Sindy’s ‘ras’ turns heads

Deron Attzs and Sindy Cardinez are forerunners in their own right. More appropriately, Deron likes to use the word “trendsetter”, as men and hair extensions many believe “doh mix”.

So, the comments he receives like “who does lock your hair?” and “do you use rachette?” from admirers tell of how oblivious they are to his shoulder-length human hair extensions. They are woven from the roots. No threads or twine are used. His technique: “I simply twist it into my hair (in a corkscrew motion) and I allow the hair to grow along with it,” Deron, an events co-ordinator and entertainer of Simpli Smooth Productions told People. A half-pack of hybrid quality human hair is all he uses. “This is not sold here yet,” he said. The extensions were sourced from a friend of his who has found a market, including Hollywood celebrities, for her synthetic and human hair extensions and weaves. It cost him US$23 (TT$144).

Deron’s image is fashioned after American R&B and pop/rock artistes Maxwell who sports long natural dreadlocks, and Lenny Kravitz who recently trimmed down to a short “grunged” hairdo. “If you’ve noticed, the look is all natural now. We have gone clear with natural hair and natural looks. Men with natural hair have been given a lot of respect than before,” he said, of the now unisex use of hair extensions. Prior to his current look, Deron wore woollen extensions with the intention of growing his hair. This was a result of “a high increase of an ingrown hair problem I observed at the barber shops. I didn’t want to go through that and it doesn’t look presentable to the public, so I decided that I’d grow my hair instead.”

The 26-year-old said he’s getting more attention now from the opposite sex as “a tall, slim guy with the look of natural locks”. Sindy, a sales clerk with Francis Fashions/Shoe Locker Flagship, Cor Queen and Henry Sts, Port-of-Spain, shares a similar viewpoint. Influenced by her former boyfriend’s dreadlocks hairstyle, she decided to follow the trend. “But I don’t think I’d be as neat as he is in growing a dread,” said the 23-year-old. However, she found an alternative. When shopping in her hometown of Sangre Grande she came upon “ras extensions”. Immediately she imagined a ready-to-wear hairdo where she’d wrap her shoulder-length hair in a bun and wrap the extensions around it. “I just happened to see it at Sheila’s (variety store) and I didn’t even know how to put it on; and I bought it,” said Sindy. She paid $62 for two packs which she joined and sports as her own tresses. She has many a people guessing whether she’s East Indian and has grown a “ras”. “They ask me ‘what yuh really is?’. Most people think it’s real.

I met this girl at the beach and I had her confused. She told me I kept it so neat,” she revealed. Sindy didn’t betray her secret. She was skeptical of grooming a dread, too, as she was unsure whether company policy at her workplace allowed her to wear a “hair wrap”. She’s been getting the “extra” attention and getting her laughs too! When packing one of the shelves of her section “Nike Town” second floor, “a red-skinned guy with a ras passed me and said ‘lil ras, whey that lil ras pretty boy!’” But she feels comfortable wearing her new-found style. She’s of East Indian (mother) and Venezuelan (father) descent. She added: “I consider ras (dreadlocks) to be for anybody, not just Africans alone.” When she’s ready to give up wearing the extensions, “if anything,” she said, “I’ll grow real ras”.