When I think of “Good Hair”, I was expecting to see a movie discussing how women strive to have the so-called “good curly hair”. I thought this movie was going to be about how black women teach their daughters that their hair is “bad” or “inferior” to other hair types. Instead this movie focused more on the use of hair relaxers and weaves.

I did learn some new information when it comes to where the human hair women sew, glue, and braid into their hair come from, and from what I learned, I won’t be purchasing human hair ever again. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t get braids and weaves. This is totally your choice, just like it’s my own personal choice not to wear human hair weave.

The movie did not explore the world of natural hair at all. There was one actor whom was natural, but little was really said about embracing your own natural texture. I was pretty disappointed by the lack of this knowledge in the movie.

The movie revolved around the Bronner Brothers Hair Show which to me served as mere entertainment instead of education. The grand finale of the movie so to speak.

Overall, it was a pretty good movie and it’s worth seeing if you haven’t already. I would recommend this movie to all black women, especially if you’re relaxed.

I believe natural hair is beautiful. It is unique and can be styled in a multitude of ways in it’s natural state that enhances the beautiful of it. Just take a look at the photo’s below of beautiful natural brides, whom wore their hair in it’s natural state:

Natural Hair Photo 1

Natural Hair Photo 2

Natural Hair Photo 3

Natural hair is gorgeous. You can be just as beautiful if you choose to keep your hair in it’s natural state for your wedding, a party, formal dance, etc. Who says we must straighten our hair to be accepted among the group? Being natural sets you apart from the plain Jane. By embracing your natural hair the positive energy of self love flows and people sense that, thus making you appear to them as a natural Goddess!

Credits: Photos from www.blogcatalog.com, www.blog.mlive.com, & www.khamitkinks.com

I never thought that embracing my natural hair would make me target of disrespect comments from my own kind. Here I am being called names by another woman whom from what I observed was wearing microbraids. She was African American just like me and I’m assuming she had a relaxer, but we both know that her hair is similar to mine if her hair wasn’t relaxed. I was in such a shock that she went to the lengths of sticking her head out the window to scream those obscenities that I didn’t even know how to respond to them.

I continued walking and thought to myself. Where is this world going? Why are black women so conditioned by society that they’ve forgotten their roots? Is it really that hard to accept? The true image of who we are and where we came from. Our hair as well as our skin is what makes us unique and sets us apart from the rest, and now that I’ve learned to embrace it I find myself being harassed by other African Americans.

This really angered me, but it actually saddened me even more. Yes, I was insulted and I was upset for I am human, but I love my natural hair and no one can change how I feel about it, but why do we do this to our own sistas? Who are we to really judge women whom choose to embrace the natural beauty of their true texture? What is so wrong with being true to who you really are?

I have no issue with women whom relax their hair. I relaxed my hair in the past and I blog about the care of relaxed tresses as well as natural ones. I would never down a woman for relaxing her hair, because it’s her choice and no one should make her feel bad, wrong, or inferior for doing so.

Natural women: Have you ever been a victim of harassment due to the texture of your natural hair from other African American women?

Relaxed women: Have you ever harassed a woman for having natural hair?

I’m glad that she made this a topic because as a black women I wonder if we as black women are ashammed of our own heritage when we decide to put relaxers as well as the European textured extensions into our hair. I believe a lot of it stems from the media, and our own mothers, and grandmother’s etc. These are people we look to for approval and they raise us into believing long straight hair is beautiful.

Even so, in the natural community I see curl definition focused on way too much. Why are these companies that market to black women glorify mult-racial textured hair(3a-4a). Where’s the love at sistas? Why can’t we accept our kinkiness and learn to love it for what it truly is? Our crown and glory that God blessed us with.

In the black community relaxers and weaves have become a way of life. Everyone is wearing hair extensions, whether it be glued in, sewn in, braided, etc. The question is: Are you wearing a weave because you feel your hair is ugly and you don’t believe your own hair is capable of growing to that length or do you wear it just for pure enhancements with total confidence in your hair without it?

If you choose to wear a weave then it’s totally your choice in the long run, just like it’s completely your choice to relax your hair. I’ve worn weaves, I’ve also had my hair relaxed, texturized, pressed, flat iron, you name it I did it! When I finally came to the conclusion after all my years of struggle with my hair that God made me who I am for a reason. That was the first hurdle, then came the next one: To accept myself for who I am. This was even harder, but once I did I grasped an even greater reward: Total self love.

As I pondered on these thoughts of the history of our hair, the first thing that came to mind was the straightening comb. Even before that I read the history of black slaves and how they used lard and other painful ways to make their hair straighter (Please read this Black women it’s a must!). This is why the straightening comb was invented. Years later came the chemical relaxer. With all this information gathered, I began to wonder what gave black women the notion that we had to have straight hair? We weren’t born with straight hair and when Africans were in Africa before slavery this practice was never used. In conclusion I came to the idea that we were and still are trying to mimic the texture of Caucasian women. Black women will actually put chemicals in their hair to alter the natural curl pattern and even damage their hair so it will look like that of another race. This revelation alarms me! Even I was one of those women that followed suit in this practice

Some women claim they rely on a relaxer for manageablity of their hair, but I believe that this is a sad excuse and a quick fix for not researching and learning how to care for your natural curls. If black women will educate themselves on the care of  their “natural” hair, then the use of chemicals will be eliminated from their hair regimen. Our hair is beautiful just the way it is, but society has lead us to believe that natural black hair is unacceptable. Even the hair care industry caters to the use of relaxers. There are tons of products on the market today conveniently located in local stores that focus on the so-called care of chemically treated hair, but I rarely see hair products in these same stores that cater to the care of African American hair in it’s natural state.

I am not saying that all women should give up a relaxer or texturizer and cut off their chemically treated hair. In the end it is your choice what you decide to do with your hair, but let it be just that. Your “choice”, and not the choice of society.