Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woman of color that sang a tune named 'Don't Touch My Hair'. The title alone should say a lot. For years and years, women of color find different ways to style their hair, and some may have been more successful than others. Since I was a little girl going to elementary school I have gone through several stories about what my hair has gone through. I started out with braids and my mom styling them every morning before I went off to school. Going to a predominantly white school, this would question some of my classmates considering that I did not obviously have hair like theirs.
Don't get me wrong there were some of my classmates that loved how I wore my hair and thought it was beautiful to embrace what I have. But some were not a fan. There tends to be a thing in which people criticise what they are not familiar with. Some were wondering what my hair would look like if it was straightened and were saying how pretty it would look. During that time I had no idea why they would say that, but realizing that they hated my natural hair made me go into a mode of self-doubt. This was something that would be the start of my hair journey.
By the time I got to middle school, I said goodbye to the braids and the natural look and said hello to the hot comb. Once again explaining to some of my white classmates what the hot comb it was a waste of time. At that point I just kept quiet. Then from that point, I put a relaxer in my hair by the time I was in 7th grade. This relaxer stuck around all throughout. Unfortunately, things were not always smooth sailing.
Because of the constant changes in the weather and all throughout the year, my hair would start to act up. If it was too cold or dry outside my hair would react and show signs of breakage and flakes. I would get teased and be accused of having a dandruff issue. I kept trying to explain to them over and over again that it wasn't my fault and that this was simply how my hair was, but they just wouldn't seem to grasp it. During that time the internet was not as accessible as it was so it's not like they could ask their parents about any of it nor just look up the ins and outs of black hair. It was frustrating and annoying. By the time high school started, I no longer had that much explaining to do because now I was surrounded by more of my other black peers that understood what I was struggling with in terms of my hair.
My sophomore year is when I began my natural journey and that was when I realized that my hair was certainly better off natural at that time. That's when in my Junior year I transformed to the box braids. Till this day I still believe that this was one of the best decisions that I have ever made because not only was my hair allowed to grow back, but this was also a look that I embraced and loved everything about. Since college, I have taken a break from the braids and by the end of my freshman/sophomore year, I was embracing my look more and more.
But now that my college career has gone to an end, I think it is time to retire the braids once and for all. I've done it for a long time to know that this is a look that I can make my own no matter what, but I believe that now is the best time for retirement. As you can see my hair has certainly gone through some changes, and I just hope that this next journey it goes on is something that I will cherish forever.
One thing that everything in my hair journey has in common is the question of 'Can I Touch Your Hair?' Doesn't no mean no?! If I say you can't that doesn't mean you can proceed to do such. Whether you are curious or not it doesn't matter. It is a bonified rule as a black woman that it doesn't matter what race you are, you can only look with no touch, PERIOD. I will never understand what the big fascination is that you feel the need that you need to put your fingers all throughout and treat it as if I'm a dog or some type of weird experiment.
So regardless of what you think, NO you may not end of story. Us as black women are not some type of weird fetishized experiment that you can test certain things on. No! We are as human as can be and if you don't understand that it's fine but do not violate our space because of your curiosity.
