Black Girl Hair.....So There! (excuse the rant!)

Okay so I have to chime in with my 35 cents now. There seems to be a phenomenon going around, and quietly it's what I have prayed for for a while. Every one is talking about natural hair or 'going natural' transitioning from perms to natural cuts to braids and cornrows and locs. It's beautiful and annoying all at the same time. I love to see elder sistahrs walking gloriously with natural hair. That is the example!

Truthfully, the faddishness(is that even a word?) is getting on my nerves in a way. Folks walking up to me trying to give me advice on my hair and what I 'need' to do to my hair. Urrh?! I have been 'natrual' for 23 years now and I have had it all at this point. I kinda know what to do with this hair! Plus, I have only really let one person consistently touch my hair, she even cornrowed my locs back when alot of these 'loctitians' were still getting perms in high school(umjussayin). Styles I did almost 15 years ago, natural stylists are just now doing.  Not to mention starting several folks' locs. Toot-toot(that was the sound of "my own horn")! Save it!

It's just as ridiculous as this video and the countless others like it, although I hear  and see a lot worse things. Sadly, there are some things in it that ring true.                                                                      

                                                                               This is just one example.

Anyway, my intention was to talk about my journey and mash up some of this elitist bullshit about folks going natural that I have observed for the past 5 or so years.That's only because I actually never paid any attention before, except for the extra attention I got when I had locs. What I do know is...that my journey as a freshman in college began with a fresh perm and ended with clippers. After I hot curled my hair and the curlers rolled down and burned my face, I vowed never to do it again. I shaved my head the next day.  That was in 1988.





Miss Criminal Justice 1988

Folks wasn't ready, I was fortunate enough to be in a crew of folks that appreciated it. Even though I got all kinds of responses, I also had the baddest female barber in the city carving symbols and signs onto this head-canvas. Then I started locking, that was another ballgame, the association with locs and brown girls was Whoopie Goldberg and Tracy Chapman. I got serenaded countless times, with Fast Car. It was in those moments when I would send up that prayer and envision everybody wearing locs. Real talk.  Now you can't go one block without seeing your everyday folk with locs, which I believe is the root of some of this madness.

 Back then, along with cultivating your roots(locs) came some responsibility. The ability to tune in with those antennae; to get a heightened sense of all that was around you. I had nuff elders around me, that affirmed that it wasn't a game. We were taught to stay upful and right, then you got respect. You could have any job  you wanted without dealing with 'other peoples' hair issues. You didn't worry about what anyone said. You could rock a headwrap like no one else, even to work! The cultural connection was necessary; Rasta, Afrocentric, Pan-Africanist, Black Muslim or just a rebel against the power structure. It used to mean something!


So as I am  cultivating a new set of locs on my daughter, I have to make sure she is aware of the responsibility. Nothing heavy(wink-wink), just the Mau Mau spirit that she carries with wearing them. When I asked her what she thought about having locs, she simply said she was representing her parents and her people. And that she didn't want the comb anymore(LOL. I think that part was already established). Not too shabby for a 9 year-old, huh?



http://herbnlife.myshopify.com/collections/hair-care



Before the full commercialization of the natural hair industry, weren't there folks natural and loving it? Were they not using natural products, made at home too? For one there was no 'product' out there for them. I think it is over the top now. What grade of hair you have determines what products are used on your hair. It's all pretty scientific and all. Chile, when I had locs I just used what my Granny used...grease! Old school Ultra Sheen Hair Food and water! I have tried some of the brands, friends have given me this one or that one that doesn't work on their hair. Back in the late 80's and 90's you wasn't doing it unless you used Kemi-oil. It wasn't special, it just smelled good. I still stick to that rule, if it smells good that's what I want to use. I use this lovely grease, Coconut Hemp. It smells delicious and I l-o-v-e it!

So to all the dredlocked divas, the natural hair dolls, queens and those who haphazardly are wearing natural hair and are members of the natural hair support groups and whatnot. I applaud you! You could be meeting about so many others things and formulating sisterly bonds over much more trivial things, and most of all you could be having all this dialog about something way farther out....but you don't. You are helping to perpetuate another standard of beauty. You are complimenting your sistahrs naps rather than ridiculing them. You are being bold about your choice. You are 'stepping to the bad side'!

So please be more considerate of each other, and let's keep the assumptions about our sister's hair journey to ourselves.  Continue cultivating relationships with each other based on something more than hair. It's a great starting point, but we are so much more! Whether it's permed, bleached, colored, braided, whigged, 21-piece, lace-front or whatever the many layers we take on our journey, 'it's not what's on it, it's what's in it'.  Inspire her!

India Arie f/ Pink

 

For those considering the alternative or are looking for more:

Books on African History:

Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebi

The Healers & Two Thousand Seasons- Ayi Kwei Armah

Rasta & Resistance- Horace Campbell

Ratarfari: Roots & Ideology- Barry Chevannes

The Philosophy & Opinions of Marcus Garvey- Tony Martin

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa- Sir Walter Rodney

Assata- Assata Shakur

Race First- Tony Martin

They Came Before Columbus & Golden Age of the Moor- Dr. Ivan Van Sertima

Destruction of  Black Civilization- Dr. Chancellor Williams

Isis Papers- Dr. Frances Cress Welsing

Black Man of the Nile- Dr. Josef ben-Jochanan

Stolen Legacy- George G.M. James

An Introduction to African Civilization- John G. Jackson

Nature Knows No Color Line- J.A. Rogers

African World Revolution- Dr. John Henrik Clarke

Kikuyu Women,The Mau Mau Rebellion, & Social Change- Cora Ann Presley

Sundiata- D. T, Niane

(THIS LIST IS BY NO MEAN EXHAUSTIVE, BOLD TITLES ARE MY PERSONAL FAVORITES)

Natural Hair Connections:

www.naturalhair.meetup.com

I found this list in Clutch Magazine Online: http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2009/04/natural-hair-online-support-groups/  

A crown, if it hurts us, is not worth wearing.

-Pearl Bailey