It’s a car, it’s a baby, it’s natural hair

I’m upset that I have to explain my natural hair to people. I would  like them to explain their hair to me.

It’s a car, it’s a baby, it’s natural hair. Simple, right? Apparently not.

African hair seems to be another pair of shoes. Someone needs to come up with a natural hair thesis and present it to the universe already.

Perhaps if I had grown up seeing mothers and role models who are women, proudly wearing and embracing their natural hair, I probably wouldn’t have been so insecure about it.

It makes me think of the “ego” song by Beyonce.

 “It’s too big, it’s too wide, 

it’s too strong, it won’t fit,

It’s too much, it’s too tough”

We all know she wasn’t talking about hair here.

 A high five for Jay-Z.

I actually feel like my hair, metaphorically speaking, has a big ego too.

• It’s too big
• It’s too wide
• It’s too strong
• It won’t fit

Someone was preaching to the choir.

My hair sticks out like a sore thumb, like Santa Claus on Easter, like an African in the middle east. My hair is becoming a subject of study.

It’s easier to hide it under a wig or weave, or whatever paraphernalia has been invented to curb the rise of natural African hair- that’s what it seems like. So many people tried to curb it’s rise, dishing out hair products left, right and centre. And we, the new generation of natural hair enthusiasts, are rising up and fighting it.

We are bombarded by so many products in the market. We are bombarded by so many questions about our hair. Since people don’t want to be labelled and categorized, how about we start by not categorizing natural African hair. A lot of people are coming out (pun not intended) and screaming to the media ” don’t label my sexuality”. How about we put the same emphasis on hair. It’s curly, it’s kinky, it’s nappy, it’s coily…let’s throw all that in the trash and simply call it “hair”.

I had a chat with a new friend I just made and he asked me for a picture of my new hair do. ( which was so bomb in my books by the way) .I should mention that the said friend is white. His first reaction was that my hair looked “crazy”. I did what any normal person would do, I blocked him with all the malice I could muster,  immediately. (Primarily because I’m a “react” instead of ” act” kind of person.)  I only blocked him for a few minutes though.

It dawned on me that a lot of people are, pardon my French, ignorant, about natural African hair. 

• Yes it does grow like that from our scalps, like yours…remember?

I know India Irie sang ” I am not my hair”. But you know what? I am. It’s an embodiment of me and I wear it proudly.