A Twisted Style by Maja Tabea Jerrentrup

Author:Maja Tabea Jerrentrup [Jerrentrup, Maja Tabea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, Cultural & Social, Customs & Traditions
ISBN: 9781800730717
Google: ZakDEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2021-05-14T02:52:57+00:00

Dirt and Cleanliness

Thoughts about cleanliness appear again and again in dreadlock groups. The reason is obvious: one cannot see what is inside the dreadlock—this fact often makes dreadheads feel insecure. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” the peace researcher Ravi Bhatia starts an article and goes on to show how physical cleanliness is connected to the concept of spiritual cleanliness in various religious traditions and nowadays serves as a concept that refers not only to people and man-made places, but also to the environment—an all-embracing imperative of cleanliness seems to do justice to human nature (see Bhatia n.d.). Cleanliness can be understood as associated with two basic needs: health and social recognition (see Woersdorfer 2009). It is common knowledge that clean clothes, hair, and body can contribute to hygiene. Cleanliness is difficult to define, but the concept addresses various senses. Clean things should look clean, but also smell clean or not smell at all, and also feel clean—the last is illustrated by a post on Facebook and two interview quotes:

Heeeelp … My dreads feel so sticky??!! Can this be due to my soap or the henna I use?

(Simsala B., Facebook, 16.06.2017)

I’m really scared that my dreads might stink or feel weird. I do not want to match the prejudice of a disheveled, dirty dreadhead. That’s why I often wash them. In fact, it is more work than with normal hair.

(Darya M., interview, 19.12.2018)

The cleanliness—this is why I go for fake dreadlocks. I can wash my own hair and the extensions separately whenever I take them out. This makes me feel better.

(Toni K., interview, 27.04.2019)

Social sanctioning can reinforce the norm of cleanliness. Many scholars have pointed out the effects of social sanctioning mechanisms on fostering norm emergence. “These approaches share the assumption that individual behavior is affected by the feedback that individuals can expect to receive from their social environment when engaging in certain behavior” (Woersdorfer 2009). Dreadheads often are confronted with the accusation of being dirty. Most of my interviewees stated that sooner or later their friends and family, colleagues, or even people they did not know asked them about it, and they were placed in a position to defend themselves.

Open insults seem to be more frequent in North America than in Europe. In the group Dreadlocks, people occasionally post such incidents. Group member Piggypogo M. shows a picture of a letter in which a couple is complaining about his dreadlocks (09.10.2019):

We miss the clean-cut young men and women from those days. Watching the Idaho game on TV we couldn’t help but notice your—well—awful hair. Surely there must be mirrors in the locker room! Don’t you have parents or girlfriend who’ve told you those shoulder length dreadlocks look disgusting and are certainly not attractive. … We would welcome the reappearance of dress codes for athletes. You will certainly be playing “on Sunday” in the future but we have stopped watching the NFL due to the disgusting, tattoos, awful hair and immature antics in the end zone.

In German groups, I did not come across any statements as radical as this.

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