As I type this, I have a deep cut on my left thumb that prevents me from typing as fast as I'd like to. To be honest, I never really paid much attention or attached much importance to my left thumb until now. Until something drew my attention to it...
And it made me wonder why do women pay so much attention to things that don't define them? Yes, this isn't really about my left thumb, it's about an unhealthy attachment to/obsession with hair. When a baby is born without hair, doctors don't pay much attention to that cause it will grow. When a baby is born without a thumb, now that arouses the doctor's curiosity.
Contrary to a lot of opinions, I am of the view that it's just hair. We have turned to a generation of hair whores. Natural vs Relaxed. Straight vs Curly. Short vs Long. Weaves vs No-Weaves. Good hair vs Bad hair.
Don't get me wrong, I love changing up my hair style and I'm always telling my friends about a new regime I heard (lol). But I feel like we have let our hair define us. I never paid attention to the internal damage this hair obsession has done to us until someone very dear to me began to lose her hair due to an illness and I saw how it affected her confidence. Right there and then I realised that if I lost all my hair, I would be traumatized but thousands of people are losing their hair everyday to causes they can't control. We've hidden under "woman empowerment" to justify our obsession with hair. Are we really preaching woman empowerment when we fuss over our hair like it defines who we are. Does "beauty is skin-deep" not apply when it comes to our hair?
If you want to chop your hair off, start a healthy hair journey, go natural, wear 40" long weave or just 14", dye or bleach it...by all means, go ahead. But don't ever let your hair define you. Don't let it own your confidence...self worth. Don't let your hair own you! There's nothing wrong with talking about your hair. There's something wrong with letting your self-worth & confidence depend on the state of your hair...
Before you start fussing over your hair & giving orders on what others should do with their hair, think what message am I passing across to other women without hair? Am I empowering women or telling them that they are their hair? It's really just hair after all and you're more than what grows on your scalp. You're what grows within your heart.
India Arie sang it best when she sang about not being her hair
If you haven't, check out my recent post here
Lots of love,
