Hairy Situations

I think therefore I have hair. LOL! Well, if you were there (you know where) you can follow along. I spend 5 minutes thinking about my hair in the morning. It's no bigger issue than that for me. Hopefully this can lighten up the hair drama and we can all have a good hair day.

India Arie sung prophetically, "I am not my hair..." She sung it after going through her own internal struggles about what she needed to look like. India's song again points to how songs express the heartfelt experiences of a culture. In the song the best line is that, "I am not your expectations." What I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE about black people is their versatility, their creativity, and their daring to be unique. India Arie realized as an adult that she was the one that had limited her options.

Eventually she realized that she had allowed herself to be trapped on both sides, trying to fit in because of media pressure and then feeling trapped into using her hair as a symbol of blackness. She realized that it really wasn't that deep and her hair did not have to define her or be a political statement. It could just be hair! In the video she said she cut it off her dreds because it was HOT! Sometimes it's just that simple and practical. Women of every race and every color have OPTIONS. Choose the one that makes you feel good.

Finger waves, French rolls, blow out, blow comb, wrap, weave, extensions, braids, up-do, waterfall, lace-front, sew-in, fade, locs, J-5 fro, curly fro, wash and go, cornrows, French braids, box braids, twist, flat twist, love knots, tree braids, rod set, jeri curl, press and curl, loose curls, tight curls, wavy, kinky, tightly coiled, asymmetrical cuts, tapered at the base, long pony tails, bead, bows, barrettes, gel, good old fashioned grease, spritz, leave in, hot oil, flat irons, golden hot curling irons, bun, natural, relaxed, permed, tinted, rinsed, bleached, straw set, fried-died, and laid to the side, and bald.

We can wear it all and make it all look good! That to me does not speak to fragility it speaks to versatility.

I Am Not My Hair - India Arie

Little girl with the press and curl. Age eight I got a Jheri curl. Thirteen I got a relaxer. I was a source of so much laughter. At fifteen when it all broke off. Eighteen and went all natural. February two thousand and two I went and did. What I had to do because it was time to change my life. To become the women that I am inside. Ninety-seven dreadlock all gone I looked in the mirror. For the first time and saw that HEY....I am not my hair. I am not this skin. I am not your expectations no no. I am not my hair. I am not this skin. I am a soul that lives within

Good hair means curls and waves. Bad hair means you look like a slave. At the turn of the century. Its time for us to redefine who we be. You can shave it off like a South African beauty. Or get in on lock like Bob Marley. You can rock it straight like Oprah Winfrey. If its not what's on your head its what's underneath and say HEY....Does the way I wear my hair make me a better person? Does the way I wear my hair make me a better friend? Does the way I wear my hair determine my integrity? I am expressing my creativity.

Breast Cancer and Chemotherapy. Took away her crown and glory. She promised God if she was to survive. She would enjoy everyday of her life. On national television her diamond eyes are sparkling
bald headed like a full moon shining. Singing out to the whole wide world like HEY... If I wanna shave it close. Or if I wanna rock locks. That don't take a bit away. From the soul that I got. If I wanna where it braided. All down my back. I don't see what is wrong with that.