For quite some time I have been guilty of thinking Natural hair could only be used in the context of mainly African American people or people of Black Culture. Yes cuff me! But can you blame me?? So many sites out there only really promote the uplifting of blacks and embracing their roots. Is this because they are the ones that mainly use chemicals to alter their hair texture? Well… this may not be true.
Sometimes things that are blatantly in your face appear to be the most blinding! I have to say I am one of those who love the internet community and natural hair, but Naturally Curly is one of those sites that are not just geared to blacks but everyone! I glorify them for that, because there on the site you can see the different types of hairs from curly to wavy. You may think, so what… a lot of non-blacks have naturally curly hair! NOT TRUE!
There have been two instances this week that has opened my eyes to such situations.
Instance one: I am talking to my friend about her scare on getting her hair relaxed. No, its not because she never had a relaxer but it’s because we attend a predominately white school and all their stylist are not trained to deal with ethnic hair. So we are there joking around about her hair falling out and her friend, who is Hispanic by the way, says “yes I need to touch my roots up as well because my natural hair is starting to show, I need a relaxer” I quite frankly was blown! In this in part was due to my ignorance.
Instance 2: I am in my college dorm bathroom (yuckie yes), and my friend who is Caucasian, comes in and says, “Whatchya doing?” Of course I’m in the bathroom making up concoctions for my hair, and I say “just some gel moisturizer” Then she goes on to say how she hates her hair! She is like she has tried everything from perms to relaxers and she just can’t stand it and wants her natural hair back. Once again the wind blew me… this time to the Bermuda triangle!
I give you these instances just to show you how the Natural hair community needs to be expanded to everyone and we should not overlook others just because their melanin is a little lighter. Yes I may sound like I am dealing with internal issues, and you know what… I am. But I think I may be the fist to admit it..I sometimes envied peoples’ hair either because it was curly or straight.. who would have known it wasn’t natural? And there are so many Natruals that are non black out there who loved to feel embraced and proud about their hair as well! So from now on I will not covet thy neighbor’s straight hair or curly hair, because you never know what chemicals they have in it.
You guys also be sure to enter in the 31 days giveaway on Naturally Curly. Its free stuff! Who doesn’t love that!
That’s my piece
Cia.E