* Hair is Dead Once It Leaves the Follicle: Hair is made of keratin, a protein. The only "living" part of your hair is within the hair follicle under your scalp, where new cells are produced. Once the hair strand emerges from the follicle, it is composed of dead cells.
* Dreadlocks Don't Change This: The process of creating and maintaining dreadlocks involves matting and interlocking the dead hair strands together. This doesn't revive the hair or make it "alive."
* New Growth: Of course, new hair continues to grow from the scalp, so your dreadlocks will contain hair of varying lengths, all of which is dead once it emerges from the scalp.
In summary, all hair that you can see is dead, whether it's in a dreadlock, loose, long, short, etc.