In the last few years there has been a flood of black women giving up the creamy crack and growing their natural kinky, textured hair. The big chop has become a well known rite of passage, symbolising to some an action of self love, acceptance and freedom.
For me personally, my BC (Big Chop) wasn't a transformative, spiritually uplifting experience we often see on Youtube videos, but rather a frivolous choice as relaxers would no longer take to my tough kinky hair. As time has moved on however, my face beams with expectation and excitement whenever I see new growth and the healthy thickness. The process of learning how to care for it was truthfully jarring and off putting, but when patience triumphed I began to understand it's needs and wants, while also discovering it's unique versatility. My natural hair journey made me learn to love my hair, without the need of harmful chemicals and pain inducing treatments.
My journey has also made me question why we relax and straighten in the first place while ignoring the dangers it can have physically and psychologically on black women. As I look back to baby pictures of my thick natural curls I always wonder why my mum decided to relax it, coming to the conclusion that it must have been too hard to manage and comb and so forth. Unfortunately this was the same response and warnings I was bombarded with when I was thinking of going natural...'oh it’s a lot of work'...'are you sure you're going to have time'...'it will look unkempt'. I too was starting to think I wasn't ready for this product consuming thing on the top of my head. I began surfing the net addicted to watching natural styling videos, seeing other people’s journeys and rapid growth, but unfortunately they only gave me a false sense of confidence in my decision, as who can trust social media these days. I must admit that for me the transitioning period and then the final big chop was tough at first, I mean just looking in the mirror and seeing a misshapen block of frizz on your head takes some time to get used too. It didn’t at all look like the images I’d flown through on pages that flaunted beautiful girls with big, thick curly hair with flowers sprouting from the roots and glitter shining at the ends, truly showing the embodiment of #Blackgirlmagic. I however did not feel magic and I also did not feel empowered. Instead I felt painfully self-conscious, relying on bows, scarves, head bands and almost any other piece of accessory to take people’s attention off the short mass I was yet to get used to. Don’t get me wrong, I fully praise those women who rock there natural hair so publicly, sharing testimonies on Youtube of their proclaimed acceptance of true black womanhood and how their viewers should do the same. I think the problem lies with the assumption that that viewer watching will have the exact same experience and results, leaving them with the crushing expectation of shoulder length curls after 10 days.
I believe natural hair is a beautiful thing which all black women should acknowledge and over time except, but that's not the conversation we're having. The conversation I want to challenge is this over romanticisation of natural hair. Many have donned the hash tag #teamnatural including myself over Insta and other social media platforms but this does not mean we should downgrade or politicise black hair, for example deeming weave as a form of not excepting your natural self or stereotyping those who have natural hair as the unique down to earth girls who writes spoken word and listens only to Erykah Badu. I would never advise anyone to relax their hair as it is literally putting chemicals on your head, but this does not mean I will put shame on anybody who does it. Choice and free will is probably the most important process on whether to go natural or not, if it's coerced by shaming and belittling, it becomes fuel to rashness and regret. Think about it for yourself and yourself only. It’s your head and it’s your hair. You make the final decision.
