I Am My Hair Phase 2: Beweaving in the Weave

Like any other ‘deep’ sister, I struggled with bought hair, especially the weave. I spent years judging girls who wore weaves, not really understanding why I did – it just sounded like the deeply right thing to do. But I couldn’t help but always notice how much fun those girls always seemed to be having. How they always looked stylish, flicking their hair behind their ears in that carefree way that I- and them -had only seen blondes and brunettes do. So when one day, I started drowning in my own depth, I decided to go blonde the only way a black woman can, without actually going blonde. I got a weave. I remember guiltily and gleefully staring back at my reflection in the mirror, my complexion starkly contrasted by the strange texture of ‘human’ hair. Already, without even stepping out of the hair salon, the fun had found me. I knew I was going to have a ball having a weave. Unfortunately though, I didn’t get as much support from my soul sistah crew, who spent hours analyzing my hairstyle and what it said about my regression while I…flicked my weave my hair behind my ears, of course. The funniest thing about having a weave is how much reaction it causes – it’s the Lil’ Wayne (I’m still gonna blog about him!) of hairstyles – you love to hate it but you kinda like it. Especially guys…deep brothers front for it like it’s the worst thing in the world to have a receipt for hair but the ones I’ve spoken to have all admitted that whenever they see a chick with a weave, they get a little excited, like they wanna take her home, flip her over and have her from the back. (Yep, soul brothers have sex too!). The script I liked to flip on them though was actually knowing what I was talking about in a conversation (because the assumption is always that if you have a weave you must not be too bright). But I also realized, just like Ms Thandiswa Mazwai said about being thin, with a weave, I was only interested in being desirable, not interesting. I paid more attention to my characteristics than my character. So eventually, I knew that I wouldn’t spend my life in a weave (just like I wouldn’t spend my life in any one hairstyle) and moved on to find out what other hairstyles could tell me about myself.

I Am My Hair Phase 3: C'mon and braid my hair...