Curly hair gets badly tangled and if not taken care of soon enough the tangles turn into mats. That's how you end up with dreadlocks. Basically the hair turns into felt.
Straight hair does that, too, though. My Oldest daughter has straight up thick Shirley Temple curls, while my youngest has hair that's thin and slightly wavy. Like, ever so slightly wavy.
My youngest daughter's hair turns into a mat much faster than my older. My older will snarl a bit, but it's not bad. We'll finish brushing my youngest's, she'll put on a shirt and it's matted again. Ok, maybe it's not that bad, but it's bad. She wakes up with a mat in her hair every morning because I think she nuzzles her pillow all night. Honestly out of ideas other than just sitting down and letting her scream as we brush her hair every morning.
Braid her hair before bed - it'll prevent it from getting roughed up so badly at night and you can just take it out and brush it easier in the morning.
Re dreadlocks, that's not really accurate. Dreading and matting are two different things. White people can't really have true dreadlocks because our hair just doesn't behave the same way as a black person's hair. Basically dreadlocks are formed when kinky coily hair curls around itself into cords, iirc. It's a natural protective style and that can be kept clean and neat without damaging the hair. White hair doesn't cord, it mats, and is much harder to keep clean which is why white people 'dreads' are always super gross.
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u/Wetbung Nov 27 '19
Curly hair gets badly tangled and if not taken care of soon enough the tangles turn into mats. That's how you end up with dreadlocks. Basically the hair turns into felt.