Not My Hair

That's what I was saying as I looked in the mirror, 10 years of my hair being the same length. Chopped. Off.

Ever since I was little, my mother had been relaxing my hair. I had beautiful shoulder-length hair for years. And that's where it stayed. I didn't get it trimmed much, it just didn't grow.

In college, I learned how bad relaxing chemicals can be for a Black woman's hair. It's crazy to think that I'd been robbing my hair of full health all these years. Relaxer chemicals straighten my fro into long, "white" hair. I'm not trying to offend anyone but it's the truth. For decades, Black women have been told that afros were a sight for sore eyes, when in truth, God made us this way. He gave us high-wearing, grease-sucking, afros and what do we do with them? We straighten them to look like a Caucasian woman. I don't think it's right, not anymore. I used to wonder "God, why can't my hair stay straight like I want?" When I should've been asking what I should REALLY be doing with my hair. I found out just yesterday that the more we chemically-straighten or apply heat to our 4A or 4B-type hair, the weaker it gets. Until it breaks off.

All these years, I thought I had weak hair that shed and was supposed to stay this length.

So I decided to cut it. I cut out the hair that was still straightened (permanently) and kept my new growth. I haven't told my parents and I'm not sure what they'll say. But I know that in time, my hair will grow again. I want to take better care of it, God willing.



Until we meet again!
Jess ♥