"Comb That Nappy Shit Out!"
For as long as I can remember, I have had "Bad" hair... According to my parents and siblings/close friends, if I did not cut my hair and/or wear a hat, I looked Rough... Rugged... Savage... Poor... African... A hot ass MESS. I was teased a LOT growing up. People called me names like
- Kunta
- Slave
- Nappy Head
- Wild Child
- Carpet-Head
- Rug-Head
- Crackhead
- Bird's Nest
The immature name calling and teasing caused my adolescent self to wear hats EVERYWHERE that I could (Imagine how much I faced in school where hats were not ever allowed). I grew up feeling ashamed that I actually LIKED the wool-like texture of my hair. I secretly loved the roughness and kinks that I struggled to comb out every morning before heading out to my school bus. It was fine with me! But because of what I had been fed by everyone close to me, I was never allowed to fully & freely embrace my Nappy ass hair.
From every direction, everyone was communicating that this GENETIC MATTER was BAD. Yes, bad hair.
How do you escape what is naturally instilled in you tho? Well, my parents found ways to make us fit in with what was socially acceptable...
My brother and I have done it ALL...
When we didn't have our heads cut, we had and S-curl.. Jerry Curl... Waves... Etc.
Pretty much everything with the exception of our Natural Nappy Ass Hair.... (My brother's hair was always 'better' than mine though. Mine was always harder to comb through).
I have never been really big on HAIR... Which is all the more reason why I have always wished to just simply walk around with my hair the way it is! Sure every once in a while, I wouldn't have been bothered by a little snip' snap'. But other than that, I just NEVER really cared to be groomed as "properly" as my parents facilitated me to be.
Why is it SAVAGE?
Why is it DIRTY?
Why is it BAD?
All through High School, I wondered why I couldn't wake up out of bed and go to school without picking out my hair until it looked a lil' bit straight or at least not so packed up/Nappy. As a college student now, I ask myself everyday "Why couldn't I just have took my ass to school without worrying about the small shit.. JUST like the white kids who got out of bed, got ready and headed to their bus stops without giving a DAMN about their hair?" ... Then again, they were most likely NEVER picked on about their natural look. Why was I targeted?
By now, we should be able to Comb this one out...
America has a history of associating Darkness (skin tone), and Rough hair with inferiority and ugliness... Agreed? Ok.
Consequently, for decades African American WOMEN have been drawn to wearing wigs, perming their hair and inserting hair pieces into their heads (Without even considering the psychological damages that could be passed down to their children & the physical damages that are being done to their heads). I remember my mother pressing my older sister's hair for school. Sometimes she would comb through it with a RED/ORANGE HOT comb that she'd sat on the stove for a long ass time so that it was burning hot. Sometimes my sister ended up with pink burn marks on her forehead or at the tip of her ear. But her hair was always as straight as can be!
So now we have this image of 'Good Hair'. What I'm challenging now is, what makes it so good? What is so good about it if it is not what you are naturally made of? BOTTOM LINE. After winning over FREEDOM as a BLACK collective, why must we continue to assimilate? We do not have to!
I believe that we should celebrate our 'Nappy' hair... leave it as it is! We should Care to simply not Care about it at all! If we can believe that WE facilitate what is acceptable, than the can live without worrying about looking "normal." We should create our OWN normal. It's time for us to collectively take back ownership over what is interpreted as beautiful. FUCK what the world tells us... Be your naps and kinks. They are who you are whether you can bare it or not.
We are NOT cursed with
Stay real my Brown Brothas & Sistas.
-Jay G.
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