I am here to educate you all who are outside of the African-American race. I know that there are some questions and some things that need to be addressed. It has come to my attention that a lot of people are very ignorant when it comes to black girls and why we do the things we do. I would like to briefly elaborate on some things I want people to know about our hair.
1. Weave
We don’t wear weave because we need to or because we have to. We are not all “bald-headed” (a term people like to use when your hair isn’t super long and luxurious. See Natural Hair section.) Weave allows us to create all kinds of hairstyles at all kinds of lengths. We can rock a bob or waist length hair without doing a single thing to our hair. It is an art. An expensive art at that. First of all, we have to buy the bundles of human hair. (Yes, we buy human hair because it is more realistic and versatile) This can cost about $65-$200. Then after buying the bundles, the cost to get a sew in is about $180 at the salon.
2. Natural hair
I know I just had hair touching my butt and now I have hair barely touching my shoulders. I know, it’s a shocker. But no, most likely I did not cut my hair. I just took my weave out and am in a transitioning state until I get my next weave. We all have different types of hair. Many people are confused because they think our happy is all nappy. Our hair ranges from 3a to 4c (Google it). To define our curls, we have to put love and care into each and every strand. Just like weave, hair products are expensive, but honestly, we do not mind spending money to get it all. There’s also this little thing called shrinkage. It’s simply magical. See, our hair coils and curls up into a shorter length. To others that length makes our hair appear shorter than it actually is. So the next time you wanna make fun of someone for being “bald-headed” or having no hair, just think about the fact that her hair could be bra strap length but her shrinkage is shoulder length.
3. Our edge
We appreciate our edges. It is truly an art form to be able to lay those baby hairs down like no other! You may see that we have more than one toothbrush lying around. One is for actually brushing our teeth, the other is for slaying those edges. Don’t mind us walking around the house with our scarf on for a few minutes to an hour even.
4. Do NOT touch our hair!
Relationship goals is when he/she plays in your hair until you fall asleep, right? WRONG. Not here. Not for black girls. People do not understand what that does to us. First of all, we take it as quite offensive when people just put their crusty hands in our hair without asking. Especially natural girls. Constantly touching our hair can interrupt our curl pattern and it makes our hair frizzy. We take the time to style it and love on each individual curl on our head, and we don’t need you messing them up by grabbing and pulling on our strands of hair! It’s not okay.
5. The rain
Our sworn enemy. Name one black girl you know who enjoys standing in the rain. I’ll wait. Now let me explain something first. You're probably confused because I just wrote about how our hair loves water and moisture. Yes, our hair truly does. Our hair thrives off of it -- when we’re in the process of doing our hair. After our hair is done and looking just right, we do not need the rain and the humidity getting rid of all our hard work. And don’t get me started on getting our hair wet when it's in a weave. No way, mama. We worked (or sat in the salon chair) for too many hours trying to put this hair in. The rain just makes it frizzy, wet, and gross. And when we use heat in our hair, it reverses our straight hair. If it's raining, we will happily keep our butts INSIDE. There will be no singing in the rain, no "Step Up 2" rain dance, nothing.
The beauty supply store is one of my favorite places to be. I happen to be a part of the natural hair movement (shoutout to all my 4b hair types). It’s like being in a candy shop. Our hair is everything to girls in general, but for black girls it's more of a bold statement. Feeling foxy and ethical? Rock an afro. Feeling daring and eccentric? Rock a bold color. Feeling like you want some change in your life? Rock a bob or a nice 24 inch sew-in. Our hair comes in every shape and size, and we can respect a sista who puts time and effort into keeping that hair looking flawless.
