Dreadlocks

OCNRN63, RN · Mar 14, 2015

There was a nurse in one of the hospitals where I worked who had dreadlocks. He worked in the ED. They looked good on him. JMO, but I think dreads look better on people of color than Caucasians.

NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN · Mar 16, 2015

I would think it would depend on how long they are and if they are tied back or not.

SonOfStBenedict · Mar 17, 2015

At my facility which is one of the bigger hospitals in the central Mississippi area you can have your hair locked, one of my friends tried to work here a few years ago as a nurse tech and they told him he'd have to cut it off. Since then a diversity committee was formed and saw it fit that it was ok, if they are well kempt, many staff have dreads but I've yet to see a guy nurse with them and only one female.

MunoRN, RN · Mar 18, 2015

It's not really an issue of the appearance of dreadlocks, it's more about whether or not your dreadlocks can be maintained while still maintaining basic hygiene. There are hair types that can dread naturally and where the hair can still be washed sufficiently. I know people without the type of hair that dreads naturally and they can only get their hair to dread because they never wash it, although they do occasionally coat their dreads with peanut butter to suffocate all the bugs that otherwise inhabit his dreads.

If they're hygienic I don't think there should be a problem. If you have to knock down the parasite population in your dreads on a regular basis through suffocation, that's different.

SonOfStBenedict · Mar 18, 2015

Oh god! Bugs! No as a person of color that has had locks before once they lock at the end you can wash as frequently as you feel is necessary and retwist. Peanut butter people do that? that had to be a joke lol

Mr. Murse · Mar 18, 2015

I know people without the type of hair that dreads naturally and they can only get their hair to dread because they never wash it, although they do occasionally coat their dreads with peanut butter to suffocate all the bugs that otherwise inhabit his dreads.

I've known a lot of people with dreads (of different racial backgrounds) and have NEVER heard of putting peanut butter on there. Absolutely horrible idea. Also, there are many different ways of dreading your hair and still keeping it clean, even if your hair is not prone to dread on its own.

Tell you friends to do some research before trying that. I'm cool with hippies, but that's just over the line disgusting if they're putting peanut butter in their hair. jees.

RNdynamic · Mar 19, 2015

Ewww.. don't you have to have pretty dirty hair in order to dreadlock it? I'm pretty sure that dreads are held together by grease, oil, and grime. Correct me if I'm wrong..!

SonOfStBenedict · Mar 19, 2015

Maybe for people with fine hair but for us curly haired people it's not

Fruit Sucker · Mar 25, 2015

White people don't have dreads. They have dirty rats' nests. If you have to go without washing and put a ton of wax in your hair, that's not a hygienic hairstyle. I've seen plenty of people of color working as nurses with dreads, but I live in an urban area where that is a normal hairstyle.

PauperRN · Mar 31, 2015

Ewww.. don't you have to have pretty dirty hair in order to dreadlock it? I'm pretty sure that dreads are held together by grease, oil, and grime. Correct me if I'm wrong..!

That is wrong, esp for people of color. Dreadlock for people of color with nappy hair, the hair just tangles up and all you do is guide that process. You guide the process, you end up with neat dreadlocks, you ignore that process, you end up with rastafarian kinda dreadlocks- those ones, I think no one accepts them. Now I do not know lots of what white people do, but from the YouTube clips I have seen around, I think it will take time before nursing accepts them. That does not mean that black males with dreadlocks will get jobs that they qualify without a hitch, it is still very delicate. I know the sisters have no problem at all, but for the males- the first impression thing and what is associated with dreads very disappointing..

777RN, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2015

Hi PauperRN!

I am a nurse with locks and it has never, ever been an issue. While at work, I pull my hair back into a hair net. My locks are always neat and clean.

I have two employers: a very conservative faith-based hospice facility and a skilled nursing center owned by a major hospital system. Before becoming a nurse, I was an editor in a book-publishing company, where my locks were never an issue. Before that, I worked in IT; my locks weren't an issue there either.

In my experience, locks are only an issue if the person wearing them believes they will be. In today's world, such thinking is a figment of the imagination that manifests as reality. If you are comfortable and confident with your locks, others will be too. Oftentimes, my locks are a conversation breaker and a curiosity for coworkers, patients, and their familiesâ€”and I am happy to educate them about them.

If you want to wear your hair locked, do it! Don't change your hair (or anything else) for an employer. When I was younger, I would worry about not getting hired with locks. Today, if a company wouldn't hire me because I have locks, I wouldn't want to work for that company.

Best wishes!

P.S. By the way, for the purists out there, only Rastafarians have "dreadlocks"â€”characterized by their organic growth pattern that is not guided or manipulated (rolled or twisted) in any way. All other natural ropes of what is basically felted hair are called "locks" or "locs."