talkin' 'bout good and bad hair...whether you're dark or you're fair...go on and stare, see if i care...good and bad hair...
-jigaboos and wannabes, from spike lee's "school daze"
it's time to cut my locs. off. i've had them for 7 1/2 years. colored them a handful of times. cut about 6 inches off over a year ago. carried all kinds of experience, growth, and trauma in them (yes, that thing you hear "dreads" or people with locs say about carrying energy in our hair is very true). it's time.
and the backlash that has ensued upon this declaration? bananas. some people simply say "but [your locs] are a part of you." others have gone so far as to say a woman's beauty is in her hair. unfortunately, i've tired of the latter response to women's hair in general that i rarely dignify it with a response at this point. i do realize that some people simply think my hair is pretty and aren't ready to deal with change. i also realize that the majority of the people who have reacted negatively are coming from a much more twisted perspective.
what i've been suprised to find is that even for natural hair, many people have european standards for what is considered beautiful. my shoulder-length locs hold more value [to those people] than a TWA ever could. conversely, when i first cut the perm out of my hair in the spring of 2002, resulting in my hair being that very length before i started my locs, that was THE first time i felt truly beautiful. so the naysayers don't bother me. well, i should say they don't affect my decision to cut. but the fact that they've placed long locs above a short natural on their oppressive hierarchy of "good hair" is beyond bothersome. we need to do better, people.
it's one thing to have beautiful hair. it's a whole other thing for one's beauty to be defined by his or her hair (or any other feature, for that matter). simply put, if your beauty lies in your hair, then your beauty is a lie.
be. fly.
rhythm
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4 comments:
I don't know what I'm doing on here... where is the like button? lol.I agree with you. I spent the other night arguing with my mother about my decision to get locs. I told her I shouldn't have to have straight hair to be considered beautiful.
fortunately, i didn't face opposition from my mother. but i did from just about everyone else. i was your age, as a matter of fact :).
and you're absolutely right. you're beautiful simply because you are.
Hm wow! Thanks for the perspective on the energy you carry with locs. I never would have thought of it that way - well no, maybe I would've eventually, but I get it now.
The other day, I was at the M.A.C store and the (BEAUTIFUL!) salesgirl told me, when I asked, that she cut her locs off for purging - I didnt get it then, but I do now.
Just out of curiosity, pls blog about your thoughts and feelings and experiences when you finally decide to make the cut. I wonder if you'll feel the breeze on your scalp in a new way!
peace
Hi Sister! When it's time, you know. I remember when I decided to loc the first time-Oct 1995. After 3 1/2 years it was time for me. So I chopped them off. But I felt that I wanted to try again, so in Jan 1999 I started again and kept them for 13 months. It's your choice to start them, cut them, restart them whenever you want despite others opinions. Blessings
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