Dreadlocks date back to the 1920 s, when the Afro-Caribbean religion of Rastafarianism outlawed the combing or cutting of hair for religious reasons.
Dreadlocks are the result of the natural locking, or matting, of coarse African hair.
The kinky curls of black hair are left to grow long and uncombed, and twisted into knotted strands of hair called dreadlocks, or dreads. When grown as part of spiritual practices, the hair is referred to as locks instead of dreads or dreadlocks, as there is nothing dreadful about the natural state of hair. Dreadlocks became universally acceptable when Rasta musician Bob Marley showed off his locks while singing his ode to the knotted hair, Natty Dread, in 1975. As the afrocentric 80 s began celebrating African-American culture, dreads became a common hairstyle for black youths. The 90 s fascination for dreads differed slightly from Marley s Rasta style dreadlocks, as young entertainers and rappers popularized short styles of twists or clumpy dreads pulled together in large sections.