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| LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. And have been feeling the hair accessories thing of late. Getcha Fly |
So, i'm getting that quarter month itch--well, it's actually been more like 3 months--to give things a shakeup and get my hair did. A lot has been made about black hair, so i won't do a Chris Rock standup here, but i will say how much i love the freedom to just be and not allow too much of who i am (or not) to be tucked between the tangles of my nappy coils. i think it hysterical how many "keep on, sistah!"s i get when i wear my hair out, sans braids. And the counterpoint to that is amusing too. i was home in jozzie, celebrating my birthday with my sisters. they suggested dinner at Sophiatown Bar Lounge--LOVE--followed by some shimmy in Newtown.
Okey worthwhile deviation...Anyone who carries Kofifi's spirit is worth our time and Sophiatown Bar Lounge has a charming little story-
two African brothers (no, not making a conscious reference to their hairstyles:) founded the spot, Rasta and Mzwandile Thabethe. Love that they got bit by the entrepreneurial bug lending a hand at the family's fruit+vege store. Sweet, right?
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| Clearly, It's A Hair-Attack. LOVE! Image: M. Makhene, 2009. |
Back to the birthday. You know your girl looked fly. Hair did, fitted all fierce, I was def rocking it out.
So i convince my sister to pop into a poetry reading next door, a friend had organized it. i mean, why can't i supplement shimmy+moonshine with some high minded words, right? And here we walk in, store-bought hair gleaming and all. The place heaved such a loud silence. Everyone was in dreadlocks and hot neat little fros atop i'd be dead before i wore anything approaching lipcolor faces. Beautiful, honest. But i will never forget the chill that entered the room when we walked in. Our hair and peanut buttered faces seemed to shout out our otherness, our westernization and probably also our questionable consciousness. No one called me Sistah! that night. No one mistook me for "Queen" or "Empress".
Funny, cuz i was still me, afro/weave/braids or no hair and all.
Keep craving cutting my locks all off right now. Maybe its the sense that this is a big time, ya know?
ReplyDeleteI know! Every woman should shave it all off at least once...
ReplyDeleteLOve it... I cut off my perm and went natural about 5 years ago and I felt free.. and yeah there is a certain respect you get from rocking it as is. I love the girl in the top photo.. She is lovelyyyyyy..
ReplyDeleteHowever, i still love my braids and occasional flat iron..
PS.. I love your blog...
Nasra
Nasra-Thanks for visiting us, Girl. And yes, am in love with the fierce sistah! in the top pic too. She's a model for Boutique de Bandeaux. You should check them out, really hot stuff i can imagine a fly girl like you rocking. Keep Visiting Us+ Keep Warm:)
ReplyDeleteI am so with u on this sis!!! Although I will never discredit the true FREEDOM I gained from learning to love and accept my hair au naturale at 17 and nattyfying it at 21! I feel the "concious"definition of hair and acceptability can be as much a shackle as the "western" indoctrination of "good hairology" I say change up the do to fit the mood, the environment, the trend, the creative impulse!!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous--Amen! I wish i could bottle all the hairstyles I'm seeing here in Accra and sell a bit of that creative license to JUST BE to all fierce chicks struggling through a bad hair/weave/dread day, LoL. It really is all about the woman. You wear your hair, don't let your hair wear you.
ReplyDelete