When I did the Big Chop I had no idea that there was in-fact a Global Natural Hair Movement until a year later when I stumbled across something related on the Internet and for a full year I did not serve my hair right.
The day I went to the Salon to chop off my hair will always be etched in my memory as that day the barber earnestly begged me not to cut off my hair. He asked if my hubby had agreed with this...HUH? and I replied "Thankfully I am single so chop off will you" ? (and even If I was married my mind was made up and no one was going to convince me otherwise)..The barber hesitated and he went as far as offering to relax my hair on credit if I didn't have money to pay for a relaxer. The assumption was always and still is that people only chop off relaxed hair when they are too broke to pay for a relaxer.
I was obviously touched by his kindness, here I was a total stranger being offered a "free" hair processing but what he didn't get was that this was not what I wanted to do with my hair. To me the big chop symbolised the beginning of a new era in my life. I have gone back and forth from relaxed to natural countless times but at that time I knew deep inside me that never again would my hair be chemically straightened and that my decision to keep my tresses natural was permanent.
Prior to going to the barber I had relaxed my hair with Dr Miracles relaxer kit and it looked straight and silky and no matter the nice compliments I got I wasn't sold on my own hair. This was because this sleek, silky hair came at a painful price. For as long as I can remember I always had sores and wounds after a relaxer which took time to heal. No matter how mild a relaxer was my scalp got burnt! I have tried the Dark and Lovely children's relaxer kit and it also burnt my scalp, but it was supposed to be for kids SENSITIVE scalps! I asked myself over and over if it was really worth it, was my hair meant to be fried? The way God's nature designed my hair was it meant to be manipulated chemically, so you can imagine the sense of pride I had when I discovered there was a movement dedicated to natural hair of a people who are embracing their kinks.
I wasn't looking for anything hair related when I came across this page https://www.facebook.com/
I in-boxed the page administrator LeAnne Dolce based in Atlanta, for tips on natural hair care, she was very helpful and to this day she remains my true inspiration, she told me words I will cherish. The pictures on the page and the page title itself gave me a good feeling, to realise that I really wasn't alone and that there was nothing strange about natural hair, though uncommon. All I saw on that page were pictures of people with breathtaking hair all natural, the versatility of our hair just blew me away. LeAnne gave me pointers on which websites to look at she was not particularly in the actual hair care but hers was a lifestyle magazine celebrating black natural hair.
So I began a journey that was to be the most exciting, fulfilling and rewarding, a journey of loving, and taking care of my kinks. I also made a decision not to install weaves in my hair because that was not the aesthetic I was trying to achieve. My journey was not at all romantic because I met a lot of challenges trying to get my hair care regimen right. The saddest part was that most people around me did not approve. It began the day I came from the barber with an almost bald head everyone in the house I lived didn't hide their disapproval. They said Natural hair made me look poor, some said I looked village(country) as if there is anything wrong with looking country. Yes unfortunately that is what our own hair is associated with,(undesirability) but gladly more and more people are changing this mindset.
The most painful for me was an incident that happened here in Johannesburg at the church I was attending at that time. Here I was with wet locks on my hair(achieved by rubbing a towel on damp hair) at a church event. I thought I looked glamorous and was serving all kinds of gorgeous with my kinks until the pastor passed by me and pulled my hair angrily. He was horrified that I would come to church looking "like that". I couldn't understand what was wrong with my hair because it was not, but the struggle of hating our own features is real with many people, and that struggle is transferred to a people's religion.
He gave me a real stern lecture and these were his words "so you have decided to walk around like a mad woman"? He asked me If I was working because to him only broke or mad people would have my kind of hairstyle, so he assumed I had lost my job. In most African Pentecostal churches locks are associated with the demonic or destitution. Today I will challenge anyone who thinks like that with two questions: How is something that grows out of my scalp demonic? So these so called demons wait until someone's hair is locked up before they can occupy?
This perspective is sad, pathetic and downright ignorant, but it has a lot to do with the mental conditioning about our features that black people have been subjected to for generations.
Fast forward to today I am still enjoying my kinks and I now know a whole lot that qualifies me to be a guru in this area and I am still learning. I have influenced some people to embrace their kinks and I get satisfaction with that. I did not go natural I returned natural because that it where it all began.
 |
| November 2012 |
No comments:
Post a Comment