"You gotta have long hair.. you gotta have straight hair.. it's gotta flow like Becky's"
So it's coming up on month 4 or so of having natural, untainted, unprocessed, natural hair.. So far I'm loving the journey, and my hair is growing wild and free like a weed, it's really gaining length! Women wearing their hair natural has been demonized by some, saying it’s a political statement, unfeminine, unprofessional and whatever. Many people have asked me why on earth I cut off all my hair and started over, so I've decided to finally document my hair restoration.
There are a few reasons why I decided to once and for all do away with the relaxers and weaves.
Reason 1- The history of relaxers.
Reason 2- Because I feel beautiful just the way I was created.
I won't go so far as to say getting weaves and perms are a sign of self hate, but many of us are influenced by the images we see on a daily basis that society considers beautiful. Many of the black women on the big screen and in the music industry have a real European flavor. Their hair is long and silky, usually straight or with loose waves. In my opinion, by processing our hair, we are making the statement that we are not satisfied with our God given curls and coils. I was 'lyed' to at a young age and depended heavily on perms and weaves to feel beautiful for many years. Now I feel like a weight has been lifted. My hair is low maintenance and I'm saving alot of money by not having to go to the salon every two weeks for up-keep. As silly as this sounds, giving up my weave is one of the most liberating things I have ever done. I dare you to take me as I am.Reason 3- Just for the basic health of of my hair!
I don't think most people understand how a relaxer works.. it makes a chemically induced molecular change in the structure of your hair.. When people go to the store and buy a relaxer or go to the salon, in effect, you are paying to have your hair damaged. You are DAMAGING YOUR HAIR STRAIGHT. It cannot be reversed and the chemicals are extremely harsh, even if you use a no-lye relaxer. If you've ever had a hair perm, you probably noticed a strong chemical smell in the salon, and maybe some minor hair loss or sensitivity once the treatment was done. My hair had suffered greatly from chemical relaxers.. I had breakage and dryness.. now my hair is silky, thick, shiny and beautiful."But... weave attracts MEN!!"
When I decided to go natural, I was worried about how I would look.. I contemplated on it for a month and finally decided to love myself. After the big chop, I sent out the picture to a few fellows and got some pretty negative reactions from some. It made me want to immediately run out and get a weave since apparently my real hair was garbage. I decided to stick with it because no other opinion matters more than my own. I also had to consider the 'type' of men that I was dealing with.. if a man prefers a black woman to have fake ass hair that is NOT indigenous to black women then he needs to reevaluate himself, not me. No need to try to trivialize it. Why would someone PREFER black women to have a hair type that they cannot grow? We wear weaves and straighten our hair to escape our African features and if black women wear weave to escape their African features, then black men must date, marry, and love these kinds of women for the same reason. I've said it once and I'll say it again- Black men women work TOGETHER to perpetuate white supremacy but spend valuable time blaming each other.
On the other hand, reactions were definitely not ALL negative. It's amazing the different caliber of men I seem to be attracting these days. Men who prefer Barbies with bundles of weave and more make-up than Sephora are missing a certain necessary element that I can't explain. I've noticed that men who have a preference for low maintenance natural women are seemingly more sophisticated.
All things considered, I don't regret a thing. I love myself and what you see is what you get.
