Recently, especially with the start of Black history month, there has been an uprising of people embracing their natural hair. I honestly think that this is fantastic and I completely understand their reasons for making the change from relaxed to natural hair, or just loving the hair they have in general.
As happy as I am for them, I don’t understand why I am now being shamed and put down by others for not going natural. I have seen it countless times from popular media sites such as Buzzfeed. They come out with these articles that carry great messages, that is until I realize that they are putting me down in order to raise their message up. Having relaxed hair doesn’t automatically make me a bad person.
Like I am sure many other women with relaxed hair do, I have my reasons. I shouldn’t have to feel like I need to explain myself as to why I style my hair the way I do.
Yes, I am a woman of color. No, I shouldn’t have to be shamed or berated for wanting my hair a certain way. The media has taken it upon them to put words into my mouth claiming that people with relaxed hair always have something mean to say about natural hair. This is far from the truth.
I have relaxed hair, but I don’t think natural hair is ugly.
I have relaxed hair, but I don’t think I am better than women with natural hair.
I have relaxed hair, but I don’t think that it looks better than natural hair.
I have relaxed hair but, I don’t think that natural hair looks unprofessional.
I have relaxed hair, but I don’t think that natural hair looks messy.
I can’t speak for everyone with relaxed hair, but I am sure that I am not alone in my thinking.
Alana Long
Photo Resources:
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