Freeing Minds To Free Hair
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Random picture of someone with nice hair
I’m a huge fan of natural hair styles like braids and dreads, and I’m especially fond of sisters who rock billowing Afros or kinky twists. I’ve been known to raise my fist in a black power-type salute and say “Free hair!” when passing a sister like, say, Danielle “The Black Snob” Belton (when she wears it out).
I’m not hating on the sisters who get perms. But I think it’s important to let black girls know there’s nothing wrong with their natural hair – regardless of what mainstream America thinks. That’s why I’m sharing this Sesame Street video and encourage you to do likewise.
It also reminds me of when I had hair. Sigh. About 14 months ago, I sat in Chaney’s Barbershop in Fort Myers (Fla.) and instructed Harold “Smooth J Raw” Jones to shave me bald. I was cutting off the dreads that were down my back, eight years after they started out as half-inch nubs.
There were two reasons for my decision. For one, it felt right to make a dramatic change in my appearance to complement the dramatic change in my life: I had just left The News-Press and we were headed back to D.C. I figured new start, new look. But I also had the feeling that long dreadlocks might have a bearing on my prospects as I sought new employment. It’s one thing to have dreads at the top of your profession – a public figure with your picture beside your award-winning column every week. It’s another to have dreads while looking for work.
Although I enjoyed being bald (and I eventually got the hang of shaving without cuts or missed patches), it was too high maintenence. I was coming off a style that required once-a-month attention; to stay clean-shaven required every-other-day attention. So for now, I’m back to wearing a low fade. It’ll do.
But I still miss my dreads from time to time, and the soothing habit of running my fingers through them. Free hair!
DS
