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The Natural Hair Philosophy
How black hair inspires us to be ourselves.
Your natural hair will always be there to remind you of who you are. The roots on your head pay homage to your natural roots as if to say, "Remember the people and the things that came before you. They have shaped who you are. Keep them top of mind."
When you look in the mirror who do you see? Someone whose existence is a manifestation of magic and hope passed down for thousands of generations; or someone, something, that must be manipulated and contorted to be considered human and acceptable? Do you feel less than whole, not quite presentable, when your hair is not straightened or otherwise treated? Sit with that question.
Why is straight or loose hair more presentable in your eyes, than your natural hair?
This is not to say that natural is "right". Black women have the most versatile hair and own many styles. It is not necessarily "better" or more true to oneself to wear a wash and go than it is to, say, wear a wig. But there is something to be said about how we see our naked selves, the most stripped-back, bare version of ourselves.
The idea that you are less than a woman when you show up as your natural self, has a name. It is a form of internalized racism. It is a silent generational trauma. You have a right to wear your hair however you please but know that the things we repress have a way of bubbling back up, and one cannot hide their identity forever. Yes, you can do what you want to your natural hair. But you do not have the right to persecute your own sense of self-worth.
"There is no journey to be made; whiteness is not our final destination. There are no requirements for worthiness. You are already whole, you always have been. No reason is needed to love and be worthy of love, that right is woven into your existence."
Think about all of the silent things colonialism has left us with. Think about the areas of thought you do not explore, the views of the world you can't afford to have, the questions you never ask yourself, and the concerns you dare not vocalize. You must challenge those things. It may very well be uncomfortable, but that is our task at hand.
If there is anything worthwhile in this life it is ensuring that you are comfortable in the mind and body that you inhabit. You can't get discard them or swap them out, so you can't afford to entertain any attacks against them.
History has left us in a world that asserts that whiteness is our axis, our central ideal, while we are all confined to the margins, on the outside looking in. It asserts that we must hold this central idea of whiteness as the highest virtue and that we should always be striving towards it. That is why some of us hold resentment for our own kind, why some of us mourn colonizers, and why some of us view our own features as ugly.
But please know that this is a lie, maybe the biggest fabrication of all time. There is no journey to be made; whiteness is not our final destination. There are no requirements for worthiness. You are already whole, you always have been. No reason is needed to love and be worthy of love, that right is woven into your existence. You need not ask anyone but yourself for acceptance. There is no part of you that is burdensome, you simply cannot afford to view yourself that way. Your hair and everything that makes you black is beautiful in every sense of the word.
