Ellen in NYC

Yep, it's that time again. Time to put away the seriousness and let your hair down. Well, maybe. See, I grew up in the Caribbean, living in and traveling through wonderful places like the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. Of course, as a kid, the dreadlock was reserved for the island outlaw. Now, seems like everyone has a friend or grandmother with dreadlocks. So, I decided it's time I educated myself on the techniques of "locking" hair. No, I can't get away with it myself. Being married to a hairdresser has limited my choice of hairstyle to whatever my beloved wife chooses for me.  But I can always dream...

Ok, so I seem to be drifting for a minute. Sorry. The topic of this post is 5 things I didn't know about dreadlocks. Perhaps they might surprise you as well.

I've just read an article teaching me how to color my hair with Koolaid. Ok, so being a child of the 70's and 80's, I understand the desire to call attention to myself with blue hair. But, to be honest, I don't think I'd want my blue mohawk back in the day to smell like Mountain Berry Punch. Which, according to the kids coloring their hair, it does!

Yes, this is pretty much only something pre-teens would do to each other. After all, how many of you want a big fat cartoon character breaking through your salon walls while you are charging your client $200 for a foil-highlight that lonely rich woman with Surfin' Berry Punch accented with Pink Swimingo? Oh, YEAH!!

Now, if you're still interested, this kid has some tips for you:

I'm not an expert. Heck, I haven't even spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express. I'm just a tech guy that knows enough about computers that I got roped into helping my wife with her website.

Having said this, I have spent many a time sitting amoungst hair stylists and colorists, chatting away about work. Countless dinner parties, holiday parties, lunch parties, brunch parties... well, you get the idea. Hairdressers like to party, this is true. But when they are partying, you'd think they'd want to leave work behind. Not so. They like to talk too much. And when you get two or more hairdressers in a room, they talk hair. This style, that color, this cutting technique. So much so, that I've decided I'm an expert on how wacked out people get about their hair. And I've decided to exact my revenge.