Hair Love is Self Love
“We don’t go “natural”, we return. “Natural” is where it began. -Unknown
African American women have long had a very complicated relationship with their hair. They had been taught to view it as a negative asset. They were taught for years that to be beautiful they had to cover it up or to torture it with heat and chemicals to make it behave and look like the straight silky locks on the heads of Caucasian women. This was the definition of beauty for many years.
In the last 20 years there has been a slow and steady growth of women who have decided to change that narrative. Some African Americans, men and women have decided that beauty cannot be dictated solely by Caucasian standards and they have dared to take a look at their natural hair and recognize it for the strength and versatility that it holds. They have dared others to say that it is not a beautiful crown that they are wearing or that it is not professional.
I remember wanting in elementary school to have my mother “relax” my hair, so that I could wear it in straight styles. When she finally caved in, I remember loving it. I could now swing my hair like the white girls. I was able to wear any style my white peers could. What I couldn’t do however was get it wet. The rain became my enemy. Then there was the sleeping in rollers, not comfortable, but necessary if I was to have certain styles (this…
