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South African thieves are walking around with knives, robbing people of their dreadlocks they’ve taken years to grow and selling them on the streets. It’s known that dreadlocks take a lot of time and patience to grow, but the thieves in South Africa are taking Sweet Brown’s infamous stance on the topic, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” So, they’ve been stealing them off the heads of those patient enough to grow them.

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A 28-year-old man from Zimbabwe told the BBC, “They had a knife and cut off my hair with scissors. I still feel pain when I think about that night. I used to see people selling dreadlocks on the streets and didn’t know where it came from.”

The thieves are supplying a demand on the black market. Hair that takes way too long to grow is theirs in an instant, once they ruthlessly chop the locks from unsuspecting victims’ heads. Their weapons double as cutting utensils, often using knives and broken glass. So how much are these thieves making from their stolen locks? According to BBC, “Shoulder-length dreadlocks are sold for between 200 rand ($23) and 700 ($77.10) rand, while longer ones cost as much as 2,000 rand ($220.19).”

Hairstylists in South Africa use the hair and crochet it into their impatient clients’ hair. Because this is a new technique, many stylists are desperate for extra dreadlocks supply.

Many of these hair-cutting gangs are in Johannesburg, but BBC is reporting that they are spreading to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. It seems to be getting out of control. Mutsa Madonko–a victim of the dreadlock theft said, “Over the past six months I’ve heard of four other cases apart from what happened to Jack. This thing is getting worse and something must be done.”

Wow, this is such a crazy trend. I guess I won’t be going to South Africa any time soon. What do you beauties think about the dreadlock thieves?

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