So if you know me personally, you are aware that I, without a shadow of a doubt in my mind, love my hair. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my hair. It’s like my baby. (Strange right?) But I love it. I have gotten into the habit of obsessing over my natural hair. It’s kinda my shtick.
I “went natural” freshman year of college, after a particularly bad perm experience. Someone wanted to tame my hair and being the immature child that I was I allowed it to happen. Needless to say, I hated it. Since then, I have gone through a myriad of styles and hair treatments to return it to it’s fullness and original length, never letting it get past shoulder length. (Hair on my neck makes me feel like there are spiders on me.)
Now my hair is just like I like it and just like I think God likes it. There are lots of natural hair beauties out there who tote this mess about loving your hair “just the way God gave it to you”. BS!!!! No one likes their hair the exact way it comes out of the scalp or we wouldn’t have a natural hair product industry. These people are like a sect. They prey on women who are not natural and give them all of this flack about how they perm because they have low self esteem, that they want to “look like the white woman”, and that they do not love the hair God gave them.
This is utter crap. Maybe, just maybe, women just want straight hair. There are curlies out there with low self esteem and relaxed women who are perfectly comfortable in the skin they are in. I love my hair just as it is but it in no way is going to define who I am or my self esteem.
For some women though, hair is what defines them. It seems to be a common trend in young African American girls to want hair like the other girls. The lovely people over at Sesame Street address this concern with the most heart warming little video that I have ever seen. This is one of the most beautiful things that Sesame Street has come out with and I respect them for their stance on garnering self esteem in children regardless of race, age and gender.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enpFde5rgmw]
Forever 21 also has a super cute racerback tank top commemorating this video for a mere $13.50. At the moment it’s out of stock online and in most stores, so if you see one, snag it for me. 😉
