So we’re doing something a little different today. Most of the work on this blog, is about fictional things; Adventures in Liet Wan, most of the #30days30posts series and the Sweatshop Chronicles. Today, I want to share just a little bit more about myself, the writer, the human being.
If you follow me on social media or know me IRL, you know that I work with a couple of friends on Kenya’s first Natural Hair and Living magazine, The Hairpolitan. Our publisher Wambui, came up with idea of a magazine that would serve as an online repository of information, entertainment and educative resources for naturalistas the world over. What follows takes place between the hours of 1.00AM and 2.00AM, is my natural hair story.
I cut my hair once in high school, because of school rules (no permed hair allowed); I struggled to grow an afro and had my room mate plait my hair on Sunday afternoons, for the rest of the week. By the time, high school was over, so was my relationship with natural hair. My mother took me to a salon where I had a fresh retouch done using relaxer the very afternoon she picked me up from school.
Now, see here’s the thing, maintaining permed hair has always been stressful and the rapid growth was always already visible after a couple of weeks. I kept this up until 2012; last time I permed my hair was in late 2011. In late 2012, I walked into my boyfriend’s house and asked him to cut my hair. Brave man that he was, he agreed.
I toyed with growing my hair and keeping an afro for a year or so but those thoughts were not given the space to take root in my head. I’ve rocked many versions of a teeny weeny Afro (TWA)since then; undercut, tapered cut, mohawk and such. Most people ask me, why I just don’t let my hair grow; they are yet to realize you don’t “let” afro hair do anything; you nurture it and care for it so that it can bloom and blossom. I’m highly disinterested in growing my hair. This disinterest comes a distant second to caring for my TWA; PJism (Product Junkiesm) didn’t take hold here either.
Nappyness was a choice I made when I was frustrated and bored of relaxers and chemical hair treatments. Nappyness means an easy life for me, a life of laughter and freedom. It means I have time to fulfill my purpose and to me, maintaining a ‘fro just isn’t it. I love looking at other people’s luscious curls and seeing their ringlets bouncing and springing loose; trust me, black girl magic is real. Long hair and I haven’t permanently broken up, we’re just on a long hiatus until one of us becomes the bigger person. I suspect the Afro will have to do it because I drink petty juice in my coffee every morning.
The Adventures of the Village Beauty 