It seems like the articles on the subject of black hair have been coming out of the woodwork in the past few days.  First, this article in the New York times titled “Skin Deep: Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics” and then this article from Time magazine “Why Michelle’s Hair Matters”.   There are also some wonderful summaries of these articles over at Jezebel and Afrobella.

For me, these articles couldn’t have come at a better time.  Not that there was any new information in the articles that I haven’t read before, but it was  more about reinforcement.   I’ve been self-reflecting as I’ve been going through what can only be called a “hair slump” this summer.  I’ve gone from wearing my hair in it’s natural state to having it straightened and back again, but truthfully, I don’t want to deal with it at all.    Right now, my hair is in it’s natural state, but I’m leaning towards going back to straightening it.  See what I mean? And now I’m at the point where I woudn’t even mind doing a Solange and starting all over.

Learning to love every part of your of yourself can be difficult; and I’ve found that learning to love my hair unconditionally can be even more difficult.   I’m getting there, slowly but surely.  And now, I no longer become upset when my hair doesn’t cooperate with me.   Looking at the picture above (this is before I “tamed” it a bit) , I’m starting to appreciate the thickness and the different textures.  I’ve grown confident in wearing my hair in it’s natural state to work, fancy restaurants and during walks and not caring less if I get passing looks and glances on the street. I’ve stopped caring if my natural curl pattern isn’t as “defined” as I wanted it to be and I’ve stopped trying to find the miracle product to make it so.  And I’ve stopped caring about what it means if I go back to straightening my hair vs. wearing it natural and what that might imply to others.  It’s my own choice.

I’ll admit, it’s been a long journey so far and I still have a long way to go.  I think for me, the most important thing is that I’ve learned acceptance.