Saturday 18 May 2013

Natural Hair Thoughts

I am a deep thinker and for a while now a few things have been on my mind in relation to natural hair. Before I started my journey, I was totally oblivious to the stigma surrounding natural hair. Since I've decided to transition, my eyes have opened to a lot of things. Bear in mind I'm 21 now and spent 13/14 years natural, 6/7 years relaxed, and 13months transitioning. Back in my primary school days we used terms such as 'Picky Head', which proves that comments regarding hair is nothing new. This term was normally aimed at boys/girls with messy hair more than being texture related. Where there was a sense of innocence in the name calling from my preteen days, this 'excuse' cannot be used for the derogative comments I hear/read aimed at people with natural hair, by adults! This negativity is not so much aimed at me personally but I still feel somewhat saddened when I hear about it. This is not a relaxer vs natural debate or even a debate at all, just me sharing my thoughts. One of the remarks that I often hear is the ever popular; "natural hair won't suit me" line. This makes no sense to me whatsoever, we are not talking about an item of clothing or even a bold haircut! I fail to understand how hair that naturally grows out your scalp cannot not suit your face. For me, it's more of "natural hair  will not suit how you want to look" and that's something completely different. If you feel that natural hair does not suit your lifestyle, no problem, just like no one has the right to tell you what shoes to wear, no one has the right to tell you how to wear your hair. The biggest shocker for me though is not so much what people had to say about their own hair, but the the hate geared from other individuals towards them. I've heard/read comments such as 'carpet head' , references to the colour purple, comments suggesting to 'slap a perm on'.... and so on. I was always told 'if you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all'. As people we should build each other up, not push each other down. All hair is beautiful, whether it be  straight, wavy, curly or kinky. I'm tired of hearing about how natural hair looks 'unkept'. Who decided that straight hair looked 'kept' in the first place? If you've been on the end of negativity, don't take it too personal, tranform it into motivation for reaching your goals. I always try to remember  "If you live off man’s compliments you’ll die from his criticism." Cornelius Lindsey. To end I just want to tell you that you're beautiful!

4 comments:

  1. Agreed! Nice article! I especially agree with the part about people saying that natural hair is not for everyone. It's more like everyone is not for natural hair. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks for reading and thanks for stopping by

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  2. I truly believe in everyone have their own preference, and I think we should respect one another either way: Natural or Permed.
    I just wish that society will stop regarding our natural state of our hair as a problem or unruly...soon and I believe people like you and others in the natural community (including myself) are making it reality

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  3. I agree with you 100%. I believe that society's view of natural hair is slowly changing. Thanks for your input and thanks for stopping by.

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