Hair That Defies Gravity

 You are beautiful just the way you are, be comfortable in your own skin, be confident and proud of who you are, your hair is beautiful. These are statements that we hear too often, so much that you would think it is true until you try to live up to the bold decision of being comfortable in your own skin. Only then will you realize that our society is not ready for that kind of boldness and confidence. A black woman being comfortable in her own skin and hair will always get the stares and comments that are not usually pleasant all the time.

Personally, I was blessed with beautiful black African kinky hair and if you are from my family, it starts right from the forehead very close to the eyebrows which is something that I am usually teased about. During my days of ignorance, I used to treat my hair with chemicals not to imply that there is something wrong with putting chemical to your hair. I was under the impression that if I relax my hair then it will become soft, straight and more manageable after all that was the only type of beautiful hair that was presented to us by the adoptive culture industry and society at large. Beautiful hair only refereed to hair that was relaxed and straightened.

Unfortunately for me, the chemical did more damage than good to my hair. The desired sleek look would only last for a few days, a week at most then my hair would go back to its natural state not to mention that it was difficult to trace the growth and length of my hair as it would continuously break. 

Years down the line my sister encouraged me to transition to natural hair. I was hesitant at first but I finally gave in. The journey was not easy but the end result was worth it, I finally fell in love with my natural hair. I got to learn how to take care of my hair in its natural state and trust me it required a lot of patience considering the nature of my hair but eventually it all paid off. I finally realized that in order for my natural hair to flourish I had to learn how best I could take care of it, style it and the right products for my hair and most importantly I had to have patience and trust me a woman needs to be patient.

In no time I was flaunting my natural hair, proud of the black African hair that defies gravity, the black crown that one can never take off but can wear in different forms.  I was happy for going natural and finally embracing my hair in the state that God made it but for some reason a part of society was not ready and this you could tell from the rude comments and the stares that you would get from people. 

Believe you me my hair is truly African, the type of hair with volume that would make an enormous bun and is bound to get the attention of many when you wear it in an updo. Walking in the street people would look at you funny like it was some sort of a crime not to want any relaxers in your hair. Togadzira musoro here rhetoric inquisitions by pavement hairdressers in the city are the most conspicuous sign that natural hair is still far away from being embraced as beautiful.

I have had a number of encounters with discrimination or pure ignorance with friends and strangers towards my natural hair from people touching my hair without my permission, hairdressers having no clue on how to deal with my crown and a lot of people asking when I am going to relax my hair because with its state it would become really beautiful if it was relaxed. What happened to being confident in your own skin if we have to apply relaxers to our hair for it to be beautiful. Because of the volume of my hair at some point I was not able to wash it on my own so I had to go to the salon. After two or three visits to the saloon my hairdresser confessed that she would feel tired every time I booked an appointment because of the texture of my hair. I have had encounters with hairdressers who wanted to charge me double because of that same reason.

This simply means that all those sentiments about African women being beautiful in their natural state is not entirely true. People are not ready to embrace natural hair from the hairdressers, corporate world and the general populace. If you are to go for a job interview with your natural hair it might be considered as a sign of uncleanliness. A woman having her hair beaded or coiled in various African threading styles popularly known as mabhanzi where I come from is laughed at or considered to be less classy and a sign of poverty.

It is high time that women should be allowed to embrace their natural hair in all its versatility nicely and proudly. Women are beautiful regardless of the fact that they have natural hair or wearing a wig. Straight and sleek hair does not define our beauty and it is up to us to choose our own kind of beautiful because all hair is good hair.

For me and my other sisters who have chosen to join the natural hair movement, our hair isn’t stressed so does not need a relaxer.

Feministry!