We've Made It to Six Months!

And we're here...past six months!  It somehow feels like it's been so much longer than that.  I've had to deal with some difficult situations.  I've had more than a few friends try and convince me to get rid of them.  It's not exactly easy to keep to a commitment when everyone keeps telling me I should get rid of them.  I have to stand against what most of my friends think I do.

I know most of my friends hate my dreads, but I've got to breathe.  I've got to realize that it's not their hair.  It's not their lives.  They've got to accept that this is my hair, my choice, and they don't have to like it.  I particularly enjoy my hair and they shouldn't be pressuring me to conform to their standards.

The hardest thing for me is a number of my friends shaving their heads in various ways.  In all of this I got the comment that I should shave my head.  Mind you, I don't want to shave my head again.  I love my dreads.  They suit me and I'm pretty happy with them, even though they have a long way to go to hit perfect.  These things take time, of course, but at the same time, I have to consider what my friends must think of the process.  It's scary to think I'm doing something so different, so unique, something I'll feel so alone about.

I don't want to go against the grain.  I don't want to break the mold.  I don't really want to do this to be different, but I kind of have no option, in a way.  All I want is to be happy.  I want my friends to accept me for who I am, to love me for what I like, and to let me be me.  That's not what I've been getting at all.  It's a lot of pressure.  I'm just glad the men I live with are so incredibly accepting, that my dance partner seems to adore my dreads, and that I've got some encouragement to be myself.  It would be quite the challenge without that.  I can't imagine having to go through this feeling isolated and alone until people started realizing that this look, these dreads, they're not going away.  This is a part of who I am, the style I choose, the way I want to be.  They can take me for who I am, or they can leave me.

As for these dreads?  I love them.  I'm six months in and I'm still enjoying them.  This is the longest I've held any one style without regret.  I think I should take that as a sign.