Championing the naturalista movement within my community (immediate family and friends) has to be one of the successful things I have done.
Having a fine hair texture has left me no choice other than to leave my hair in it’s natural state. I’m known to be the one that experiments with various styles and looks, ranging from dreadlocks to haircut to relaxed hair.
I decided to go natural five years ago when I couldn’t stand my broken relaxed hair anymore. To be honest, I was hoping I would have the huge FRO that most of us see on the internet. However, it never happened for me but my hair has been in it’s healthiest state. The bad news is I am limited to hairstyles and I can’t be bothered to style my natural hair properly.
Recently, I have been feeling the urge to straighten my hair with chemicals due to the versatility it offers which of course comes with a price, DAMAGE! I just want to comb my hair and put it in a bun without having a headache or spending hours to get the perfect sleek bun.
The problem is I am having a guilt trip about the repercussions of having a damaged hair or even getting shamed by people for not being proud of my natural hair. Also, I wonder what the people I have converted to the naturalista life think of this idea.
The truth is I wear weaves most times due to the time required to style my 4C hair. The only time I rock it is when I am holidaying on the beach or exploring cities.
There are a lot of politics and policing surrounding black hair. When I was in high school, the girls in my school all had low cut. Some say it was to make them look less attractive to the opposite sex and some argued it was because it was easy to manage. I agree with the latter.
Also, I once saw a documentary where a school wanted a poor black child to cut off his dread locks because it doesn’t conform to the rules of the school which I find ridiculous.
In some part of the word, the Afro is considered as one making a statement to be resistant to white supremacy and braids is considered ghetto. I keep thinking why are people are so dramatic. It’s just hair and part of our features as black people. It should never be that serious. We didn’t choose the type of hair we were created with. And what if there were no products to “tame it” would we walk around bald-headed?
I just believe it’s a type of conformity to another race standard of beauty. Again, beauty is universal and we can all be our own kind of beautiful.
I am aware of all the debates and conversations that goes on as a result of our hair and I am choosing to relax my hair because my hair is versatile and I can do anything I want it to do with it. It has nothing to do with me trying to conform to anyone standard of beauty or another gender sexualizing my hair. I am comfortable in my BLACKNESS.
I am looking forward to creating different styles, eventually wearing my hair low cut and growing my fro back in couple of years.
