Natural or Relaxed hair?

Caution: This product is only for ‘excessively’ curly hair or Kinky hair textures. Not recommended for use on any other hair types.The product contains active chemicals....

These were the words that I found myself reading on a product in the beauty section at my local store . I was so excited to be able to get out after so many days of COVID 19 lockdown. I was getting a lot of things that day including hair relaxing cream. I had made the transition from wearing my hair as a relaxed perm to my naturally curly hair years ago. I was almost balding from years of applying relaxing cream to permanently straighten my hair every time my natural hair started to appear. No this time I was getting the relaxer kit for my mum but was secretly tempted to even get one for myself as I had been tired of styling my natural hair by myself for the entire lockdown period! However, I was taken aback by the caution that was for some reason now written in large bold letters and attached onto this product. In that instant so many thoughts came to me about my hair. I almost felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt mixed with a new sense of awareness about what actually is required to keep the beautiful and naturally curly hair of a black person permanently straightened. Active chemicals. I also couldn’t help but notice the negative connotations of the word ‘excessively’ which was being used to describe naturally kinky or curly hair. I couldn’t help but remember the way people at my office used to complain whenever I braided my hair. My white colleagues would tell me “ you look so much better with your hair straight” some would even ask why I would opt for braids as it looks like it will be impossible to shampoo. Did it even matter how I wore my hair , naturally curly or permanently relaxed?

So I ask the question again - should you be judged by how you wear your hair as a black woman or man or child?

The song - ‘ I am not my hair’ by India arie comes to mind as I ponder over this. Whether your head is shaved , in an Afro , braided , dreadlocked or permanently straightened this does not affect your productivity or your humanness. The news is dotted with stories of black children of school going age who have been asked to conform to school rules by cutting their hair. For example the case of Farouk James. Ruby Williams was also sent home from school countless times because of her curly hair. Then in my research for this article I stumbled upon the the term ‘hairstyle discrimination’. Wikipedia describes it as a form of social injustice , found worldwide, that targets black people , specifically black people who have Afro-textured hair that’s not been chemically straightened . It goes on to say how Afro hair is seen as being unprofessional, unattractive and unclean. Then I read further and my heart sank. This stems from the days of slavery. Imported African slaves of America had their hair cut off as a signal of the change in identity . They were no more free Africans identifiable by their beautifully braided tribal hair but slaves of the new world with their culture cut off just like their hair. This is too deep for me to ignore . With the current climate of COVID-19 and the Black lives matter movement , so many things are coming to light. It is exceptionally evident the grave and evil atrocities that had been done to black people. So powerful were these acts that they have passed seamlessly through generations and have become engrained in our society as we know it. This is now becoming increasingly visible because of globalisation and advanced information and communication technology.

Therefore in these unprecedented times let us write a better history for the generations to come. As cliched as it sounds let us change the narrative. Black is beautiful. Black hair is good resilient hair. Black hair is natural, curly and no matter how you choose to wear it, whether natural or relaxed do so for that is your glory and your crown . So own it!