I was not yet confident about my natural hair. A few months aſter, I moved towns and for the first time showed my natural hair in public. I was in Durham (UK), a town in which you can go for a few days without seeing another black face.


“When I told a Congolese friend I had decided to go natural, she called me crazy,” adds Rafeeat. “Since returning to Nigeria earlier this year, I’ve heard so many horrible things said about my hair. Some people even offer to buy me straight- hair wigs. My hair has been called ‘rough’ or ‘jaga jaga’ but in Durham my foreign (friends) would say I am ‘cute’ and ‘pretty’ and part of the fascination came from my hair.”


Sasha-Shae Shaw, who hosts the website


afroniquelyyou.com, has been natural for three years. “Since going natural, the comments have been interesting. When I did the big chop, a few people were hesitant about it, others loved it, but regardless I knew I loved it and that’s all that mattered. Trough the phases of growth, I get com- pliments on my hair being beautiful, be- ing thick, being healthy, and it’s just great when I hear those who’ve seen me do the growth process compliment my journey. I have others tell me natural hair isn’t for them, it’s too tedious or too complicated. I say it’s the hair you were born with, how can it not be for you? But I understand a lot of people don’t want to commit to excellence, or in other words they don’t want to deal with the time it takes to care for their hair properly. Either way, people will talk, but it’s our job to let them know their stereotypes are wrong.”


Rafeeat and Sasha-Shae are two of the many women in the growing natural hair movement who understand the beauty of natural afro hair. But websites such as Afroniquely You and Nappturality also allow women to swap stories and ideas as well as to discuss the politics that their hair generates.


In this day and age, no one should be telling us how to wear our hair, yet the corporate world is full of ideas about how we should look.


I recall one white male editor telling me not to choose a model with bouncy curls for a photoshoot. She was a light- skinned sister with her natural hair, but because, quote, “her hair is too political” this editor did not want to use her and went for another light-skinned model with straight-looking hair.


WINTER 2011 | 1 | NEW AFRICAN WOMAN | 61


Hair freedom in some cases can be just as good as intellectual and cultural emancipation. Botswana-based Naomi Mnthali who has dreadlocks for 10 years says: “It depends on the kind of natural hair you have. When you have dreadlocks people tend to look at you differently in a professional setting. You have to make sure they look neat and they’re tied back.” But in the end, it is really all about self- love and validating ourselves as black women. Our hair is part of our identity. “I absolutely adore my hair,” says Ra- feeat. “I love touching my hair, I love its texture, its thickness. I know natural Afri- can hair is supposed to be unmanageable but I love taking care of it. Going natural was worth it, I don’t think I’d ever go back to being relaxed.”.


Sasha-Shae concurs: “Hair is impor- tant. It was given to women as their crown and glory. All we need is the importance of caring for our hair, there is nothing to stop us from carrying this crowning glory – naturally!”


African songbirds Shingai Shoniwa and South Africa’s Yvonne Chaka Chaka prefer the natural look


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