Going Natural

You may have noticed, there seems to be more black women sporting their natural hair. Well, I seem to have just noticed so I don't know where I've been.

I will try to stop myself from making this into another natural hair blog. There are many good ones out there. See this one, or this other one for good examples. and several black women have documented their transitions on YouTube. This lady is one of my favorites.

I am more interested in exploring what is driving this new mass acceptance that our natural hair is an option. (Please, someone do a doctoral dissertation on this.)

Let's be frank, many of us did not grow up being told that our natural hair is an option. I learned early on to look forward to getting a relaxer as a rite of passage into adult womanhood. I also learned that it is far more acceptable to have straight, long, flowing hair than anything else. On several occasions, I have walked into a salon to get my hair cut only to be turned away by the black women hair stylists who refuse to cut the long, flowing hair believing that I must be having a nervous breakdown that will not culminate in their chair. For some of us, if the hair is not bone straight and fried, then there's no happiness.

A close friend of mine said she believes it is men who drive this madness with straight hair as the only acceptable option for black women. But Mme. C.J. Walker made a fortune selling straightening products to black women so she was certainly a driving force. Check out your microfilm editions of some old magazines for a better idea how ubiquitous these products have been for some time. Regardless of who is responsible, it is hard to break this cycle.

Nearly all of my friends who are black women have natural hair. They come in all forms: teeny weeny afros or Twas, locks, sistalocks, bigger afros, twists, flat twists...everything you can think of. Who knew!!! We have so many options other than the relaxer and we are still discovering more.

So why go natural, and why now? My take. No one is making a political statement. But let's consider the reality for some of us who are pros. Relaxers--every six to eight weeks, hunting for who will do your perm, palpitations when you (or your stylist) have to move out of town, chemical burns from the relaxer, hair snapping off from all the processing, winter months, bad water, swimming, rain, working out...all of these things and more are simply exhausting. A lifetime of having to put up with this starts to feel like torture. Now, I am not under any illusion about natural hair requiring no maintenance. It requires work, but somehow, it is respite from all these relaxer-driven issues. Plus one can flat iron their hair straight when that style is what you desire.

Moreover, I have not heard, ever, of any one of these physicians, attorneys, dentists, college professors, and administrator friends of mine getting fired because their hair is natural. I will post their pictures--with their permission--when available. Ultimately, this is liberation that is cause for celebration.