I have been going through this debate in my head about whether I should still keep my hair natural without weaving it or relaxing it. The questions that keep lingering in my head like, "why have I been weaving or relaxing my hair? Is it because I don’t like my afro? or is it because I get bored with my hair? Or maybe I just don’t have hair? mmmm will come back to those questions later.
In the meantime, these hair questions all started a few years ago after I moved to the Netherlands.
I participated in Miss Africa Netherlands beauty pageant to represent my country Zambia; I was privileged to meet the participants from different African countries who represented their motherland. One contestant in particular who was representing Congo chose the black hair topic as one of her objectives. On the final day of Miss Africa Netherlands, she gave a speech entitled AM NOT MY HAIR.
I couldn’t agree more with the title and some of the context in her address; she went on to imply that women of color who relax or weave their hair suffer from inferior complexness like self-hate, low self-esteem and are rejecting their afro heritage by attempting to look more “euro-centric”!how shocking cause in my entire life in Zambia that it never thought of my change of hairstyles in that context.
As I stood behind the stage with my fellow contestants and my "Brazilian weave" nicely styled of course with an itchy scalp, "which I could only scratch by tapping the itchy spot lol," I listened to her speech. I wondered where all this was coming from, cause this "team natural hair" thing was all new to me.
You see, growing up in Zambia, the issue of natural hair vs. fake hair never occurred to me; the first 19 years of my life were in natural hair.
I was never allowed to do anything to my hair apart from plaiting cornrows which is locally known as "mukule" or stretching It with a hot comb, the Zambian education system never and still doesn't allow primary and secondary school pupils to either relax or weave the hair until you graduate to university or college level, (unless you attended a private school).
Personally speaking, relaxing my hair or wearing wigs was a sign of freedom and independence from the school life and restrictions I had.
It was a sign of being able to do whatever I pleased with my hair.
It never occurred to me that I was stripping my afro heritage. To me, it was a rite of passage to adulthood and freedom to do whatever I pleased with my hair, and as time passed by, I would change hairstyles regularly like I change clothes to suit my moods, not because I hated my hair but loved being creative with It.
It occurred to me that hair is viewed differently in the western world among black people, there is a bit of division among some black women who keep their hair natural and those that relax it or weave it, It might not be significant but once you meet a "team natural preacher" you will realise how they will nag you with questions like "why do you relax your hair? Or why do you wear weaves? Which brings me back to the questions I have been asking myself.
Honestly, I think that having natural hair is a personal choice and journey that needs to be realized, do what suits you best. The most crucial part is that my hair is healthy, well maintained, won't cost me a fortune and looks appealing to me.
I wouldn't care less about which team I belong to the point is it's your hair, and you can do whatever you want with it. Although I love I envy natural hair, I can't commit to the natural hair journey.
It shouldn't matter if you are a naturalist or you have relaxed hair; The question shouldn't be about whether or not you're on a particular team but whether or not you have goals for your hair and are they being met?
Be a #teamSELF.
xoxo fran
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