Quote:
Originally posted by DirectorDST99:
I wore my hair au naturale for a year. I stopped because it became difficult to manage once it got to a certain length.
It's so funny because "brothers" would not talk to me when I wore my hair natural. LOL!
I talked that talked about Westernization when I was natural and even persuaded a couple of sistahs to join me. I feel like a hypocrite now!
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Hypocrite...NO INDEED! I wore my hair natural for 6 years...Trotted myself to the Barber Shop every two weeks (and was Cute!)
But I was really tired of having no versitility. Sooo I went back to relaxing my hair.
Westernization? Of Course we are westernized! We are Americans, we live in America, the Hub of Western Civilization. And there is nothing wrong with that. We have not been taught how to "manage" our hair in its natural state until very recently with the establishment of independent African-American beauty suppliers and authors of "Hair books" for wearers of natural styles.
My younger sister just returned from a six week trip to Ghana. She stayed in ACCRA, the major city and was amazed at how many billboards there were for Relaxers, straightners, SKIN WHITNING CREAMS!
She wears her hair natural...She has the Angela Davis thing going on sometimes, twists sometimes, coils, cornrows, etc...She is one of the sisters who has learned to have natural AND functional hair. Not all of us have that talent.
She said that the women in ACCRA kept asking her why she didn't have her hair relaxed, and wasn't it difficult to manage as it was.
Talk about culture shock!
Anyway, my point is..As much as people would like to think that our "Blackness" is defined by a hairstyle, choice of makeup, or the thickness/width of our features, it is not. It is in our attitude toward our communities, our "people". it is our level of consienceness regarding the things that we need to know and do to get "our thing" together. It is the respect that we (should) have for our history, our ansestors, and our foundation. NOT the "need" to BE an African but to be proud of BEING an African-American.
*stepping DOWN from the podeum*
Those are my thoughts...Great topic!