'Fro Love for Life
I want to talk about hair, specifically African American hair and how wonderfully versatile it is. I could just as easily get into the politics of our natural hair and how so many people feel the need to weigh in on how we wear it, but I won't. Talking about that will just make me angry and I'm having a wonderful hair day and want to enjoy it. What I will talk about about is how many of us like to wear our hair as an accessory in the sense that it is forever changing.
We wear our hair straight, kinky, curly, long, short and in between. We wear braids, twists, afros, twistouts, braidouts, extensions, clip-ins, weaves, wigs, ponytails and buns, you name it, we wear it, the sky's the limit.
I've played with hairstyles my entire life, but my fully excepting my hair as it grows out of my head is a love I've acquired over the past 5 or 6 years. Feeling the freedom and confidence to display the hair I was born with has been a big thing for me. My mostly 4c textured hair does not like being straight. It resisted chemical processing, reverting to to a kinkier texture every chance it got. I shudder to think of all the time I spent trying to control it, being self conscious about it, silently and not so silently berating it. (Heavy Sigh)
Those days are long gone. Today my hair and I are partners. I'd like to say that we are equal partners, but that would be a colossal lie. My hair is the boss of me, and I'm okay with that. Granted she never wants to shine when I want her to, but she's healthy and she grows in spite the of varying amounts of effort that I put into her so it's all good.
I wish I could say that my hair dosen't affect my mood, but I'd be lying. Hair is a big deal, but it is also lots of fun.
Not that anyone asked, but I'll give a quick rundown of my hair routine. I massage my scalp with my head between my knees for 1 to 2 minutes every night, usually while watching television. I either use my scalp massager or my fingers with a few drops of Jojoba oil. This helps a lot because I have spots of psoraisis on my scalp and the massaging keeps the blood flowing and it loosens up any scaly patches. Each night ends with me putting on the satin bonnet. Don't be mistaken, there is NOTHING cute about my night time routines, but sometimes a girl has to get ugly before she gets cute.
If my hair is loose, I make sure it is moisturized with a few spritzes of my water and aloe vera juice mixture, followed by either something from the Shea Moisture (the Coconut and Hibiscus line is my fave right now). Then I put in a few large twists or braids to keep it from tangling while I sleep. When I'm on my game, I may use something I've made. Discussing all my homemade concoctions is another post entirely!
I pre-poo, shampoo and deep condition weekly, and do a protein treatment at least once a month. My hair has a tendency to be dry and I am afflicted with chronic 'hands in hair' syndrome. So I try to give my tresses as much extra love as I can.
Regardless of the work involved, it is all worth it when I get to sport a big head full of kinky-coily hair. My 'fro gives me life. It makes me walk taller and gives me permission to be a little more extra.
What could be better than that?
After all according to Pinterest, hair is ends up being 90% of your selfie.
