African women wearing their beautiful hairstyles.
The black woman’s hair has been a topic of debate for centuries. A lot has changed over time on how our hair is perceived both by black people and non-black people. I decided to pen down this write up to draw attention to this topic as it has become uncomfortable to talk about over the years but no matter what someone must address the politics and general issues surrounding our natural hair right?
It is well known that black people are also called “colored people” because of how we all vary in complexion. Just like we vary in complexion, so do we vary in hair texture. They can be divided into various categories such as 2a,2b,3a,3b,3c,4a,4b and 4c of which the higher it goes, the thicker it becomes. Our diversity makes us very beautiful. We come in different skin color, texture and culture. Nowadays black people’s hair has become political or should I say controversial to discuss about for lots of reasons.
Having been through slavery and colonialism for centuries, so much had happened to our minds as black people of which one of the major changes was to go through a disconnect with our past and a broken self-esteem. Years and years of torture from colonialists or slave masters can mess one’s head up except they are extremely strong minded. Even the strong minded can be broken because we’re all human after all. Post colonial/slavery era came with remnants from that period which means we had to deal with our hair being demonized from schools, churches or the workplaces. The issue is more common in black women which from research I realized it began in the United States where young black girls at school were sent home for braiding or keeping their natural hair, black women in entertainment can’t braid because someone thinks it’s too black and they are likely not to get noticed. The cooperate world also had rules like that to ensure that as a black woman, you either relax or fix a weave or don’t show up at all.
These things happen and you wonder, why you can’t be adorned in your natural hairstyles. Relaxers and weaves then came into the picture and overtime, it became normal to put them on our heads to feel beautiful. I know you’ll be wondering how the use of relaxers and weaves became popular in Africa and the answer is simple. The media is very powerful and with Hollywood being the biggest entertainment industry worldwide, the impact they have all over the world spreads like a ripple effect. It’s no surprise as to why black people and women in particular got inspired by black American celebrities on TV and began to imitate them from their accent to dressing, behavior and then hairstyles.
Yes I know, everyone has a right to do what they want and wear weaves if they want to but the real issues surrounding controversial topics like this must be talked about and someone just has to do it. Even the relaxers are known to contain cancer causing agents, burns the hair and causes baldness but we are adults so I believe everyone should know what suits them. Then again, people may not be educated on these things. So what if my lending my voice to these issues causes someone to research and begin to use natural hair products, fruits and essential oils for hair treatments and moisture retention.
I think that’ll be cool isn’t it? A lot has happened in the past that has made us black women look down on our hair. It’s our duty to be numb to so called “good hair” or “bad hair” comments and focus on the future to avoid damage on our hair. We can learn to take care of our hair and be proud of it, can’t we? Oh yes!!! Let’s go further by supporting natural hair businesses that are genuine and giving great results so that our young black girls can be very confident about their natural and God given wooly textured Afro crown of glory!!!!
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