andromida:

It is amazing how we as black people take the easy way out with everything-
We don't demand reparations for slavery because it has been so LOOONG AGO, yet till today the German government has special grants and scholarships for people of Jewish decent.

Oprah Winfrey built the first all girls’ high school in an impoverished neighborhood (aka black) in South Africa. Noticed I said FIRST, because you see after the apartheid was abolished, the black people did not demand that the White people build up their communities.

Now the same foolish excuse is chimed by black people everywhere, “Our natural hair is too difficult to maintain that’s why we perm it." How many black people stop to ask themselves what can we do to make our hair better? How many black people ask themselves what can we do with reparations? How many ask ourselves what can WE do to build up our communities? Because white people and companies haven't volunteered to do so; we roll with it.
We black people avoid investing time in things that better the quality of life for our people. While white people are investing millions into skin and hair care research, amongst other things; we just fold our arms, and hope they throw a bone our way, because research takes a lot of time and money, and unfortunately, a lot of black people think of "Now" and not long-term.
Research is being and HAS been done for hair and skin care, but it is not for us. They figure out what works for white people, and cross their fingers in hope that it works for us. But guess what, it doesn't!! So what do we do? We try and make our hair more like theirs to make up for it!!!

Why am I venting? I was tired of my perming my hair. Moving to yankee, for some reason my relaxed hair failed to adjust. It always grows, and sheds back up to shoulder length. I decided to go "natural", Something other women from other cultures take for granted (white people have their own perm), and I realized how anti-black hair the world truly is. The products don't work for your hair, lots of hairdressers only know how to take a hot comb to it, braid is practically your fail-safe option, and interestingly enough, turns out that white people are more interested in natural black hair than blacks.
Hopefully one of those white people will become dermatologists in future and do some research and invest some money into it, because I don't see too many people black out there that give a dam%.


  true talk. This is soooo true.

TheBBF:

Na wa oh!! It upsets me when I keep seeing posts like this. Not to be rude but I don't see why anyone would care what anybody else does to their hair and/or the reasons behind it. Its disturbing when I see comments like black women relax because of self hate, and the white woman's influence, but to me that is just not true. Every race changes their hair! White women who were born with bone straight hair get it permed ( the opposite of what we call a relaxer) and white women with extremely course and curly hair straighten their hair. It's called fashion and beauty. For hundreds of years the white woman has been altering her hair, by using wigs, presses, and rollers to change the appearance of her hair. Nobody called it self hate, so why when we do it, its called self hate?

I understand that for the longest time, black women didn't know how to take care of our natural hair, so we started relaxing to make it easier to manage (those who did it for self hate reasons thats there business!). But now black women are becoming more educated about their hair, and they are learning how to manage it in either its natural or relaxed state. I think this amazing because more and more women are learning that taking care of afro-natural hair is not the painful nightmare that we believe. I am relaxed and even I have learned to grow my relaxed hair and take better care of it, and I blog about it to help other learn too. I am now also more educated about natural hair, and I believe I will transition to natural one day. But for right now I am enjoying my longer relaxed hair. Is it because, I want to be like a white woman? Ermmm I really don't think so. I like the look and the ease of it. But I also like the natural look as well.

I mean I try not to take comments like "you relax because of self hatred" personal,but I don't judge other people based on their personal preference or style, so I don't see why others take it upon themselves to judge other people or make assumptions, about random strangers you know nothing about. Its possible that relaxers were invented to make black women more acceptable in white society. But so? that doesn't mean generations later we all still want to be white.

Meddler:

I don't think black women perm/straighten their hair out of self hate. They perm because we are not aware of alternatives. I used to perm but now fully natural for 4 year now. Best decision I made. But before then I really didn't think I had any other option apart from perming. I remember my mom perming my hair and burning it in the process because she wanted the hair well done. I had to wear a cap to school for a week. But the thing is proper education about our hair is seriously lacking. [b]Naija parents especially are clueless about their kids hair. I sit at church every Sunday and see the sad state of our children's hair. Half of these kids are not even up to 4 years old and already have receding hairlines from braiding or fixing (yea I said fixing). I weep for them really. [/b]This is the reality on ground. Few years from now said child wud have been put through the system of relaxing. Pls tell me how she's supposed to know an alternative if that's the only thing she was thought about hair. I'm still learning till today the dos and donts of my hair. I've cut it 3 times in the past year due to bad maintenance. But again going natural is the best thing I did.

Meddler:

Nigeria's case is on a different level. We are ignorant and choose to remain ignorant regardless of the fact. I came back to Nigeria for my NYSC and the response I got when I wore my hair the first day to my place of primary assignment was ridiculous. Ppl were just shocked that I wore my hair naturally another lady approached me with her advice which was kinda funny given the state of her own hair. My mom is constantly on my case too. But as I say if you find my hair so offensive, don't look at it. Its my choice and its not changing anytime soon.