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Why I Went Natural
I stopped relaxing my hair in January of 2004. It was after I had to take a semester off from school because I couldn’t pay the tuition. I don’t know if it was because my hair was the only thing I had control of at the time or if I just didn’t feel like dealing with it; but which ever it was going natural was the best thing I’ve ever done.
You never realize how important something like hair is, how it shapes who you are, how much it affects your self esteem until you have taken your hair out of its “comfort zone”. For as long as I can remember I’ve had a perm, and I’ve never had hair issues or I never thought I had hair issues. No one made fun of me because my hair was “nappy” or “kinky”. If anything I never heard these words in reference to my hair until I went natural. I gradually heard these things and being Ghanaian I heard other things that black culture may not be so privy to. For instance my aunt telling me I look like a Gollywog or Motalewaa -a Gollywog is similar to a gremlin or troll in African culture and Motalewaa is equivalent to the folk tale Americans know as Rumpelstiltskin. Read More
It was to the point that, if my hair was not done, I wasn’t going to school. Go out in public in-between micro braids, NEVER! What would people say if they saw how short and nappy my hair was? I would look like a slave.
Extreme, of course not—ask any black girl! My close friend thought I was crazy. “Get over your self,” she rudely yelled, “it is just hair”! Her annoyance made me question my concerns. How could she understand? SHE was Black and Puerto Rican. She had good hair, she could wet her hair, apply gel and look flawless. All the boys showed their interest. I on the other hand needed my hair to be fixed, it grew-in broken.Read More
