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Although many cultures want to take sole credit for the braid, they cannot be traced to a single origin. Like how different versions of Cinderella are traceable to nearly every culture, braids, too, are polygenetic. One early example of hair braiding takes place in 1279-1213 BCE as recorded in the story of Isis: "when some of the queen's maidens came to the well, she greeted them kindly and began to braid their hair.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid
So yes wear braids if you like nobody has a claim on braids, only racists will tell you you can’t
He didn't say braid, he said dreadlocks. There are also big differences between cornrows and box braids vs viking braids. White people really have to force their hair into those styles, while those are the styles that keep coily and kinky hair healthy. Black people are not one culture, and no one is saying that only Nigerians can braid their hair and that Jamaicans can't because they belong to a different culture. Let's be honest with our definitions here.
The origins of dreadlocks can be traced back to ancient cultures around the world. The earliest written evidence of dreadlocks dates back to between 2500 and 1500 BC: the God Shiva and his followers are described as jaTaa, meaning « wearing knots of tangled hair ». They are also found among ancient Egyptians, Buddhist monks in India, Māori warriors in New Zealand and Maasai tribes in East Africa, for example. For these cultures, dreadlocks were often a sign of spiritual connection, wisdom and belonging to a community. But that’s not all! In Mexico, a Mesoamerican people wore dreadlocks between the 14th and 16th centuries. Among the Wolofs in Senegal, locks were worn by kings and the Tiedo warrior class. Celtic and Viking peoples also wore them. In short, dreadlocks have been adopted by many peoples around the world for thousands of years.
OP didn’t say they were to protect their hair it was because they adored the hairstyle, and nobody said dreadlocks or braids are strictly from or for black culture braids and dreadlocks are very multicultural
This definition of dreads is a very loose one, considering vikings were explicitly stated to wear braids and have "snakes for hair". Since I've already mentioned that white straight hair doesn't lock without oil or product and the vikings were known for cleanliness, I have to naturally assume that they meant messy braids. It was never explicitly stated that viking ever had dreads from any historical sources. As I said, everyone can braid their hair, but box braids and dreads are of a particular significance and historical background. Indian people can also have curly hair, and their hair can naturally lock, as some of them have 4c hair and India can be just as far south as Africa.