How would he do this?
> Now, I've got this image in my head of a big burly Helemakti
> warrior, after a hard day saving the world, he goes home, sits
> by the hearth, and puts his curlers in.
"Perms" are a modern invention and involve, as far as I know, a chemical process. (Yet another use for trollking urine?)
Also sheep's fleeces are not as "fluffy" as you might think; they're actually quite thick, matted, and dense.
I suggest the most likely course is to tease the hair and involve the use of wax (beeswax most likley, thanks to almighty Minlister) to produce a felted 'dreadlock' look. I'm not entirely sure how dreads are produced, but I believe it uses low-tech materials (wax or oil) rather than the more modern processes used in "permanent waving".
[ Addendum: "google dreadlocks" turns up <http://www.dreadlocks.com> with a great, short intro to dread methods, and products.
I now know that you can make dreads by teasing (i.e. backcombing), and by using wax to "hold the hair together and facilitate the locking process". I suspect that what the backcombing does is pry back the artichoke like flaps on the hair follicles to facilitate "locking" or felting.
Apparently, you can get dreads through a chemical process, just as you would with "perming" but it's expensive, and "not natural".
There's a link to a history section, but no information there (and the site's two years old, so there probably never will be).
I can probably learn more direct information about how caucasian (Helerite?) hair responds to dreading, as we have a woman in my department who's been dreading her hair for about two years now. If anyone's interested in pursuing this arcane topic. ]
-- V.
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