#also i got a haircut today so now my hair is all wavy and bouncy hehe

[cloudcountry]

i just built two lego penguins ive had for years and now my fingers hurt LMAO

[may-self]

The Paradox of the Black Natural Hair Movement Growth and the Growing Popularity of the Human Hair Wigs

Disclaimer: I’m a young black African female

I have kinky hair and my hair has been on a fun journey I  could say, we’re not having as much fun as most women I know (Look at Rihannas’ hairstyle evolution) but that’s another story, today’s story is about the natural hair movement and its proponents' fondness for natural human hair wigs and hair extensions, the curly, the wavy and the straight, all time favorites of women who decided to go on a journey of acceptance and love for their natural God given kinky hair.

 As a black woman, length and volume have always been major issues I’ve been battling with in both phases of natural and relaxed hair. I’m sure a lot of people with 4c hair would agree with me, yes sure it can grow if you get dreadlocks or if you reeeeaaaaally take good care of it which implies hours and hours of pampering, infinite patience and a lot of money spent trying out “miraculous” products. So definitely weaves and wigs are a more practical option to achieve length and volume  in any desired hairstyle in no time rendering that instant dramatic change of look (hashtag flawless, hashtag goals, hashtag iwokeuplikethis, hashtag instabaddie). However, when we think about the essence of the natural hair movement and the origin of said “100% virgin" (Brazilian, Indian, Chinese) human hair they just don’t seem to go well together. The whole idea of abandoning relaxers and perms (and hair dyes) is to stop trying to chemically force the kinky hair to turn into the texture of other races' hair, it’s to try to stop copying other people's hair and embracing, liking, loving ours as it is. No?Let’s look now at the human hair million dollar business, this hair does not often come in kinky texture, it comes in straight, wavy and curly textures (other people's hair texture), and they come from the heads of real people, it grows, it’s cut, it’s unneeded hair. Definitely not our hair. So what’s the deal? How does wearing it contributes to us black women loving ourselves more? Undeniably, hair is a beauty accessory to women, grooming our hair is part of our femininity, it’s important. So the attention and time that we give to taking care of our hair is justifiable. It’s also justifiable to want to shorten this time but still achieve our desired result. However, there’s a catch,  this natural unnatural hair (at least the most expensive one) is reserved for special occasions: work functions, trips, birthdays, graduations, engagements, weddings... moments where women want to look their best and part of looking their best means tucking their own hair away underneath these expensive caps covered with hair strands that are foreign. Isn’t this a loss for the natural hair movement? In practice, most women don’t really care about the politics behind their hairstyle, they are just going with the trends, it became trendy to stop using relaxers they jumped on that train, how many women tried to get Rihanna's haircut or the ombré look? How about Beyonce's flawless curls? Weaves were always trendy but now with their improved quality, versatility and availability in the market and mostly with so many celebrities, beauty bloggers and overall influencers embracing this trend and advertising it, it just got unquestionably more popular, even the ones who were still a little resistant felt tempted to give it a try, I know I felt. But, let’s take a look, without the glamour lenses sold by the beauty business, at what wearing a natural hair wig/weave really is. Looking at it bluntly, my extremist side would compare it to growing our nails, clipping them and selling them for other human beings to use, which seems a little off. In a moderate thought I could compare it to an organ donation, someone is giving a part of their body that is not essential to their survival or well being to someone who needs it or to better say it “wants it” and hopefully said someone gets paid for it, doesn’t seem so bad now.  It seems a little vain to compare hair application to a kidney transplant, yet, there are many real life situations that would lead a person to actually need a human hair extension (cancer, alopecia, among others), in this situations, regaining your normal appearance would serve as a little but much needed self-esteem boost, the question is, are we black women in such a need of a self-esteem boost that requires a change of hair texture or our choices are merely due to lack of availability of the kinky hair extensions? Aren’t we falling prey of the same old western beauty standards?

 I’m a big believer of freedom of choice and wearing your hair as you please is an exercise of that right, I don’t frown upon any hairstyle natural or unnatural, if it looks good, if the woman is happy with it then great, it’s 2019, I’m not trying here to suggest how black women’s hair should ideally look. My only concern is that a subliminal message might be sent that although having your hair natural is a healthier choice, this other slick, bouncy, shiny hair represents an enhancement of beauty, a luxury good, a symbol of finesse and an investment to make if we want to look neat and flawless, because it is at the end of the day, just hair and not ours/ just not our hair. -M