Natty Natty

The day I met my hair was like any other day...
I stepped into the shower, after 6 months no lye
No shower cap to protect my transforming hair from the liquid demon H2O had become.
See... I had decided to "go natural" ..... whatever that means.
I had decided to free my hair
to quit forcing it to do what was unnatural.

The day I met my hair,
I stepped under the running water
and for the first time since moms introduced me to "Just For Me,"
I was Free. My hair...
I lovingly ran my fingers through my naps.
As the warm water met my scalp,
........ I smiled, I grinned, I laughed.... out loud!
My once bone straight hair curled up... tight little spirals, all over my head.

I laughed.
"Hi," I thought.
"Nice to meet you."

Growing up, I can remember running around the house like a fool with a towel on my head pretending to have long flowing hair. I begged my mom to stop torturing me with dookie braids and relax my hair. At the tender of age of 11, she obliged. As a teenager, I lived in braids to avoid dealing with that limp mess that my hair had become. Freshmen year in college, I wanted a more grown up look so I ditched my signature Brandy braids and religiously relaxed my hair every 6 weeks (definately broke my pockets!). At 20, I decided enough was enough. I cut off my perm and went tit for tat with my naps. They won.

A long way from them towel days, being natural has given me a personal relationship with my hair and a sense of freedom. In a society where everything from library books to conversations between loved ones is monitored, my hair was the one thing I could reclaim... one thing that could remain uncontrolled and mine. It might sound cliche but going natural saved my life. For 20 years, the strange, foreign substance on my head was an enigma to me. I was a slave to my hair. I had to run away from the rain; when them roots started growing in, I hid it under wraps and hats; when it broke off, I sought solace in braids. My hair is no longer an inanimate object that perplexes me. Naw, it's as animated and alive as I am.