The Perks Of Natural Hair

I've had natural hair for about 6 years now. Add to that all the years of my childhood spent begging my mum to let me use the creamy crack and you’ll see I've been a natural (implying everybody else is fake) most of my life. This is apparently a big deal in the natural hair community, along with when you did the “big chop” and whether or not you use petroleum based products. There’s a whole other world out there people! I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on the subject of natural hair. For the first year I just walked around with a kinky (but cute) mass on my head.  Then it evolved into a baby fro and just stayed that way for a while. I honestly had no clue what to do with my air until about a year ago when I discovered natural hair blogs. An oasis in a desert. So for the last year I’ve been taking better care of my hair and I gotta say it works, a little too well. Anyway that’s not what this is about. This is about what I’ve learnt on my natural hair journey. Why it’s so much fun to be a natural. Random fact about me, I like lists, you may or may not have noticed. So here‘s another list.

The moral high ground. Being a natural is awesome, no matter how immersed you are in western  culture (pretty sure I could get a green card just from my knowledge of American food alone) you can pull the “I have natural hair” card and go on about how the white man still controls us with his money, language , food  and music. And people take you seriously coz you have natural hair and therefore you’re immune to the white man’s crafty ways. Apparently your ability to resist hair relaxer is a barometer for social awareness and legit arguments on race, culture and neo-colonialism.

You become more aware of your surroundings and social issues. If you weren’t a social activist before I can guarantee having a fro will make you consider becoming one. For some reason the issue of natural hair really polarizes people. Are weaves holding us back as black women? Does natural hair look unprofessional? Would Obama have won the election if Michelle had had natural hair (yes this is a real argument)? All interesting topics, all things you didn’t really care about until you watched Chris Rock’s Good Hair and/or went Natural.

Men think you’re a woman of substance. One of my personal favourites. It’s all fun, games weak pick up lines until to you pull of your fro. You’re a “queen” and “empress” or whatever Erykah Badu and Jill Scott want to be called these days. You’re a woman of substance. Your fro is a siren song calling men near and far to treat you with respect. Now let’s not forget I live in Botswana so we exclude the combi conductors, taxi drivers and general all around weirdo’s (also known as most of them)  I stumble upon almost daily.  But yeah generally it works. Terms and conditions apply.

You slowly become a health nut. Beware of the powers of the fro. The fro has a force within it powerful enough to turn seemingly innocent couch potatoes into marathon-running, clean- eating hippies. You start off with the best intentions. You discover petroleum based products aren’t good for your hair and want to incorporate better products into your hair regime. Turns out in the world of natural hair “better” means natural. Then it turns out you gotta eat right too... then they tell you, you’ve got exercise and sleep better, all for your hair. You do want that Tracee Ellis Ross Hair right?  Before you know you’re a fully fledged health nut with a luxurious fro kicking yourself coz your body feels so good. How did this happen????

You become a semi-rebel. I don't have a criminal record, I’ve generally (I repeated generally) kept good grades most of my life. I’m polite to elders, help out in my community, don’t do drug and all that good stuff. On paper I’m not rebel material that was until I got natural hair. Suddenly I was anti-establishment. I like it, I like it a lot *grins*. Especially when I visit Zambia where people associate my hair with all sorts of alternative life choices. I become cool and exotic or just a weirdo, depending on how you look at it.

What d’you guys think? Is Natural hair as big a deal as we make it out to be? Any of your Guys out there “Naturals”? Share your experiences with us.