The Joys of Black Girlhood

  *read till the end for collage*

Recently I've been feeling a sense of nostalgia for the good ole' days; looking back now, hair was a core aspect of my girlhood growing up. I think it's come on because my braids desperately need to be taken out, but I've been postponing this because I've missed having braids sooo much.

For context, last March, I decided to go natural for a whole year because all I have ever known to do with my hair is put it in braids. So I went natural cold turkey. It was a bit of a shock how little I knew about my own hair, but I adapted and grew to love it. I experimented with afros, flat twists, and mini twists - which is what I kept my hair in most of the time.

Anyways, I say this has made me nostalgic because I remember the days my mum would take me all the way to Ripley Road market to get my hair done, and I would try - and fail - to get the expressions cut into one and not three. And during those long 7-9 hours when my neck was being bent every which way, my bum aching from being sat for so long, and some auntie was chewing gum and yelling on the phone, my anchor would be those posters of different elaborate hairstyles. I'd pick one and try to imagine an outfit that would suit it to pass the time. This might have been a coping mechanism from getting bob-length braids every two months lol.

Once I got to secondary school, a whole new world of hair came into view. I went a bit wild; by the time I was 18, I had gotten blonde, red, pink, blue and purple extensions. I was not a fan of the blonde and the blue, but you live, and you learn, I guess. Strangely enough, I had never gotten in trouble for them, hmm. I went to a predominantly black secondary school (thank God), but I was really the only one who liked experimenting with different hairstyles and colours. I've made friends who decided to go natural much earlier than me and others who picked an expression colour and stayed with it. In the girls' bathrooms and during break time, I would chit-chat with them, swapping hair care tips and tricks, asking for advice on future hairstyles, and teaching each other how to do our edges; I never got the hang of it, myself.

This definitely won't be the last time I get braids. I've got a wedding to go to soon, and I've got to decide what hairstyle to do then, but I think that year and 4 months I went with my hair out was a good learning experience, and it taught me not to be ashamed of what my hair naturally looks like.

-Liz <3