Negativity & Natural Hair - It Comes From The Most Surprising Places

By Shaqwania

I visited a family member recently and I never thought I would have to stand my ground with this particular individual EVER in life. I never thought that I would be arguing about hair. 
​
She looked at me and told me that she didn't like my appearance. She told me that my hair was unacceptable and that black people no longer have to walk around looking like hooligans because there are so many different things out there for us to help us keep a more maintained look. 

I have semi freeform locks. My locks are low maintenance for the most part. I wash my hair and separate them to prevent the merging of my locks into bigger ones. My locks sit on a one to two inch afro. I chose this route once I began my lock journey because it just felt right.

Going through a lock process you will encounter what society views as an ugly stage. I beg to differ. I do not think there is an ugly stage. This ugly stage supposedly refers to the time your locks are doing whatever they want and are not in a neat and organized fashion so they could be poking out all over the place. It was not until I began my natural hair journey in 2012 that I understood the amount of damage that has been done to how we view our hair. 

I shared with my family member how I felt about their views and it deeply saddens me to know that there are people of our own ethnicity who feel like the hair that grows from our scalp is not the hair we should embrace. If there were never a relaxer created would we just hate our looks? Is this truly self love to not love every part of your being?

I went from loose natural hair to locks and many have supported my decision and others (like my family member) think I have gone crazy. They think I need to talk to someone. I find this hilarious, literally. I may go talk to someone but it will not be about my decision to lock, it will be about learning some ways to reprogram their thinking process. 

Being a natural hair video blogger, I have noticed division in the natural hair community. It is unfortunate but it is there: The division lies is all about hair textures. This has resulted in the labelling of hair as being either good hair or bad hair.

My hair is far from loose textured but many have come to me for help and without even realizing it they pretty much tell me my hair is bad in so many ways or they say that my hair looks good on me but the texture doesn't look good on everybody. This is merely the mindset (programming) that needs to be unlearned.

---

I have two daughters whose hair care regimens I also share on my social media platforms.

My oldest daughter went through an episode at five years of age where a fungus began to grow on her scalp. I didn't want to relax her hair but she was on medications for weeks to try and kill this fungus and it was only spreading. It had a terrible odor and she was really embarrassed by it. I decided to apply a relaxer to kill it. The relaxer killed the fungus. Hmmm.....how about that!

Relaxers are not healthy but I couldn't sit back and watch my baby go through the fungus ordeal. I do not recommend anyone apply a relaxer to kill fungus as I am not a medical doctor. This does show how strong relaxer chemicals are. It was able to kill a fungus that she was being treated for for weeks with oral meds and medicated shampoos. She has since transitioned back to natural hair and only asks for blow outs as she understands the versatility of natural hair. 

My youngest daughter doesn't know anything about relaxers. She doesn't complain about her hair and it is just a part of her as it should be. This shows me that it is what is taught to us as to whether or not we just simply embrace what is ours. My daughter doesn't know about anything different so when she requests hair styles she requests natural styles that she picks out from the computer. She doesn't think her hair is bad or too kinky. It is her hair, PERIOD. 

As a mother my children are always watching. If I complain about my hair they will do the same. If I tell them their hair is bad out of impatience while styling their hair then they will believe it. If I embrace mine and encourage them to do the same they will embrace theirs and encourage others to do the same. 
​
What are we teaching those that we love about natural hair? Are we teaching them that it is ugly or bad hair or are we teaching them to love their God-given hair? 

• Blog: naturalista4me2.wordpress.com
• Twitter: @Naturalista4me
• Instagram: @Naturalista4me2
• YouTube: youtube.com/naturalista4me

​Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.


Want to be featured as a Queen of Kinks, Curls & Coil?
Here's how to apply.

---