Dreadlocks vs. Brotherlocks vs. Nubian Locks vs. Organic Locks vs. Sisterlocks vs. Locs vs.........
I was reading the Blogger-formerly-known-as-Brian's blog post where he corrected a commenter who referred to his Brotherlocks as dreads. 
I've blogged about this in depth before (here) and IMHO it was one of my better posts. But, to recap, in BrunsliWorld, it goes like this:
Locks -- generic term.
Dreadlocks -- organic locks worn by followers of the Rastafari movement as religious expression. Commonly used to refer to any type of lock. "Dread" comes from either being called "dreadful" by others or from Rastas inspiring "dread" in others. If you've spoken to a real Rasta at any length, you know how they love to manipulate language, so we'll never have the overstanding if it's a term that was given to or self-appropriated by Rastas.
Dreads -- incorrect short form of dreadlocks. I hate this usage, but I don't know why. A "dread" is a person with dreadlocks though.
Natty dread -- A Rasta with dreadlocks. Refers to the person, not his or her hair.
Nubian locks, African locks, etc. -- Realtively new words for locks that are not dreadlocks or Sisterlocks. These annoy me for an inexplicable reason too.
Sisterlocks (Brotherlocks) -- Trademarked term for tool-assisted locks done under method developed by Joanne Cornwell.
Locs -- odd misspelling of "locks."
Lox -- bagel topping made of smoked salmon.
Braids -- common way Breadfruit refers to my hair, getting him in lots of trouble. Perhaps I should be more understanding. There's no word for locked hair in Italian, so his translation for trezze is as close as he can get. On the other hand, "locks" is really not that hard, and it has been a while now...
Besides the last definition, I know these terms have different meanings to other people who have given it some thought. I'm only the authority in Brunsli's Hairstory.
Next topic: Do you still have "natural hair" if you dye it? Just kidding, the Neurotic Hair Diva will not take that one on. That's a job for Afrobella!
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11 of your thoughts:
I have to fuss at SS because other people will call her hair braids or twists and she won't correct them. (can't fuss too much since she is my Mom) Ugh...I guess she gets tired of that "Yeah...right" look when she says she has locks.
Wow...I guess we (locked community as a whole) are always gonna have issues with what we call our locks.
LOL @ Lox -- bagel topping made of smoked salmon.!!!
A friend just teased me recently about that when I corrected a few people @ a function who referred to my hair s Dreads & I corrected them with the facts.
I then wen to say that most Blacks have locks & not are Ras"Tafari"ans (plating on words)
My friend then said ain't Lox something you eat n a bagel, then I got mad & shut up, I had enough.
Afrobella did a great job covering the natural topic & some of the comments were off the hook.
I say if your hair is colored then you are fakin' the natural funk & that includes myself with my Sebastian Redissimmo Colourshines.
Thx for following up on this. Instead of going there on people all the time about what term to use, I will simply point them to you & Lovin' Locks for some quick eduction.
Holla,
The Blogger formerly knowns as Brian (I need to come up with a symbol)
Great post, great knowledge, great pic...
This was really informative, like the rest of your site. Thanks Brunsli....I still have to work on not saying dreads..it's so programmed in our vocabulary.
Sony, Feel free to call your hair whatever you like. My hair police jurisdiction is only on my blog.
Great post Brunsli. Very informative. What has always been a shock to me is more often people will refer to my hair as Sisterlocks rather than asking me if I have dreadlocks. That really makes me feel good...
1. Because they are familiar with Sisterlocks and realize that Sisterlocks has its own unique lock pattern and 2. They don't assume that everyone that has some form of locks all fall under dreadlocks. There have been a few people ask me if I have dreadlocks and I quickly correct them and explain what Sisterlocks are which puts a smile on my face because they are usually impressed by the Sisterlock look but are unsure what to call it.
Been eating a lot of lox lately, actually. Happily they do have it in eastern Iowa.
I have had one person mistake my locs for Sisterlocks. I think I might have unintentionally offended her by my response, which was something along the lines of "No, I'm too cheap for those."
My cousin called my sister's Sisterlocks "very finely done braids." lol
To the uninitiated (namely: the vast majority of people) I call them dreads, dreadlocks, or locs. I don't bother trying to explain the differences.
Braids, Twists, Dreads (90% of the time) - I rarely go off on a soap box to correct folks. They would have to start asking some serious follow-up questions for me to go there. I paid for the look I wanted..end of story.
Braids, twists, dreads (90% of the time) - I rarely go off on a soap box to correct folks. A person
would have to start asking some serious follow-up questions for me to go into a detailed Sisterlock discussion.
well, i've always wanted to share what i thought about the term "dread''. i was told as a youth that the name "dread" came from the white man........if in fact this is true, why not take time out as a dread to observe the term and it's meaning. dread means to fear. if you ask me as a dread i shall and i will tell you now that i know self, you have every right to fear me and others like me.........DREAD FOR LIFE!
So I've decided to grow my hair out, because I would like 'dreadlocks'. But I have recently discovered brotherlocks, and now I can't decide which to get. I am far away from either, since I just decided to not to cut my hair anymore. what are the pros and cons to both style. which looks better? any information, forums, blogs, links you can give me would be greatly appreciated. thank you
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