I am not my hair

I stand before you and you see me.

Tall, elegant- as shinny as I can be.

Yes Me!

No! my hair I mean.

What is in a hair?

They say the hair can hide and reveal.

That hair reflects on your identity, your persona.

Your hair makes you

it makes your thoughts and beliefs

Haaa that cracks me up!

My hair must be very wise. I should ask it for advice often.

In history, hair has been considered sacred, a symbol of femininity- beauty, the “crowning glory” of women.

We tend to judge people, particularly women, by the hair they choose to wear.

It is almost as though; you are your hair. Maybe you are according to society. There seem to be a socially acceptable way of looking.

I have worn every kind of hair you can imagine- short, long, big, red, brown, weaves, braids, locks, all sorts. With each hair comes a certain representation, I guess. Does that mean anytime I change my hair I become a new being?

Lucky me!

When I wear a long straight Anglo-European-like hair style which fits the standard, I am professional, beautiful, well-mannered, morally upright, and maybe intelligent.

Ooow but when I wear my natural hair, suddenly I am unkept, unprofessional, un-beautiful, maybe! And even political. What is in the African hair that is so offensive?

It seems the socially acceptable way of looking, is wearing straight hair.

“Historically, Black women’s choices about how to wear their hair has been informed by societal pressures to adopt Eurocentric standards of straight hair,” — Lester, (2000).

I think the way women wear their hair, should be a matter of choice and shouldn’t be a consequence of societal judgement. It should be about self-confidence, acceptance and should not be about self-hate and a desperate desire to fit a certain stereotype.

My preamble is based on recent development of Achimota Senior High School refusing to admit a young boy with dreadlocks. My question is simple, should any child be denied an education?

As a people we like appearances- how things look and what it represents in society. We are drawn often to status- whether something gives a high status or not.

So, for the African hair, many try to stay away from it because it has taken on meaning which has colonial, political and even religious antecedents which makes it ‘unbeautiful’ for many people.

But you know what? This blog is not even about hair. Oh yes it isn’t.

We often, particularly, women give attention to things that we ideally shouldn’t be focusing on so much. Like how the Bible refers to humans seeking that which is not gold. I think that often we pay attention to the wrong things.

How is it that we allow many things to define us? How did we become so superficial? Question is, I like to wear different hair styles or clothes- if I change my clothes, do I become someone else? I am just asking. I am just curious, so if a Rastafarian cuts his/her hair, do they suddenly have a change in character? I want to know. Maybe I don’t understand.

These questions seem simple, but at least do we ask them? In my opinion, people do not ask enough questions about different circumstances whether it is in business, professional life, work, family, society or in the community.

We have become used to accepting things the way they are, and we often do not ask for answers or all the reasons why some things are the way they are.

We like fitting in a box, or just ticking the box.

I think that it is not enough to accept things the way they have been defined. At least ask some questions and have the answers for yourself, then you will be able to decide whether you enter the box or throw it away.

That will be after you have weighed all the options available to you. But when you do not ask questions, you rob yourself of a choice and allow other people to choose for you.

I can imagine some people don’t mind, but for those of us who do. We need to be creative in our thinking.

I think that we must show a little creativity in our approach to life. At least the life that we want for ourselves should be determined by the standards that we set for ourselves. We should not be caged by how things have been defined for us.

Don’t go where the wind blows. Set your own destination.