An apology for you

Dear Sam,*

I am sorry to inform you that I will not be a customer of yours anymore. I want to apologize for cutting off all of my hair, throwing away all of your business cards, and telling all my friends to do the same. I am truly sorry that you won't be able to collect the $45 a week that I have been giving you for the last 5 years of my life. The good news is that there are many more creamy-crack addicts out there who would love to have my ritualistic Saturday morning hair appointment. I can provide you with a list of names if you would like. Please forgive me.

Sincerely,

An Ex-Addict*


*Name has been changed :)

Whats your [Mane] Attraction??

Hello my name is Kenah and I am a recovering creamy-crack-aholic.

I enjoy listening to Jill Scott, taking long walks on the beach, soul food, and of course staying away from black hair salons on Saturday mornings. It has officially been 14 months, thirteen days, and 33 minutes (give or take a minute), since I last applied the "creamy crack" to my precious scalp. Ok. So I made up the 13 days and 33 min part up, but sometimes I truly do feel as if I'm a recovering addict! (I can't be the only one...) Relaxing my hair as a black woman was addictive to me. I became so used to it , so accustomed to the convience and the acceptance of chemically processed hair in the country we live in, that I would literally freak out everytime I did not have the time, money, or patience to relax my hair every 6 weeks. I not only thought I was less attractive everytime it was time for my "touch up," but also frustrated that my hair seemed to be dictating my life. If my hair is bone straight and I can do the "white girl swing" (don't act like ya'll dont know what that is! I have since deleted such vocabulary from my brain but had to say it here for the full effect of my old mentality....) then I'm happy. If its nappy, then..... you probably get the idea. After about 5 years of relaxing my hair I finally decided enough is well.... enough!

As India Arie says.... "I am not my hair." Well by that same token, no matter how hard we try to change our [mane] into something that we can be happy with, I do truly believe my hair is a part of me.

I do not look down or judge anyone who chooses to use chemicals, extentions, weaves, or ect. on one's own hair. We are all born with free will. And about a year ago I came to the realization that my very own "free will" wasn't very free at all. It was dictated, micromanaged, and driven damn near crazy by society's standards for me!

This blog is merely a place for me to express why I truly love my [mane] for the first time in a very long time!! I believe that hair is a [main] extention of ourselves, and an expression of who I am and who I want to be. It is the first thing that many people notice about you! In that case it means that my [mane] is crazy, kinky, curly, lovely, healthy, and happy! Its not afraid to be different. And neither am I. So whats your [MANE] attraction saying about you??