As i was on twitter the other day, i was talking to one of my followers and he begged the question, Is the natural hair movement equivalent to the hip hop movement?
It got me to thinking because it is in a way. Now while hip hop was introduced as something new, fresh, and rebellious, the hair that grows out our head is not. Our hair is just what it is, something that has been around for centuries ,we were born with it, and it is in our DNA.
Now i CAN equate the two in the aspect of rebellion. It has become perfectly clear that no matter what an African- American does whether it be graduating from college, starting their own business and EVEN wearing our own hair, we will be hated for it. Exhibit A, the recent post i made about a Natural Hair Community on Facebook Overrun By Racists. Honestly who are we harming by wearing our own hair? No one…. but yet and still it is treated like we are about to take some kind of magic potion and make everyone in the world’s hair “nappy”.
The hip hop movement revolutionized music. People protested it, people hated it, and people LOVED it. Now while i hope we will not be met with protest about our own hair, it is still hated and worst of all, by people of our own race. This is done out of ignorance but i believe that if people could be educated about it, their views would change and they will love it as well. Much like hip hop…..
Hip hop is not just slap a hoe, hit the block, shot some people up, stab this so and so and to think so would be pure ignorance. Hip hop tells a story of struggle, perserverance, and most of all it gave a people a way to express themselves. Not every African-American can sing, not every African-American can dance, and not every African-American can rap! But it gave those who could tell a story a way to do so because not every hip hop song is vulgar. I said all this to say it is no different than our hair.
Our hair allows us to express who we are because we ARE you UNIQUE people that come in all shapes, sizes , and colors and so does our hair. We tell a story of centuries of women ashamed to rock what they were born with. We also tell the story of women deciding they are ready to come out of that mentality and love their hair REGARDLESS of what anyone may think about it. In doing so you are going against societies so called standard of beauty this is just as manufactured as society itself.
Why blend in? Why not stand out in the crowd? Why be like everybody else? What because Pantene Pro-V told you you had to be?
No I don’t think so ill pass. I rock my hair in its natural state because it is an expression of my personality and since i documented it in pictures, it also tells my journey and my story of MY hair. Now while natural hair may never be the standard of beauty, and im really not trying to make it, just like hip hop eventually people while come and respect the most coarse type of hair just like they have come to respect some of the most unpopular lyricist.
Who needs the popularity when you still get to tell your story?
