How I fell in love with my natural hair

Like many women and girls, especially those of African descent, I too have a love-hate relationship with my natural hair. I remember an 11-year-old me begging my mother, to the point of tears, to straighten my natural hair. This, at the time I was just trying to fit in with the rest of the girls at school.

During that time at least 90 per cent of the girls my age were rocking bone-straight ponytails and buns, while I seemed to have been the only one still flaunting my cornrows and twists.
Little did I know I was sitting on a goldmine; there was history growing from my scalp, and before now, I had been ignorant of it.

As you must have figured out by now, I never liked my hair growing up. Reason being, I was a very tender-headed child and washing, combing, pressing or braiding my hair was always a struggle.

The other reason had to do with the fact that growing up, I was teased a lot about my hair during my primary and secondary school years, and unfortunately, at that time, there were not many natural hair enthusiasts for me to look up to.

As I got older, (well not that old) I started doing my own hair. I even had an experimental phase in my late teens where I tried new hairstyles and methods of styling, and taking better care of my hair.

Sadly, that phase did some damage to my hair since I was using all kinds of different products to figure what worked best for me. Soon enough, I started to fall in love with my hair.

I quickly learned that when I showed my hair love, the feeling was reciprocated. Now, don’t get me wrong I still have those days where I cry out of frustration because my hair just won’t cooperate, but for the the most parts, my hair has been showing me so much love and honestly, it has taught me patience and self-discipline.

REPRESENTATION
As I was on this self-discovery journey, I noticed there was a lot more representation of women who looked like me, wearing their natural tresses in main stream media.
I saw faces like Lupita Nyong’o on magazine covers gracing the world with her raw, natural beauty.

One of the most recent faces was Letitia Wright, the Guyanese British actress who starred in the iconic Black Panther film. It was refreshing to see her on the big screen, unapologetically rocking her braids.

Additionally, in 2016, Guyana launched its first hair expo called ‘Curl Fete’, which has, over the years, become a unifying event where the country celebrates all hair types and textures.

I’ve since come to realize that representation is important and every little girl deserves to see parts of herself on the global stage; on television, and at major events where beautiful women are embracing what is natural about them, regardless of race and ethnicity.

COMMUNICATION THROUGH HAIR
I Know that at one point or the other, many of you would have heard the phrase “it’s just hair”, but to most women, our hair is much more than mere strands; it is a reflection of our personalities, and it often says a lot about who we are as people. And, if you are anything like me, you have a signature hairstyle; mine is two afro puffs. It is a quick and easy style that I can spice up with hair accessories, braids and sometimes when I’m feeling extra bubbly, some beads.

But even more than that, I consider my hair to be somewhat of a super power. I know this sounds kind of ridiculous, but if you knew the history of African women and the significance of how they wear their hair, it would make sense.

I adore braids, and I learnt a while back that cornrows and braids have rich a history. You see, during slavery, African women would braid escape routes into their hair. The cornrows or plaits were used as maps to communicate with other slaves to identify escape routes from plantations.

Additionally, African women would braid rice and seeds into their cornrows before journeying.

Research also tells us that many mothers would braid seeds and nuts into their children’s hair so that they could eat in case they were ever separated from their parents during unplanned voyage.

Having learnt this, I look at my hair as more than just strands of tiny curls; it is history; it is power; it is the source of my black girl magic that I will forever cherish, and I hope you do too.