Dreadlocks are a typical hairstyle for the Rastafari faithful, a religion that is closely associated with reggae music and weed. However, with the change of times, millennials started trying this hairstyle.
This has drawn mixed reactions from conservatives and the elderly, who are always keen to preserve the established moral values. Nonetheless, more and more male youth have adopted this style, and now females are following suit, sparking debate around fashion and morality.
Three young women who have tried this trend speak of the ridicule they have faced from friend and foe as a result of keeping dreads.
"My parents were very skeptical of the idea of dreads," says Debbie* (not her real name).
"After persistently seeking the go-ahead, they finally gave in. So I put them on and I felt happy."
With time, however, some young women started approaching her for love dates, thinking she had become a lesbian.
"There's a day I was in a restaurant with my male friends. A young lady came greeted me and followed me to our table. We ate with my other friends and she offered to pay the bill," she said.
"After that, we became acquaintances and established contacts. She later suggested we become lovers."
Debbie says she refused and the girl became bitter and cried in public. She adds that now it's becoming a common thing to be approached by fellow women, who mistaken her for a lesbian due to her dreads.
Stella Kemunto, a biker, has had dreads since 2016, when she joined university. She says friends and strangers sometimes take her for a tomboy, a drug addict and heady, all thanks to her highly conspicuous hairstyle. Kemunto comes from a Seventh Day Adventist family, which is highly conservative.
"My parents are church leaders. I'm also a staunch Adventist, but when I went to church with dreads, the other congregants gave me harsh condemnatory gazes," she said.
"I was banned from singing in the choir until I removed them, and a friend of mine who also had dreads and was a youth leader got stripped of the leadership and excommunicated."
She says for the days she goes to church, she ties her head with a panda or any other cloth to avoid attracting unnecessary attention, and to save her parents the embarrassment. However, she says dreadlocks are a hairstyle like any other, and an economical one.
"My dreads are now permanent. I don't go to the salon. I only spray and wash them. They save me time and money," she said.
"They are also natural and prevent hair from falling out, unlike other hairstyles."
Nuru Abdalla comes from a Muslim background. She has dreads, too, and she says her family members are okay with them.
"According to Islam, we're supposed to wash ourselves five times a day, before prayers," she said.
"So as long as your dreads don't interfere with that ablution process, it's okay."
To prevent people from taking her for a lesbian, she says she always keeps her dreads neat and tied at the back.
"Those whose dreads fall off haphazardly tend to come across as masculine," she said.
