Hair-raising.

As more and more women fall into the natural hair movement, I find myself stuck at a crossroads, often questioning if I should follow suite. I have had natural hair before, twice, by my own free will. But both times I couldn't handle all the effort and work that went into maintaining it and getting it to look decent. I am much happier with my chemically treated hair. I find that its easier to manage, feels and looks healthier [because there isn't as much breakage] and is overall a joy to have.
But fearing the judgement and prosecution that is gathering speed against women with straightened hair, [cue India Arie, I am not my hair], I have been prowling around the net, keeping myself updated on the natural hair blogs. So imagine my surprise when I came across this article;



WHY I STOPPED BLOGGING ABOUT NATURAL HAIR by Veronica at xojane.com
'And while the mainstream narrative is that society isn’t always generally welcoming of the springy, coily texture of unaltered black hair (and it’s true, it isn’t), some naturals turned the table way too far in the other direction. There were more than a few discussions about whether certain women were “nappy” enough to be called natural -- the equivalent of questioning whether one can be “black” enough.

There were so many unspoken rules: If you had natural hair straightened with heat, you weren’t really natural. If your coils had been colored, you weren’t really natural. One message board in particular gained a reputation for being unfriendly to members who didn’t have the most tightly coiled hair, effectively telling women with looser curls (think Corinne Bailey Rae) to “go somewhere else.” '

read the full article here

It gave me some much needed insight into the world of natural hair that not everyone gets to see. It seems that people are happiest when they have someone or something to attack. An outlet for all their pent-up frustrations.

I am sure there are some pretty good hair blogs out there that are true to the cause of appreciating one's natural state, but at the moment I am glad to stick to what works for me.