“Hair’s” my story!

He said to me by the office cooler, “I love your hair! I used to have natural curls but was so embarrassed by it that I ‘played’ with my hair. Now I regret it”.

I once thought natural hair was the struggle of black women, but it is actually the struggle of curly haired people. There are men who struggle as well as people of different ethnicities who struggle.

Reading “The Curl Revolution” was eye opening because the struggle of naturally curly haired people is real. We have been ashamed of our blessing not only because of popular brands who have ignored our hair type but past cultural climates labeled our natural curls as “kinky” and “brillo”. Moreover, natural hair was deemed as unacceptable in schools and some work-places.

“Hair” is my story!!

For those of us in the Caribbean, our roots come from somewhere in Africa. Our hair was an important symbol as it identified our social status. It is even said that, for Africans, our hair was symbolic of our relationship with God; not so different from the symbolism of hair as recorded in the Bible pertaining to the Jews.

When we were shipped as slaves, we came to a new world where the combs and treatments we once used to keep our coifs fresh were left behind. To condition our hair we used butter, kerosene oil (yes what we used for the lamps) and even bacon grease… at least we smelled delicious.

To further denigrate our worth, we were told our hair was wooly, kinky and nappy. Now you may say, “Annick, you were not born a slave you were born free” but the truth is, it wasn’t until 2017, that I was finally liberated from the slavish notion about good hair and my kinky curls. 

I started with cornrow and braids as a child but when I hit about 10, there was a yearning to have long straight hair. This began a journey that started with a hot comb; a metal comb you put on the stove until it was fiery red. The person combing the hair had to have hands as stable and precise as a surgeon, as they combed out the kinks from root to tip.

Getting your hair pressed was not for the faint hearted but I wanted that straight hair so I sat without breathing. Any sudden move resulted in a burn and the tip of my ears bore many a burn covered by the guilty straight hair.

But Houston we had a problem because pressing was temporary! If I sweated too much or my hair got wet in the shower, that kinky curl came right back. So pressing was frequent and I chose not to go regularly to the beach.

Alleluia though, because Madame CJ Walker created a miracle called “relaxer”. Black women rejoiced because now straightening could last a few months. Madame CJ Walker is a black woman featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the first American female self-made millionaire.

I jumped in the salon chair excited about this relaxer process but what an awakening!
My hair was thin and one of the chemicals in the relaxer was lye. The hairdresser lavished this mixture on my hair and at first all was well. Very soon though, I felt a tingle and then within minutes my head was burning. My hairdresser patted and sprayed, trying to cool my scalp while hoping the hair took to the relaxer. It did…but the front of my hair was stuck to my scalp. It took days of gently massaging my scalp with oil to recover from the chemical burns but I had straight hair!

After years of doing this, I asked myself “what the heck are you doing! How could this be healthy?” It wasn’t! I was done with relaxing. Thankfully, I found weaves and I could get the straight hair from Peru or Brazil. I would weave and braid my hair and didn’t realize that in doing so, a revolution had started.

My kinky curl began to grow and flourish under the braids or weave and in July 2017, something amazing happened.

Quite by chance actually! I took out my braids and realized I had a dilemma.

The young phenomenon who braided my hair, decided that she was going on vacation for a month. My regular hairdresser washed and conditioned my hair and then said to me, “Annick what are you going to do with your hair”? I stared in the mirror and fell passionately in love with my natural curls. It was an emotional moment because I hadn’t seen my natural hair in nearly 30 years! WOW!!!

I decided at that moment to rock my beautiful curls because, in the end, it wasn’t even about natural hair at all. It was about self-love and acceptance. I was finally truly free!

So to all my curly haired divas and gents – rock on and viva la revolucion!!

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