While dreadlocks aren't literally a black-exclusive hairstyle, that's very clearly the standard in popular US culture. It's important to remember that people w

While dreadlocks aren't literally a black-exclusive hairstyle, that's very clearly the standard in popular US culture. It's important to remember that people with afro-textured hair have an extremely short list of what could be considered even moderately 'low effort' hairstyles. Of these, most of them are considered to be black haristyles. You've mostly got afros, cornrows, braids, twists/twist outs, dreads, and a bunch of super-short cuts. That's a pretty short and inflexible list, and a few of those aren't what you'd usually see on guys. Most styles you see are combinations of the above, a product of (expensive and really bad-for-your-hair) chemical and heat treatments, or simply artificial (!). As a property of being considered black hairstyles, dreads/box braids/cornrows are often considered unprofessional. Lots of people will call them 'ghetto' and you'll probably get comments when wearing them for events/school/whatever if you're not in a very black community. Dreads in particular get criticized for being 'dirty' (though this is not an exclusively black phenomenon). Hair can be an incredible sore spot for black people. Black girls spend a huge amount of time and effort trying to make their hair look 'acceptable' (aka white) because mainstream culture tells them their hair, isn't and can't be beautiful. Black people are often verbally and physically harassed on the street by white people who think it's a novelty. It's not possible to honestly talk about perceived 'cultural appropriation' without acknowledging the power dynamics there. When dreads are one of the few ways to manage your hair that don't involve a lot of hair-pulling and time, it's really obnoxious to see white celebs get praised for them when you can't even go through any predominantly white area with ANY black hairstyle without getting unwanted comments, hair touching/pulling, whatever. It just comes off as arrogant white tourism.