Megan Stewart
For The New Era
Sweet Home resident Cindy Hovater considers herself “one of those people who knows no strangers” – and this was all the more true when she flaunted her 13-year-old dreadlock around town.
Before she had a stylist snip off her signature ‘do on July 3, Hovater said people she didn’t even know would walk up and start a conversation.
Her unusual dreadlock, originally two different ones that eventually “married,” includes more than just her own long, tinsel grey-blond hair.
Over the past decade, she’s woven in strands from different family members, including her husband, Donale; her daughter, Shannon; her son, Daniel; her parents; two brothers; both grandmothers; one of her grandfathers; her 11-year-old granddaughter Alourah; and even the wife of her husband’s cousin, who was like her adopted sister.
She said a dreadlock’s meaning is “whatever you put into it,” but admitted her dreadlock harbors particular sentiments.
“If you’re going through something that’s depressing or a lot of anxiety, the dread kind of takes it away,” said Hovater.
Before she chopped it off, “it was a way to box up the sad times and to keep the people that I love close, even after they died, by weaving their hair into it,” Hovater said. “Instead of boxing up in my brain bad memories, I kind of put them in a dread.”
The most ancient strand in the dreadlock is from 1972, plucked from her husband’s old hairbrush. Like the other tendrils, she used a crochet needle to weave her husband’s hair into her own.
Hovater also wrapped a silver spoon and six rings around her dreadlock, most of them items belonging to family members in the past. The most recent addition, however, came two years ago from a woman in Safeway, “back when you could touch people,” Hovater said.
Her first and most likely her last dread, Hovater started her project “two months before Alourah was conceived,” back in 2007 when she worked as a sergeant in a California men’s prison, a job she kept for 20 years. She said she was “partially inspired” by some of the men she worked with who wore them. Her main inspiration, however, was Sky, Shannon’s best friend, who had “one really big dread that was long,” in addition to her whole hair being “dreaded out.”
But the idea for incorporating family members’ hair, the rings, and the silver spoon?
“It just kind of came to me,” she said.
“Lots of people say they come up with their best ideas in the shower, or [while] driving or dreaming,” she said.
When she worked at the prison, however, she couldn’t let her supervisors know she had a dreadlock due to the dress code policy, so, just like with her tongue ring, she learned to hide it. To do so, she wrapped her regular hair around the dreadlock and used two “clamps” to hold it in a bun.
Due to the tendency of the dreadlock to rub her skin raw – Hovater pointed out that forcing people to wear garments of human or animal hair used to be a method of torture, she wore her hair up most of the time outside of work, too.
That discomfort was part of the reason why she decided to chop off her dreadlock before it fell out naturally, which she said was her plan originally.
“It just felt right,” Hovater said.
Maintaining a dreadlock required many precautions .
For one, she had to be mindful whenever she flipped her hair or turned around, especially in the marketplace. A couple of times she almost hit people with her dreadlock, which was longer and heavier than the rest of her hair, despite being the same age.
“You got to watch who’s nearby,” she said.
It also proved to be a safety hazard for herself. Once, when she was putting clean glasses away, her dreadlock got caught in the dishwasher and yanked her backwards, almost giving her whiplash.
“It was like, ‘Dang, that’s not cool,'” she said, realizing her dread might one day cause her to break her neck “doing something stupid.”
Additionally, before she fell asleep, she had to rest it on top of her pillow, or else it would pull in the middle of the night.
And lastly, on Tuesdays, the day of the week she cleans cat boxes, her dreadlock sometimes dropped into the dirty litter.
But it was a woman’s haircut on the television show People’s Court that finally convinced her to take the final step towards prematurely snipping off the dreadlock.
The woman, whose natural black hair showed at the roots, had dyed her hair a white-grey color and fluffed it out in the back “like a long feather.” The woman’s hair went a little bit past her shoulders.
“It just hit me: that’s what I wanted,” Hovater said.
As of July 3, Hovater is “a new woman.”
She described her new haircut as “kind of like a reverse pageboy, but instead of curling under, it curls up” and rests a little past shoulder-length. Unlike her original vision, however, Hovater’s hair was accidentally tinted a light purple color. She had a follow-up appointment on July 31 to fix it.
Besides the color change and the fact she now can wear it in a ponytail, Hovater said her hair looks just about the same.
Although both she and her hairstylist cried after she cut off her dread, Hovater said it ultimately felt “like a relief off my shoulders.”
“My head is a lot lighter, not so weighed down,” Hovater said, adding that her hair does not feel as damaged, nor does it have split ends.
She recalled the stylist asking her, “Are you sure, are you sure?” to which she replied, “Just do it!”
She said if she had waited, she “would have backed out,” so she’s relieved she “followed through.” The hardest part of letting it go, she said, was how many “memories” were “tied to it.” It was also a great “conversation piece.”
When asked if she would ever throw away her dread, Hovater said, “Oh, h**l no, never, never.”
“They can bury me with it. It’s a way to keep everyone close to my heart.”
As of now, her dread hangs in the hallway across from a painting of a black swan – Hovater’s “spirit animal.” Shannon and Alourah painted it for her.
“I see it every time I come and go in the bedroom,” Hovater said.
Hovater said her family’s response to her new hair has been “positive.” The only person she hasn’t told yet is her son who lives out of state. She plans to surprise him on July 31, “when it’s just right.”
What does the future have in store for Hovater?
Apparently, not another dread.
“I’ll probably get a tattoo next.”