Random thoughts about Hair...

In the light of Chris Rock's 'Good Hair' documentary (which I intend to see), and all the one million hair stories popping up here and there, I was inspired to give my own take on things.

On Nigerian women and weaves
My African American roomie and I were having one of our many random discussions, and this time it was about hair. She told me how she's observed that a bunch of Nigerian women seem to wear weaves and pointed how she had never seen some of my friends' real hair. It wasn't a mean spirited comment or anything, more like an observation. PS:- She has the right to talk, in my quest to 'Nigerianize' her, I've dragged her to a bunch of events that involved Nigerians and so I guess she was on her people watching game.
Aniwoos, after she said that...I did make it a point to kinda be on the look out (through observations at events/Facebook albums of events) to see if I could see what she was talking about and I do have to admit that yes, it seems that a whole bunch of Nigerian/African woman in general tend to wear more weaves than their own hair. Interesting observation...

On Natural Hair vs. Permed hair and Weaves
It seems that lately, the topic of natural hair vs. Permed hair and weaves has been coming up. I was actually surprised to discover that apparently a whole bunch of men claim to dislike weaves. It sure did come as breaking news to me sha o, since all the women that these men chase seem to rock their cascading curls of weaves very well and with no shame. Sometimes I think that these men love to contradict themselves...the same men who go on and on about women and fake hair are the same men who will drool over the Beyonce type of females. Get it together guys...(but that's beside the point, lol).
Some men even went as far as to criticize women who perm their hair accusing them of subscribing to the 'white man's standard of beauty' and what have you. I can't even pin it all on the men sha o, even as I know that some of my fellow natural haired sisters are on that Afrocentric tip and do look down on women who subscribe to this so-called standard of beauty.
As for me, I spontaneously made the decision to do the 'big chop' and wear my hair natural in 2002 abi 2003 after I was inspired by two of my natural haired friends, and I haven't looked back since. To be honest, my decision to go natural wasn't based off some black power/Afrocentric tip, it was more about trying something new and somewhat different.
Whenever I hear men criticize women who wear weaves, I am always quick to inform that them contrary to what they think, weaves might actually be easier to maintain than natural hair...they keyword here being 'might'. I mean (and correct me if I'm wrong), with the weaves, you pretty much run a brush through it and maybe a curling iron if you're in the mood, and then wake up and go abi? I know that for me, who once had something like a mini afro, maintaining it was a real headache and so I decided to chop it all off. Short, nappy hair is definitely and without a doubt the most low maintenance and least expensive way to go (if you're feeling bold). I literally wake up, run a comb through it and go...with the random cuts that occur every other month.
Before Sugabelly comes and shoots me, this is not an effort to dissuade anyone who wants to go the natural hair route. I do believe that if you choose to put in the time and effort to maintaining any type of hairstyle then you can do it, and if you're just a lazy bum like me who can't be bothered most of the time, you might wanna go the short hair route. When I had long permed hair, I never did anything to it either save for wear it in a boring old pony tail every day.

On short hair
I must admit that after seeing all the noise that people made about Solange's recent hair cut and how empowered she is and blahblah, I actually rolled my eyes. Why? In my opinion, it's just hair...long or short and so I don't see the big deal in a hair cut. True talk.
Maybe I am of this opinion, because I currently wear my hair cut as low as Solange's as well but truth be told I didn't think too hard about doing that initial big chop. As in, I didn't stop to think if 'it would fit my face' or 'if it would look good on me' and what have you. I just did it and thank you Jesus, it worked for me. Today I guess you can say that I am addicted to cutting my hair. Every time I see someone with a big 'fro, I get all jealous and resolve to grow my own hair so that I can make other people jealous but the instance I walk past a Hair cuttery, just know that it's a wrap. My mentality is 'it's just hair, it will grow back someday'.
Don't get me wrong, I know that not everyone can just wake up and decide to cut off their crowning glory and be 'naked' to the world, as someone put it... and that true talk, long hair in general seems to be more feminine but should a hair cut really create so much buzz? Or did the hair cut inspire that much buzz because seeing women with short hair isn't that common?...especially among the Celebrities?
Even for me as a regular around the way gal, I always get the 'wow, you are so brave for cutting your hair' type of comments and mentally I wonder what is really so brave about that, after all shebi it's nothing but a hair style? Or maybe it's considered to be a 'brave feat' when you factor in your attractiveness factor to the opposite sex. After all, I can best my last dollar that most men might prefer a woman with long hair but ultimately shey it all boils down to how I choose to carry myself abi? Long hair or short hair, I'm still a fab chick and can't no one tell me otherwise.

Sometimes, you are your hair
I was reading an article on Jaguda.com, where the author claimed to feel naked and not so fierce without her weave. See, I have always believed that 'we are not our hair' and so whatever you choose to rock, be it permed hair, natural hair, long hair, short hair, weaves or braids, it is considered to be your form of self expression HOWEVER on the flip side, if a woman feels incomplete without those beautiful waves of hair then in my opinion, you = your hair and your hair obviously defines you. Before you shoot the messenger, the author even said it herself and I quote:

"Then I remembered India Arie’s old hit “I am not my hair”. The case is not so for us “weavaholics”. I realized that from January, till date I’ve rocked my real hair for less than 2 weeks and I hated it and felt like I was empty, while with my 2 pack of 16 inch indian hair I felt sexier and ready. I literally became Sasha fierce, sexy and all. I also went through my facebook friend list and noticed that about 98 % of my female friends had weaves or wigs or braids on their profile picture. I still haven't seen some of my aunties' real hair because all they put on are wigs or weaves. With that being said, I came to the following conclusion...weaves are addictive and they have become my addiction or should I say “our addiction”.
Source: Jaguda.com

Very interesting stuff. And on that note, let me peace out of here.

I go catch una later...