A Natural Being

Who am I?

Possibly one of the most asked questions ever. We are defined by a number of things. Our appearance, what we do for a living, material possessions and our first impressions of the things around us among many other things.

However, growing up in a middle-class African family, our hair has always mattered and not necessarily our Model-C accents, which supposedly helped us in what is considered to be, “former white spaces.”

My hair – a trending topic of my entire being from my childhood. From my earliest memories, it was pretty clear to me that your hair is a focal point of your beauty.  We are either perceived clean or dirty; depending on how our hair as African girls looks like.

Extreme as it may sound, if you think back to what happened at the Pretoria Girls High School when Eurocentric forms of beauty, which are the norm were challenged – your hair is expected to be relaxed or straight. My earliest memories where my hair was curled, coiled or in an afro are non-existent as my head was shaved by the time I was five-years-old. Thereafter it was always under chemical relaxers.

People ranging from family, friends, and passer-by’s would stop to admire me when I had just relaxed my hair. I particularly remember how the women in my family would say, ‘umhule manje,’ which means ‘you are now beautiful’ when loosely translated to English.

Meaning that before that I was not pretty?

I was programmed to believe this, not only at home but within society at large. We are conditioned by images of what beauty is, and it is usually not defined by women who look like me.

Thankfully, all that has now changed over the past few years. Guided by social media, particularly Instagram and YouTube influencers who like me, were tired of the message that straight hair is the only beauty standard. In comes coconut oil, shea butter and the castor oils of the world – products which are used and recommended on popular YouTube platforms where you get to understand a lot more on taking care of natural hair, and transitioning after the big chop.

I was a bit late to the natural hair frenzy having only done the big chop in late 2016. This brings my natural hair journey to a solid two years now.

I did not do it just for the, ‘freedom,’ but also for a much needed fresh start. I have no regrets although it has been trial and error. I am still learning even though my natural hair is not as big and thick as those images you see on social media. I have, however, become a comfortable being and that is what works for me.

I give you growth:

Please comment and share your hair journey, all types of hair comments are welcomed.