Hi Brea - thanks for your post. Yes, locks = dreadlocks. I don't add the "dread" part because it's not a word with positive connotations and my hair is nothing but beautiful and wonderful ... I wouldn't associate the word "dread" with it.
I know and have experienced what your friend is talking about when she says that Black people have not been encouraged to wear our hair in its natural state. It has a lot to do with racial dynamics in this country (and the world, in general), which, of course, is way too complex to talk about here, but, needless to say, for many, many years, people have been taught to believe that things that are closer to White are more beautiful. And that means lighter skin and straighter hair. Those of us who embrace our brown skin and wear our hair in all its kinky, curly glory are basically flying in the face of a culture that does not see beauty as looking like we do. My family, particularly my grandmother, was not at all happy when I decided to stop relaxing my hair. But I had to do it - as a way of reclaiming my uniqueness, of learning to love myself the way I am created, of acknowledging that God makes no mistakes and would have given me straight hair if He'd wanted me to have it. It is a political statement, too, of course. I am saying that no one can define my idea of beauty but me and that what I am right now is beautiful and right.
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