Picaninny black / Picaninny blue / Your hair’s in kinky knots, mine is silky smooth / Do you wash it? / Do you dry it? / Did you braid it, dye it, buy it? / How’d you do it? / Why’d you do it? / Can you take it out, comb through it?
Wearing my hair in locs has taught me many things but the one I love most is stay true to who you are, the natural you. Throughout our lives we are told to be a certain way in order to be perceived as beautiful.
I remember around fifth grade I started to feel like I should have a perm. There was still some girls without one but some wore their hair pressed. I wore my hair how my mom did it, in pigtail braids I was not allowed to do my hair. Once in awhile she would do them in the coveted cornrows or gasp… a blowout or pressed straight. I couldn’t wait for the cornrows or straight styles.
I will never forget my big chop. It was impulsive; I couldn’t wait to get to the nearest mall to have my permed hair removed forever.
My crown is my glory.
Thick locs tell a story.
From the roots to the tip you can get to know me.
I’ve learned the beauty of these napps
And through my care I found myself perhaps.
In the eight and a half years of wearing my hair natural my hair and I have been completely in tune. In the very beginning of my journey where I did the “big chop,” my hair was buzzed very close to my head I learned then that I was simply me.
My Natural Hair journey of six years all began after I gave birth to my second child. As a wife and working mother of two busy boys, I no longer had the time to sit through lengthy hair salon visits.
My hair has taught me a lot about my beliefs and myself. I was going by the American textbook manual on what beauty is and should be. I did not understand how the media, magazines, and videos effect the shaping of what people consider to be beautiful.
My hair has taught me that I am divine. The power behind the spiraling of galaxies, the DNA double helix strand, and the spinning of stars and planets, is the same power behind the texture of my hair. My hair has taught me that it is versatile. I can represent it in many ways without adding harsh chemicals and products. My hairs are my antennas for receiving the earths frequencies.