Jack Maseko was recently mugged by three men in South Africa; they wanted nothing but his mobile phone and the dreadlocks he had spent three years patiently growing. “They had a knife and cut off my hair with scissors. I still feel pain when I think about that night," the 28-year-old Zimbabwean tells the BBC. “I used to see people selling dreadlocks on the streets and didn't know where it came from," he adds.
Dreadlocks can take several years to grow but many people are impatient with the growth process thus the demand for ready locks in the black market, according to hairstylists. The thieves will use anything from a knife to broken glass to steal the prized hair - known on the streets as a cut and run. So what happens to the stolen hair? Stylists use a new method known as crocheting - using a thin needle, they are able to convert relaxed and European hair into dreads by weaving additional human hair pieces into the straight hair - giving a client long-locked hair instantly. Shoulder-length dreadlocks retail between 200 rand ($23; £15) to 700 rand, while longer ones cost as much as 2,000 rand.
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