Remy Kohlenhoefer shows off her dreads and chooses not to care what other people think about them. Stay tuned to this page for a video on Kohlenhofer’s dreads. 

Dreadlocked junior Remy Kohlenhoefer loves her hair even though she has dealt with both criticism and approval of her dreads. She does not let people get to her about her hair because she knows she likes it and that’s all that matters to her.

“Some people see them and go, ‘Oh my god you have dreads?’ It’s like they’ve never seen dreadlocks in their entire life,” junior Lucas Dykes said. “There are two different types of people:  they’re either ‘Ew those are dirty’ or like, ‘Woah, those are the coolest things ever.’”

The idea of getting dreads all started when Remy’s friend, former student Brittany Emerson, started getting dreadlocks. Remy started thinking more and more about the idea of actually getting them and Brittany pushed her to finally get a couple to see how she liked them. From there on Remy started making more and more dreads until she came to eight, which is how many she has today.

“I started them and fell in love with them,” Remy said. “They’re pretty addicting when you start making them.”

While making dreads, Remy secures sections of her hair together with rubber bands, then rolls the hair together. Some people like to use a dreadlock wax, but Remy prefers to let the dreads harden naturally. Once the hair completely hardens, the rubber bands can be removed. This process can take up to three months. Some methods people use to make dreads are by teasing their hair until it forms a dread or by twisting and tearing their hair.

To maintain her hairstyle, she makes sure to roll them everyday to let them harden and hold the shape of a dread. Remy uses a dreadlock shampoo every three or four days in order to prevent mold-causing residue from forming. She does this by taking two dreads at a time and washing them, then washing her normal hair separately with different shampoo.

“When I’m pretty much not doing anything I roll them,” Remy said. “Walking down the hallways, I roll them. I basically roll them all the time.”

According to her family and friends, her dreads complement who she is, which is a happy go-lucky person who stands out from the crowd. Family and friends believe that her dreads are something that makes her different from everyone else.

“All I can say is she’s a very artistic person,” Remy’s mother, Shanon Kohlenhoefer said. “She likes to be different and that is something she wanted to do to set herself apart from everyone else.”

In the future Remy plans to make at least two more dreads, having ten altogether. She also does not plan to have a full head of dreads due to the fact she thinks it would be a little too much; she would rather have a couple and still have some of her normal hair as well.

“Obviously I like them because I have them,” Remy said. “I think people who have dreads [use them to] pretty much explain their personality. So, they pretty much match me as a person.”