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Coming from a large family, populated by mostly women, hair is discussed on a daily basis. My earliest member is being 4 or 5 walking to my grandmother’s house to get my hair pressed. I can still full the excitement and fear in my chest. Excited because getting my hair pressed meant something important was happening, and fear because the plan was to put something that had sat on top of a hot burner in my head. And getting burner was a reality, because I could never keep still. That was one reason that my hair pressing sessions got passed on to my grandmother, she was the best at it and had the most patience with me.
I was thinking about this recently because I saw the same excitement in my niece’s eyes a few days ago.
But something was every different. She was excited about getting her hair corn braided with beads. She could not wait to see the style her mother had selected and the color of beads that would adorn her head. And this made me think, what is different about her hair experience that a natural style would give her the same excitement that I felt as a child when I was to have my hair straightened.
Next Generation of Natural Hair
What will this new revolution of Black women embracing their natural hair on a much larger scale then the past mean for the next generation? Will the roles be reversed, will future generation talk of their hair stories with the same passion, and will natural mothers judge their daughter that has decided to relax their hair.
I have had countless conversations about why I have chosen to go, return, and stay natural. Conversation with a woman that in her youth wore a natural, but can not understand today why her child would want to.
Is it the choice or transformation that makes being natural feel so liberating? (answer below) I have a cousin that has never relaxed her hair, and for her it does not have the same meaning as it does for me. It is a part of her everyday, often making comments that I normal hair from sisters with relaxed hair. She is unsure if she could manage relaxed hair, it is easier for her to keep a natural.
So I am left with this question, how can we stress the importance of natural hair to a generation that has been raised in an environment much more welcoming of African hair, then the one we were raised?
Links:
* More about Candi and her Natural Hair story
“Black Hair Salon” artwork by Anthony Flake
* “I Remember Mama” artwork by Brenda Joysmith
herStory • Contributor • Why I Went Natural • Random Thoughts • Just Sayin' • Permalink
