As a new member to the natural hair community, I wasn’t aware of the backlash I would receive for wearing my natural hair. I believe all hair is beautiful whether it’s straight, natural, braided, sewn in etc., the versatility of black hair intrigues me. Unfortunately, my peers don’t often feel the same way.
Now, I expected for white people to be confused, because not all of them had been exposed to natural hair.
What I didn’t expect was the negative stigma of natural hair from my black community.
My natural hair started off short, I had recently cut it. When I decided to stop putting heat in it I had just taken out my last sew in. My mother and father were very supportive, mostly because my mom has sister locks and my dad loves natural hair.
In the beginning of the process I struggled with accepting MY hair. I would watch YouTube videos and see all the beautiful women with defined curls and want to be them. (I didn’t yet understand hair textures, or that I would have to work 10x as hard to get those defined curls). I would spend so much money on products that did nothing for my hair, because others told me they would work. I would cry because I felt ugly with natural hair, and had to talk myself out of quitting almost every other day.
The question I was asked the most often during this period of time was “Imani, why don’t you just do your hair?”
I found this question very ironic since I spent about an hour and a half washing, conditioning, moisturing, and twising/bantu knotting/ whatever other style I came up with, weekly.
So, to answer all those who may be wondering why I don’t “do my hair”, I’ll answer that for you.
But first, let’s look deeper into the question of “doing hair”.
To do something is to “perform an act/duty.” I.e, wash, deep condition, moisturize, flexi rod, etc.
Therefore, all my lovely peers who would like to know why I don’t do my hair, I ACTUALLY DO!
I spend large amounts of money, extend an exuberant amount of time, and put 100% of my energy into keeping up with my natural hair. From styling, to moisturizing, natural hair is no joke!
So, to consider natural hair, “not done”, is not fair to those of us who put our time, effort and love into our hair.
The stigma behind natural hair is sad, especially within the Black community.
Natural hair doesn’t mean hair that isn’t done. It means hair that isn’t chemically altered or straightened. Once we understand that, then we can say that we are in a time of full acceptance of natural hair.
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