Wednesday, December 12, 2012

It's Not Just Hair

So I stumbled on someone's blog about how most black women who blog, blog about hair (she obviously hasn't seen tumblr yet).

This blog is a metaphor.  I have other blogs.  This is my first time having a blog about hair.  I just want to be able to look back and see these photos.  I don't like fotki or whatever the fuck else they have online.  I've lost everything sentimental to me before so this is a way to make sure that no matter what happens in the future, these photos will always be here and online for me to view of how my hair looked in my 20's.

This is something I wrote on facebook in response to a friend of a friend dressing up as "blackface" for halloween.

"I guess it bothered me because I got bullied for wearing an afro in my old high school before I transferred. Tis why between the ages of 15-19 everyone has mostly seen me with braids. I remember having a conversation with a group of girls about which bleaching cream to use for our skin. I remember people telling me I was the ugly sister because my skin was darker. I still have friends who don't consider dark skin women and natural hair to be very attractive. I would never blatantly go parading out in public to offend someone's culture or their appearance. I don't want to give it power anymore T, believe me... I get tired of the stares and racist comments from being in an interracial relationship. I just don't know how to let it go just yet. But I'm really trying."

This is why I have a hair blog.  This blog isn't about just hairstyles.  This is a personal blog.  I'm not selling product, an aspiring writer, or a hair product junkie.  I just want to document how much I've grown from the inside out.  My babylocs are simply a metaphor.  I would like to laugh and make fun of myself for being so cowardly that I wore wigs and weaves because I was ashamed to be myself in public.  My partner had no idea what black women did to look the way they do in public.  She's never had to sit under a hair dryer for hours or book weekly wash and set appt or ever applied a white cream to her scalp so her hair can look universally appealing.  She's never had hair that refuses to go into a ponytail or get ridiculed for looking "different."

I need this blog.  So if it doesn't align with anything going on in your life, politely keep it moving.

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