The Soulpower Hair Chronicles
I’ve been thinking about doing a post on this for about a month. I want to thank @sensati0nalcoco and her recent experience for giving me the kick start.
Everywhere I turn there has been some news about hair, specifically OUR hair as in African-American hair. I’m not sure that I really get what all the discussion is about but since it’s being discussed I figured I’d put in my two cents as I am qualified to do so (I’m Black and I have hair).
Hair-o-Mine History
I went through what was a typical hair transition for someone my age (42, soon to be 43). I was born with what I would call fine nappy hair (nappy is not a bad word for me, just another adjective). What this means is that my hair is not particularly dense but it is particularly kinky, frizzy and fuzzy. Without products altering it I get a tight afro.
We didn’t really have “kiddy” relaxers back in the day. If we wanted straight hair we suffered the grease (Blue Magic or something like that) and a pressing comb heated up on the stove. The process amounts to frying the hair into a straight state that can then be curled or left straight, braided or so on. However as soon as water hits it, it “turns back” to the natural state, i.e. nappy for me. I wore my hair pressed or natural until I was in middle school. My first foray into chemicals was to get a “curl” I believe of the Luster variety that was administered by my father’s Barber a Creole with straight hair. I probably wore that for two years came out of it and went back to natural. I didn’t move on to a relaxer until around 1982 and I thought at the time that straight hair all the time was the best thing since sliced bread. Every 6-8 weeks I went back to get a touch-up (straightening of the new growth only). I had flips, short in front, long in back, a tail, an asymmetrical bob, the Anita Baker, the Oprah I even got a white girl cut my stylist at the time was really feeling Terri Hatcher’s hair circa Superman so I got that and after thereafter I stuck with some variation of a bob, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. I got color once, red and I mean REALLY red. Had to come out of that. Oh yeah and I had bangs for ever because of my forehead. When I left New Orleans and came to Atlanta I finally released my forehead. Next was to release myself from the relaxer.
It was hard but for some reason I felt like I needed to do it. I was running a lot in the mid 90s and could not keep a hair do. I started getting braids cut all the hair off and started over and got a relaxer AGAIN. By 2002 I just couldn’t do it anymore. My body was changing, I was kind of sickly with various ailments. My hair would come out in clumps I thought maybe it was time to give it up. This was my last relaxer.
In 2003 I went through the transition phase and did it by wearing weaves, braids, twists and all that.
My hair was getting better but what was killing me at that time was the HOURS spent in the shop and the amount of money spent getting it done. I was still pretty much on relaxer schedule so every 8 weeks I was back in the shop spending money and sitting in there ALL DAY LONG.
By 2004 I’d had enough. First of all I really liked my last braid stylist, she was fantastic because she used natural hair and she didn’t use a lot of it so it was never heavy (don’t have any of those pics) but she was woefully unreliable and moved to a different shop every time I went to get my hair done. So I finally said forget it. I took the last set of braids out, had my husband at the time take the clippers and cut the remaining relaxed hair out and this is how it ended up:
Let me tell you, the reaction was swift, people couldn’t believe I did it but the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. I went through a lot of products but actually ended up with a simple routine. Twist or braid it at night and let it loose in the morning. Finger comb it or pick it out and it’s a wrap. When the weather is bad (rain, humidity) I go to the braids or the twists which I do myself. I haven’t been in a salon in five years. I will blow it out mornings if for some reason I fall asleep without twisting/braiding at night. I pressed it once in 05 and burnt some hair off and ditched the pressing comb. I do not own any curling irons or flatirons. I just go with what I got. This is how it looks now.
Does it still break? Yes. When I got separated I lost a LOT of hair. Is it hard to maintain? NO! I spend way less time doing it now than I did when it was relaxed. Do I spend a bunch of money on product? Absolutely not. I use some sort of moisturizer daily, if I want it shiny I use GREASE, yep it worked when my mama used it, and it still works. If I want to loosen the naps a bit I use MURRAYS which is the stiffest pomade known to mankind but it does the trick. I dig my hair and can’t foresee going back. I may go shorter but going straight (chemical style) is a definite NO.
This hair-o-mine does raise questions though. Recently with all the rain we’ve had I’ve been wearing it braided either with part of it pulled back or in some up-do. I hear folk say oh that’s nice, we can see your face. I’ve also heard, oh that’s nice you don’t look so militant (from black folk). That blows my mind momentarily but I just don’t even “go there” with them. I know my hair isn’t a source of militancy, it’s no political statement, it’s a matter of health, it’s a matter of convenience, it’s a matter of economy and I was tired of being hustled by stylists and salons, that’s it. Something else boggles me a bit is how many folk like to recommend product to me. I’m living in the NEW NORMAL, I don’t have the money to buy expensive hair products first of all. Secondly, I’m satisfied with my routine, it just needs to be tightened up a bit. Third, my understanding is that some of this product can REALLY make your hair look different from the way it actually is. I’m not so sure that I want that. My hair is neither curly nor wavy, it is nappy I happen to like it that way.
I know this is a long post but I wanted to share it with you to say, it is HAIR. It’s not political, it’s not sexy (though some make it sexual, trust me on this one). I see relaxed hair and straightened hair all the time that looks absolutely fabulous I don’t knock it and I don’t tell anybody to ditch and go natural. Now when someone give me the “I wish I could go natural but my hair won’t do right or it’s too hard speech.” I try to be encouraging and tell them they’ll be just fine if they try it. But to be absolutely truthful, I don’t care AT ALL about how folks wear their hair. Natural hair for me is a PREFERENCE, that’s all it is. Can we just let folk live in peace with their hair already without offering our two cents on it? Unless that two cents is your hair is beautiful, just like it is.
