The Journey for Black Women Loving Their Hair
In a world that tries to make you hate the hair you were born with, the path to truly embracing your natural hair might take some time.
The beautiful thing about being a Black woman is that there are infinite amount of ways you can rock your hair. Whether its natural, in a weave, braided, in locs or even shaved, you can probably pull it off.
However, going to an all white school I didn’t always love my hair. I dreaded coming to school on the Mondays after I changed my hair over the weekend because I didn’t feel like dealing with the questions about my new style or asking to touch it. My mom permed my sister and I’s hair in grade school partially because it was incredibly time consuming managing two young girls’ hair on top of a full time job and other motherly commitments. After getting compliments about my hair once it went through the “creamy crack,” I begged my mom to keep perming it. I didn’t care if I literally had burns on my scalp from scratching because I no longer had to deal with the questions about my hair at school. It was my way of fitting in when I was so used to being 1 of maybe five black kids in the grade.
I chose to go to a more diverse college after high school. A college that was only 40 percent white, which was a big difference to me. It was there that I started getting compliments when my hair was in braid and saw the girls on campus rocking their natural styles and embracing. I was in awe and junior year I made the decision to no longer perm my hair and make the transition.
It wasn’t until I went through a YouTube deep dive to learn about managing 4c hair that I truly love what was growing through my roots. I had realized that I was taught that my natural hair was “too coarse” too manage and it wasn’t professional or appropriate for fancy events. I broke away from all the negativity society had put on 4c and I have never looked back.
In this episode, the hosts go into detail about their natural hair journey and discuss the drastic changes on the relationship with their hair growing up compared to today. They discuss the comments they received on their hair and how it shaped them to love their hair today as well as their hopes for society on commenting on black hair in the future. The episode takes an emotional turn when Rachel opens up about finally addressing her childhood trauma and how important it is for us to deal with our issues today in order to have a better tomorrow.
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