Thick Hair Don’t Care

Growing up in a Black household meant that there was an ongoing discussion about hair and appropriate styles. I spent my early years in mostly braids, twists, pigtails and barrettes. One of my cousins convinced my mom to get my hair chemically straightened when I was 6 so I was initiated into the world of creamy crack at a pretty young age. Fast forward to when I was about 10 years old and my mom decided it was time to me to grow out my natural hair so that happened.

The challenge with this impulsive decision was that my mom didn’t know a lot about hair care. We didn’t live in a location where going to a culturally informed hairdresser was an option (rural Alabama), so the task of hair care and upkeep fell solely on her and times were hard.

Most of the products and tools my sister and I used on our hair came from the gently used variety. There were several hair supply stores in our area that would move products out in order to get more products on the store shelves. The old products and tools were thrown away and my ever enterprising father would rescue them from the garbage container in back of the stores and bring them home to us.

It was an interesting way to live life and when I was about 10, the day finally came that I was looking forward to. I had never had my hair professionally done and we happened to be at a mall. My mom found a hair shop at the mall that was part of a larger chain and again impulsively decided that it was finally time to say yes to my tween wish. The funny thing was that the hairdresser said immediately that she had never worked with a client who had my hair texture. This was the polite Southern way of saying that she had never had a Black client. But my mother figured that it would be a good ideas to provide her with that experience so she pressed forward and agreed to walking her through the process of doing a basic wash, blow dry and style.

It took about 5 hours to have the finished project and even then, my hair did not look like anything had been done to it. Having hair untouched by chemicals at the time meant that as soon as my hair was introduced to the humidity of the South, it immediately reverted to its natural form. Which meant that we spent 5 hours and paid money for a style that lasted less than 15 minutes. It was quite the experience and it ended up being one that meant I didn’t get my hair done “professionally” again for another 5 years.

As an adult, I’m so glad to have the autonomy to decide about my hair styles and what I want to do. I’ve recently found a new sense of freedom in finding a natural style that is also incredibly easy to maintain and it’s been the best decision for me. Thick hair, don’t care.