if you are talking to your dreads as if they a real *friends*, then its a bit of a sad case really. I have an idea why don't we actually REMEMBER what the original post was about oh no I'm sorry I forgot its much more fun to try and get everyone's two cents about everything unrelated along the way... =)

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
Actually, I was only talking about twirling with my one-dread-head, not poi too. Perfectly possible, in fact, I've since been told it goes on in India (with very long swingy things). Where, incidentally, there are straight-hair people who have been naturally getting dreads for centuries (mighty impressive ones too). Now I have the straightest hair imaginable (grimace), and I fully admit I did all sorts of silly things to get dreads (toothpaste and other gunk, but mainly because I'd just left home, not because it was needed to get dreads). Once I had them though, they took almost no time at all. I never had to get knots out, my hair didn't blow in my face for a change, and I took considerably less time in the shower. They kept my head warm, made an adequate pillow, and were very practical for living on beaches and in the bush etc. So what if my English/Irish/Scottish ancestors weren't into them? Traditions change, and changed fast in the 20th century. So what if dreads have become trendy? Those who like them will keep them, and those who don't, won't (or those who get a bad case of headlice, but I won't go into that).Lynley

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
Sharing a dissenting opinion and being disrespectful are two different things.[This message has been edited by psychomonkey (edited 25 January 2001).]

One can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind.-Alphonse Bertillon

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
yawn. go argue somewhere else it's just hair. there's prolly about a million sites specifically related to it.o-o

Posted: 25th Jan 2001
dear arialtetsuo, i am just gonna join this just for fun and add my bit as well... :-)i haven't got dreads, never had and probably never will - but being open-minded and all i can understand why some people might refer to dreads as their friends; maybe i wouldn't do it maybe i would but i can certainly understand it - i do recall liking my hair when it was long and it wasn't because i had more dead cells on my head (i do have more dead cells in my head now ) - you are of course entitled to write WHATEVER you want (obviously some extremes are not accepted)... i don't have any problems about what you are posting; to be honest the only thing i hold against you is the fact that sometimes you disrespect people's opinions and i think that's wrong...that's just my opinion of course, you can challenge that if you want to... i agree with what you are saying, people do take you more seriously that they should! but the reason for that is not because they are narrow-minded (some of them might be, who knows, including possibly you - i am quite narrow-minded myself in some areas but i think i am getting better ) as you say, it's because you are sometimes offensive towards what other people value; what if it's just dead cells, who cares? what matters is that they like it - what's wrong with that? why should they 'seriously examine what their idea of life is'? well to end this, in my opinion you were offencive in most of your posts - if i were you i would read all my posts again and apologise to some people; and even if you don't i guess that we have to accept you for who you are...a narrow-minded person like the rest of us - oh and by the way the only reason i am replying to you is that i feel bored.happy swinging everyone especially to you arialtetsuo (what does that mean? is this your real name? where are you from? how long do you swing for? Enquiring minds wish to know ),Simos[This message has been edited by Simos (edited 25 January 2001).]

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
I have a theory on the aforementioned's name: she's female, she loves the movie "The Little Mermaid" and also enjoys the japanimatin classic "Akira". She feels she can relate to Arial, because she too is cute but has issues with belonging and yet, at the same time her superiority complex manifests itself in a way similar to the Tetsuo's unequivocal, all-encompassing world-breaking power.Just a theory...(let's see what happens next)With regards to dreads, I can definitely appreciate the company and social mask they can provide. Although I've never officially had "dread locks", I've had braids for several lengthy periods of time. Aside from steretype and social stigmas, my braids became so much a part of me (and my image, let's admit it) that I mourned their loss when I took them out. We all do things for our own reasons and have our own theories, opinions and judgements. This isn't a Brave New World. I enjoy cultivating discussion, but I think there is certainly more constructive ways to relate personal opinions than to undermine and insult others. My schpeil on the derivitaves of the previously mentioned's name was an exception to this!!Anyway.

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
Has anyone seen the movie 'Usual Suspects'? Anyone of us could be arialtetsuo...the moral of this story being...(oh my god i've just had an excellent idea!!! )

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
dear titillated, thank you for answering some of my questions; i had never heard of 'Akira' before - gee i've learned something new because of this whole thing - and where do you reckon arialtetsuo's from? and what about her age? happy swinging,Simos

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
...and since i am sure that everyone wants to see who Arial Tetsuo is, here she is:
Non-Https Image Link
stunning huh? no dreads though happy swinging,Simos[This message has been edited by Simos (edited 25 January 2001).]

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 24th Jan 2001
simos, you're brilliant!I was just speculating...I'm certainly no personality expert!!! have no clue as to where she lives etc...PLUR

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 25th Jan 2001
simos,I don't believe I was being 'offensive' so to speak - merely playing along with people when they decided I was out to wreak havoc.I think if people spent less time twiddling their hair and more time thinking of positive world-changing-things to act on the world would be a better place. Which is precisely why I would think talking to your hairstyle and not to people on the same street as you as sad. A lot of people use hair to sort of hide behind like that too. When two dogs see eachother they sniff eachother's butts but when two strangers see eachother they usually won't even attempt eye-contact. It's all part of one big melting pot. I don't need to apoligise more than you or the next person.However I am glad you finally cleared up that mess of what character's nickname I'm using =) Anyone who doesn't know who the purple-haired manga girl is just not educated enough in that area. She's in a few Fluke vid clips.

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 25th Jan 2001
hey, maybe i'm going out on a limb here and kind of isolating myself from the equally caustic arieltetsuo BUT... i really do believe that fans of manga("well actually it's called anime" - yawn) are as equally objectionable as the aforementioned hippy hair-do!! now i'm really surrounded! no friends for me ! but hey! if you are going to play the "bait the hippy" game then you can't expect to make any friends....such bad karma, man. so goodbye and long live hippydom - the new establishment!

Posted: 25th Jan 2001
as i am bored as i said and i really don't have a clue of what manga/anime (???) is about (apart from finding that image on the web somewhere) could someone please help me expand my horizons - perhaps juggleloser & arialtetsuo can start another debate, not about dreads this time but about anime judging by the tone of your replies so far it would certainly be fun - it strikes me as odd that something that one of you likes so much is annoying the other - maybe i shouldn't have jumped to conclusions so easily... happy swinging,Simos