Dreadlock-ed

Less bounce, more weight. Less sway, more heftiness. In a country where a healthy shiny mane is not just preferred but revered if we had to go by the multitude of products available to just that effect, dreadlocks are now becoming a less uncommon sight to come across. Sure they might raise some eyebrows and scrunch some noses, but they are nonetheless, slowly becoming part of a new-age hair ‘movement’. Is it an impersonation of Captain Jack Sparrow? Is it for the love of unwashed smelly hair?  Or better yet, is it some newfound love for Indian mysticism or the West-Indian Rastafari way of life?

Al Alva elucidates the mystery; sporting dreadlocks himself, he is the man behind Al’s Tattoo and Body Piercing studio, with whose help one can get one’s hair knitted into dreadlocks. “Carefully-knitted and regularly-washed. Unlike rumour has it, dreads are actually clean if they are done the right way without the use of any wax or other products,” explains Al. “We are now seeing more and more teenagers looking to get dreadlocks,” admits Al. “All of them pretty much fall into the category of artists, given that no other workplace would allow for such expression,” he explains. “It is a pity, given that dreadlocks are nothing but a hairstyle that should not be frowned upon.”

He believes that it is only a matter of time until these still very much-dreaded locks become an average unexceptional hairstyle in Mumbai, especially with tattoos now being more and more accepted in the orthodoxy-withering society that is Mumbai. Al, however, admits that the city has not accepted his look the way he would have liked it to.

Rahul Deshmukh* lives in South Bombay; his father is a wealthy entrepreneur who calls Altamount Road his home, whereas his mother’s love for bhajans takes a weekly diamond-fest-like social dimension. He is, to the rest of the world, supposed to be the prodigal son of a straight-out-of-a-book perfect household.

“My dreadlocks are a part of who I am; I am not a drug user but I do not appreciate authority over personal choices such as my hair or the clothes I wear,” explains the 19-year-old. His friends, however, think it is nothing more than an “act of rebellion in a society that is not willing to accept differences.”

Swati Sharma*,  another SoBo resident, on the other hand, does not see eye to eye. “Are they mocking us with their anti-establishment mentality?” she vociferates. She refers to their lack of time to get their hair washed, to shave, or to buy trendy clothes. “Trust me,” she says, “they probably end up spending over half an hour a day picking out their outfit just to show that they do not care.” Stereotypically disgusted, Pooja represents the rest of the country that associates dreadlocks with mind-numbingly-pot-smoking sadhus.

Is India ready for unkempt hair? Al believes it might take a while. For now, dreadlocks remain a hair-raising concept for many!

*Name changed on request