My Natural Hair friends stereotype people with relaxed hair and extensions

Hello people. Few weeks back, we got an email from a reader complaining bitterly about the unpleasant experience she has been having with some naturalistas because she doesn't have natural hair. After consoling her and assuring her that we are not natural hair nazis at African Naturalistas, I told her to do a guest post concerning her issues. She did, and we have featured it below.

If you have comment(s) for her, you can make it known in the comment section below. So here goes it.

Hey guys,
I just wanna say before I go on to my topic, that I love this site. I never knew there was a Nigerian natural hair site, and it is soo cool by the way. Yeah Nigeria!!

Anyways back to my topic, I live in Canada and here, wearing your hair in a fro is a trend that almost all black girls are following. I love natural hair because it is different and it is beautiful. It is a gift that we as black women have, and I am in full support of flaunting it. Girl! When you have something beautiful, you just have to show it to everyone.

But some people have turned this trend, this thing of beauty, this blessing, into something that makes others miserable. You guys might be wondering, how is this possible? Girl! It is …. I was at Starbucks one afternoon hanging out with some girls, you know, chilling having a latte, with my beautiful weave (that I love so much), and then suddenly this girl walks by us with a weave that I must say I loved it had red highlights, and it looked so nice and soft, and it just made you want take it right off her head. And then when she walks past us, my girls start laughing, and I was like what did I miss? And they’re she’s sooo fake...(by the way all of them are natural).

The thoughts that ran through my mind were “oh they probably know this girl…” all in all, I thought they were talking about her character, you know. And they all start talking about how she is influenced by the white superiority that makes her want to look like the white people, that’s why she has a weave in. and that she is ashamed of her natural self and hair, that she is not brave enough to show the world the black beauty. At this moment, I was dumbfounded. I looked at these girls, they all had make-up on, they all dyed natural hair and they called someone fake. I felt insulted because like I said, I had my weave in.

My whole point here is, do not let anyone or popular stereotypes dictate what your hair should be like because these same people are not there when you’ve gotta comb your natural hair in the morning while rushing to class. I mean if you feel you want to perm your hair because it is stressful to keep it natural, then it should be your business not others. It’s like letting people dictate to you what you should wear.

Having a fro’ is not a political statement, it does not mean that you are an African woman, I mean you can still have permed hair and be black, you can still have your lovely weaves in, and still be black. Lord knows the brown pigment in our skin stands out so much that they can never take us for white people.

The worst part of this is that some silly idiotic boys have found a new way to make black girls feel insecure... "I don't like fake girls." Girl! If your man says that to you... what are you even doing with him in the first place?

Source

So ladies be lovely, if you have a fro, lovely for you, if you have permed hair, lovely for you and if you have your weaves in, lovely for you. I mean as women, it’s a constant routine for us to find new ways of styling our hair. Please don’t make this hard for other people who don’t have afros because the self-esteem you claim that an afro brings is being destroyed in the victims of your spiteful word.

Ladies stay beautiful and thanks for reading this…..:)
Still have to say I really love this site

Bye
Cynthia.