Hair...It's Complicated!

I always wanted to loc my hair but I had to shed so much historical bondage around my hair. I used to get my hair pressed with a straightening comb which eventually lead me to perming my hair; yet it never yielded the response I wanted to feel...free. I dreaded the days that my hair ruled everything I did from working out, swimming, enjoying outdoors + even having sex. It’s complicated! I recall how men responded to my hair when it was straight + long; yet I never felt prettier, sexier, or more desired. Ironically, I felt like a replica of someone that needed to be noticed by people who didn’t matter.

Then things changed, when I had my daughter + began to see that if I didn’t teach her immediately to love her hair that she would journey down the same path as I did. So I loc’d her hair + I loc’d mine simultaneously for all the little black + brown girls that desired to love their hair but were never allowed to. I loc’d my hair to free myself of all of the self-degradation that had been passed down subconsciously through years of transforming my hair to fit into a box that was never meant for me. I loc’d my hair for all the black women who were never told they were pretty because their mothers image was diminished along with their self-esteem. I loc’d my hair for all of the people that made all black people as if our hair was never good enough.

So today + every single day I celebrate my hair + all of my ancestors that desired for me to be free. Here’s to my hair journey.