I saw this photo and for whatever reason reality became just a bit clearer. Because of this unashamed rediscovery of our natural hair, there will be at least a generation of web savvy black girls who will grow up never, ever thinking that there is something wrong with their natural hair.
A lot of women my age grew up with their mothers pressing their hair out with a hot comb because, heaven forbid you go out of the house with “nappy hair”.
And later we all jumped on the relaxer bandwagon because it got us out of that hot kitchen and kept our ears safe from hot comb burns (only to be replaced with chemical burns).
But just to soak it in fully is a new feeling in and of itself.
Whatever these beautiful black girls decide to do when they become adults, they will at least grow up in a socially connected world where there is a ginormous and readily available community full of ideas, tips, tutorials, videos and product reviews dedicated to the care of their hair.
They won’t have to be discouraged after hunting for hair styles for natural hair. They won’t have to go searching for something called “shea butter” and have no idea where to go to get it.
They won’t be looking all crazy when somebody tells them to go to their kitchen and warm up some olive oil to do a deep condition. They won’t have to be told what a deep condition is!
Generations of black women in the future will know what ‘cowashing’ is; what two strand twists are; and what ‘pineappling’ is. (Man, I just learned what ‘pineappling’ is last year even though I had been doing it for about 6 years without knowing. Woops. lol)
I hope these generations of black women in the future realize how special they are and are not systematically talked down to, treated with contempt or forced through social interactions to start being ashamed of their natural curls again.
Forward. Yeah.
-K.Williams
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