Before I posted anything, I wanted to see everyone else's views. I think that braids are ok as long as they are well kept. However my struggle comes in defining "well-kept" in a professional sense. We all know that we are referring to "lint balls, etc." but there is still a fine line (for instance, someone may disagree with a braided hairstyle and attempt to use the "well kept" rule as a guideline). I recently saw someone at work that sat down and while he worked began to unbraid his hair, then proceeded to walk around all day with half of his head undone. This is the 2nd time that I've seen someone do this. I wanted to say something to him, but we currently do not have anything in our dresscode that prevents it (HR issue), although I feel it is totally unacceptable for several reasons:
1) It looks very unprofessional.
2) It appeared to be very unhygenic. He was picking and rolling lint balls. I also have braids, but please...

It angered me because we have made great strides in this style being acceptable in corporate America and here he was confirming all of the misconceptions that people have.
Even though I didn't have the words to say, I still made sure to shoot him the evil eye
every now and again http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/mad.gif . When he came in the next day, his hair was neatly rebraided.

In college, I dated a guy who wore dreadlocks. Whew...I had a little flashback for a second there. There is something very sexy about a man with some well maintained dreads. I used to love to...oh, I won't go there...

Now, when I see dreadlocks on a man, the first thing coming to my mind is not "professionalism". However, it all depends on the person. That particular man that I dated in college still wears his dreads to this day. He was a genious back in college, he went on to MIT for his master's degree in actuary science and is now very successfull in his corporate career. For him, his dreads mean something very spiritual. I can't fault a brother on that. They are very well maintained. So, for the right man, they can fit very well. Just for me, I can't get my mind off the sexiness of them. I don't think I could ever sit down in the boardroom with a fine dreadlocked brother and be able to concentrate.

I want to add my two cents in on this discussion. I feel that everyone is right on this subject. I love to see men in dreds; locks, twists, etc. if they are nice and neat. Not like Coolio's or Busta Rhymes. That is ridiculous. But I guess people wear their hair in a way that fits their demeanor. This is only a guess. My husband has a nicely shaped head for twists, dreds, and cornrows. I have tried a many of times to get him to have his hair done, but he likes the low cut look that goes into a goatee, and it looks good. He put me in mind of a black Jon. B. by the way he has his goatee shaped.