In many cultures hair is considered to not be all that big a deal. In India people even have a religious ceremony where they go to temple and have all there hair shaved off. People come from all over the country to do this by the thousands.
But for Black women, their hair can be there lively hood. It can determine everything from their mood that day to whether they like who they are or not. If you ever see a black women with a big thick head of Bone straight hair down to there back side. It is highly likely that it might not be growing out of there head. But, I guarantee you they will wear it like it is and you won't know any different.
I remember when I was a little girl, I use to take a long scarf or even a baby blanket and tie it around my head and walk up to my mom proclaiming how long a beautiful my hair was. The hair issue is something that runs so deep inside us like roots into our mind and body. So much so that women will pay for there hair to be done before they will pay their rent.
What is so funny, is that many women from other cultures could care less about the hair that grows out of their head. It isn't even much of an issue for them unless they are highly into fashion or something like that.
The reason I like to bring this issue up is because from time to time I like to drench myself in knowledge so that I can better take care of my own hair. I am even a slave to the concept of having long beautiful flowing locks, but the difference is I have learned to embrace the beauty of my natural hair texture. Trust me it took a lot of work to get to this point mentally.
I have been growing my hair about 4 years now and on several occasions I had to literally cut it so short you could barely twist it. Yesterday I spent much time on the phone explaining this to my sister. That my now shoulder length hair took me YEARS to grow. She just knows I left home with relaxed hair in 2005 for school and came home with a head of non chemically treated in 2008. She tells me I have good hair, but little does she know I would love to have her hair thickness and coarseness because mine is VERY VERRY THIN. I had to explain to her, it doesn't happen that over night you just know what to do.
After spending like 26 years of my life with staightened hair (started on chemical straightening at 2-3 yrs old) I had no idea what to do when it stated growing out. I started dying and frying it and at one point just let it be a total mess because it got so frustrating to do up keep on my hair. In fact, it was my friend Britney that helped me to better understand what to do. She is Lithuanian/Portuguese and has naturally curly hair. She was the first person to show my what kind of brush was going to work in my hair. Believe it or not it actually matters.
This picture is from October 2008, I year and some months have gone by since then and it is getting longer.
Present hair length.
My sister dear is in her 40's. Imagine the adjustment for her. Lets just say old habits die hard. I am still trying to get her to stop combing her hair with rat tail combs while it is dry.
Anyway, the other reason for this blog is, many just don't realize how far back this problem goes. I found this video online. It is a featurette looking at how black women veiw themselves in society even back to childhood.
I like to visit different hair blogs and I ran acorss some really great articles on Black Girl With Long Hair. One of them talking about how, because of slavery African American people are still yet to reclaim our identity and be proud of who they are. The funny is so many people, both Black and White really like to pretend it didn't happen, but it still seems to plague black culture even to today whether it be in relationships or just plain ole hair. I think it is insane.
Please take a look at the video and enjoy. It is a little shocking.
Please take a look at the video and enjoy. It is a little shocking.
I also wanted to share the blog of one young lady that is battling hair loss due to learning the hard way how to take care of her hair. Her blog is called Creamy Crack.
I hope you guys have a blessed day.
~Arie
