Back when I was in school, all the boys and girls would stare at my hair and call it a “brillo pad.”
I braided my hair most of the time so people wouldn’t notice I had coarse hair and so I wouldn’t stand out.
I started blow-drying it and using straightening creams when I got older.
I thought it made me look like the rest of the girls.
And people stopped calling my hair a “brillo pad.”
A couple of years later, I shaved my entire head.
It looked amazing.
But my family didn’t like it.
They thought I looked like a boy.
Some of my relatives and friends even stopped talking to me.
They thought I was loose, mentally ill, degenerate, a lesbian, rebellious, etc.
I was the only one that liked my short hair.
It grew out and became big and messy, but they still didn’t like it.
I have a few questions:
Why does it make people uneasy to see us at peace with our natural hair?
Aren’t we Africans? Isn’t this our natural hair?
Why can’t we leave it in its natural state?
You guys, natural hair is a big issue. It’s an existential issue.