What's THAT on your head?!

Ah! To have a thousand naira for every time I've had that said to me, I'd have... erm a few thousand bucks maybe? lol  Seriously though, when I began wearing my natural hair out, I did get a few odd looks and raised brows, but for the most part, I got and still get a lot of curious, interested and even complimentary questions.

Even when I get the odd screech from a friend ' what is this one again on your head' I laugh and take it all in stride - I am loving my hair journey and for me, the good, bad and scandalous comments all make it that much more interesting.

The worst of the comments have probably come from my mum who one day after seeing my 'wash n go' which I'd painstakingly arranged and picked out; stuck her fingers in my hair and pushed my head back saying 'why in the world have you forgotten to comb your hair! O da bi Kunta Kinte!

She then follows up with 'I don't like it jo' to which I calmly replied that seeing as it was on MY head she really didn't have to worry about not liking it - I liked it just fine which was enough for me. See, the thing is after going through childhood and early adulthood being called names like 'Rojer Ramjet chin' (for my pointed chin) 'Bugs Bunny Feet' (for my flat feet) and 'Letter I' (for my lack of hips and butt in my early 20's) anything my mum has to say these days about how I look goes right over my head.

I did find something someone said to me quite insightful as to how we view ourselves based on our hair styling choices. After admiring my flat twists and 2 strand twists, she went on to say that I must be 'very bold' as it was only bold people who could pull off wearing their natural hair. This really got me thinking - are we all so afraid of what people will say and of being 'different' that we would rather just 'go with the flow' even when we're in dire need of a change? If the simple act of wearing my natural hair out makes me bold, what does that make others?

 I truly don't see myself as being bold - I just realized that I  needed a change to achieve certain goals and went ahead and did what I believed was best at the time.

Which brings me to another incident - 2 friends came into the store one of whom was seriously considering going natural and hadn't had a relaxer in a while. I spoke with her and could tell she was struggling with making a final decision - when I asked her what the problem really was, she said she'd been told if she went natural, she'd look like a monkey because her head was too big! At this point, her friend laughingly joins in 'yes, it's true!' ( I found out later that it was this friend who had told her she'd look like a monkey)

While going natural or continuing to have a relaxer is a personal choice, I find it totally weird - sad almost, that someone would equate having natural hair to looking like an animal- whether as a joke or not. At the end of the day, it is the hair we were born with abi? I haven't seen her since then but I hope she goes on to make a decision either way for herself - regardless of what anyone tries to convince her she'll look like.

On a lighter note - one of my stylists just asked a question - Whether it's true that when pregnant women touch other women's hair, it will most likely break off! She asked me this because according to her, her friend has just been fired from the salon she worked in because she's pregnant and people wouldn't allow her touch their hair *blank stare*

So all my preggie friends and mummies or those who've had their hair styled by a pregnant woman, what say you??