So parents had a way of using that early concept of dreadlocks, in a negative way. As you got older, you realised that parents used any trick they could to manage you and sometimes they used even positive things to turn them into negative things to manage you or manage your attention. So the use of that Black Heart Man, if you didn’t behave yourself then the Black Heart Man would come and get you.
That fear kind of faded away as you got into teenage years. So you became more interested in this natural person doing natural things. So my journey to wearing dreadlocks was more about that kind of natural journey, not using a razor, not shaving. Not using a razor anywhere on my face. My head and my face are kind of in synergy, so if I don’t shave my hair, I don’t shave my face either.
ACH: So, do you think this decision that happened in Florida was wrong? © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford
