I work at a high school. At first I was a little apprehensive about wearing a huge afro. I was like, "Is this gonna be considered not professional?' But then I was like, you know what, if my hair was this long in real life, this is how it would be. It grows up, not down. If I am cool with it, others will be too.
Well, that is what I told myself anyways.
So I walk into the school and I see several white coworkers:
"OMG! I loooove your hair!"
"I wish my hair could do that!"
"Whooo hoooo! Tina Turner! I like it!!"
This is the reaction from black folk:
General laughter.
"You don't know what you want to do with your hair."
"What is this?"
*black power fist in the air*
*prodding and poking of my hair * (which I hate!!!)
To be fair a few black folk did say that they liked it...mostly men lol.
And my new hair did spark some convos with co workers about natural hair vs straight hair and hair looking "nice" or "in control".
I think the issue is that my hair is "out of control", untamed, wild, up in the hair, big, free formed, just...there. And this makes some black folk uncomfortable. Oh well.
I work in a corporate setting and recently decided to wear my hair in a big curly afro. At first, I was a little timid about what people would think or say. But, after wearing this style for about 3 weeks and a ton of compliments later. I'm glad I made the decision to switch. Big hair rocks!!!
ReplyDeleteyep I agree :-)
DeleteI think black folk are more uncomfortable by our hair and white folk are more curious. I've never heard a white person refer to a black person's hair as bad or nappy but instead so unique and cool. If only we could see the beauty others see in us.
ReplyDelete