I have always wanted dreadlocks.

I’m not talking the ones held together by the grease resulting from not washing my hair for 3 months, I’m talking about deliberate, clean dreadlocks.

I’ve recently thought that if I’m planning to do this, now is really the time – my last chance, so to speak, unless I wait till I’m an eccentric old lady, but I’m worried I may not have enough hair left at that point to make a respectable go of it, and will end up looking like this guy:

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I want to do it before my kids are old enough to be totally embarrassed by me, and I’m afraid I may already be too late based on this conversation with my 3-year-old last week after I scrunched my hair into curls rather than my usual straight blow-dry:

G: Mom, you forgot to dry your hair today!

Me: No, I didn’t forget, I’m having my hair like this today.

G: Oh.

Me: What, you don’t like it?

G: No. I like it better the other way. I don’t want you to do that anymore.

Nothing beats the honesty and complete lack of tact exhibited by kids, and I’m not sure I could handle her opinion of dreads.

Carl also says he will disown me if I am be-dreaded but I am 94% sure he’s joking, and I do like to call a good bluff, much to his frequent chagrin.

I think this desire for dreads started in early high school, when I rode the bus with a kid who sported horrible, fuzzy, unwashed dreadlocks that people shuddered to sit beside for fear of what might live within them. I wanted to do the look right, and the thickness of the mass drew me in like a moth to a flame. I have naturally very thin hair, and the idea of having to tie it in a ponytail with a shoelace or scarf since nothing else is big enough is oh-so-tempting! I thought I would have to first grow my hair super-long, which is a challenge in itself for me, but then I saw some shorter-hair dreads that I think are totally adorable.

So, what are your thoughts? Can white girls pull off dreads?  Did other American Idol fans love Crystal Bowersox’s hair as much as I did? More importantly, can THIS white girl, whose hair has always been the epitome of capital-B Boring, pull off dreads? I have no intention of piercing any part of my face to go with the look…do I have to do that to make it work?  I would definitely consider dyeing a strand or nine funky colours though.

Will you all disown me too?