For as long as I can remember, I've been trying to do 'sakora' to my hair... but father dearest keeps objecting, so I must listen. I've been trying to figure out what the big deal about me shaving my hair off is but he just keeps saying "don't". Is it that he is afraid my hair wont grow back or has he used my hair for 'juju', lol.
Why do mothers perm their daughters' hair when they are young? Don't you think it is better to let the child keep her natural hair, then when she grows up she decides whether she wants to perm it or keep her natural hair? I envy women with shaved heads, locks and natural hair a lot.
I am not going to lie. Yes, I have fixed weaves twice and also added horse tail to do a pony on my head twice. All these hairstyles looked nice on me but of late I've been wondering if it is worth it. I've decided not to add chemicals to my hair again until I finally muster the courage to tell my dad, ''Look, I'm whatever years old, and this is what I want to do to my hair''.
So many black women are so fixated on outer beauty. It is like the longer your hair looks, the more beautiful you are. Chale, I see weaves everywhere I go. Some are so nasty, it leaves you doubting whether the stress of it all is worth keeping such a nasty thing on your head. The favourite weave colours for most of these women are purple and blonde (blonde. Seriously. Black woman). You often see the ones that are not fixed properly too (so obvious it's a weave and I'm not even talking about the length).
A week ago, I escorted a friend to the hairdresser's. I was just sitting down reading my book when one of the hair dressers came to ask me what I was doing to my hair and I said "nothing". Two more came after her and the response was still "nothing". They were all surprised like, ''Aah, this girl paah. How can you come to the saloon with your hair looking soooooo messed up and say you are not doing anything to it?'' It wasn't messed up. I had combed it and it just looked plenty on my head because I have undergrowth. Natural look.
the only way Ghanaian women and by extension African women can claim their HAIRITAGE is by defining beauty through by their own terms and not as dictated by beauty magazines and and warped religious tenets.. Most Ghanaian women look 'horridible'in weaves and those nasty press-on nails they wear.. the more synthetic you look the better apparently..
ReplyDeleteSomehow, capitalism +western modernity has got us convinced that we have to strive towards something else outside of who we are to succeed. that is the jedi mind trick. if we would just trust ourselves, our art, our own inherent, tragic, beautiful and distinct gifts there would be no need to search because it is already there. Through the searching we have enabled fear and given into someone else's concept of who we are and whether we matter. sadly, they have robbed us of our gifts and talents and made us cheap and degraded.