recycling 4

21 Mar 2006


the wonders and mysteries of African hair
Current mood: enthralled

or should i say Negroid hair?

on march 11th, i had several hair cutting conversations. i resolved that weekend to cut my hair. specifically- cut the straight ends off. myself. not wtih a hair dresser.
my hair was pretty jacked that week. I think it was in shock from coming back from Trinidad's moist hair-loving sea breeze air and returning to dry Canadian air. I was also pretty tied up with the fact that i'd undone the twists, but my two textures (6inches natural, 8inches straightish) were doing war with each other and i couldn't be bothered to pacify them.

sunday, march 12th, after church (shoulda asked for prayers of guidance), i washed my hair with pantene for coloured people and then got set up to cut it. i cut from the back to the front. i experienced all sorts of traumas when i arrived at the middle of my head because here my hair stretched out to more than a foot long and it was quite upsetting to have to slice through it.

the hair never suspected a thing.

i cut it and realized something i had forgotten. black hair shrinks to 1/3 its length when wet. no worries, i'll just stretch the hair out by twisting.

oh yeah, while i was conditioning, i put a towel on my neck and sat down at my computer to look up websites with tips on how to properly cut straight hair off and how to style short natural hair.

did i mention i was doing this myself? crazy i know. ["there are other things..."]

well did my twist thing and realized something new: unlike the split ends i had before, these were strong straight ends that resisted being twisted together, preferring to stick out defiantly on their own - much to my chagrin.

i finished then realized something else: this was the first time in nearly 10 years that i would have short hair

realization 4?: this is the first time ever that i'd have to manage short natural hair. i found 2 pins to pin the front twists back and went on my way.

with a scarf tied around it, i "look[ed] like an activist". boyfriends are the best. unfortunately i could not carry him in my pocket when i went out of town that week to work on super nerd-dom. portable pick me up. bless him!

i proceeded to have a week as anxiety-filled as one in high school. took the twists out to go to hess friday night and felt pretty cool. it was a highlight for my bipolar week.

saturday morning, one week into Short Hair Mal, the Wonder Years, I put on a headband and say "screw it"- I'm old and I dont have to impress anyone. That afternoon, I get a piece of news that puts all other piddly,vain concerns into their rightful inconsequential place. shock will do that.

sunday...with the twists out now it's an unruly, twirly, uneven (cut myself!) afro. i sport a headband and surprise small children everywhere. its wonderful.

but then my grandmother hurts my feelings "de hair lookin' kinda wile" <--(translation) "your hair looks bad ". followed with an intermittent nag "do you want me to comb it for you? let me comb it for you? it needs to be cut". she's the best gran in the world so we made it happen.

for the first time in heavens knows how long, i got a pillow and a comb, sat down in front of my gran, closed my eyes and held my scalp. i asked her if she felt 30 years younger.

when she'd finished, i'd lost another handful and a half of hair and had the biggest globe of hair around my head.

i've been reunited with my fro a decade after i'd last seen it!

upon further reflection, i think black hair is amazing. how many things can we do to it? i pull it out, it springs back. i can fro it, twist it, braid it, dred it, put extensions (shudder), texturize it (not again), straighten it (double shudder), chemically curl it (triple shudder)...

black hair is AMAZING!