WEAVE OR NO WEAVE? (Part 3)

THE WRONG REASONS!

Hey curly cuties, it’s Dime here! Today, we're going to get into why I was the girl who didn't care for weave. Where I grew up, weave was idolized and very important to most black girls in my community. If you were the girl who had weave style after style, we assumed you were well off, popular, and the most beautiful. Most summers before school started I remember my sisters throwing a fit if they weren't able to get their hair done or not soon enough for school. They'll say things such as, “I'll be lame if my hair isn't done,” “I don't want to go to school ugly,” or “this is the only way to be cool with people.” I followed my sister's advice even though I didn't care for weave! I've always been the odd one out and for a season, I embraced it. As I got older, of course, I wanted to fit in so eventually I joined the weave club, but for the wrong reasons.

BEAUTY IS PAIN!

While flaunting these styles in my head and feeling like I look better with it, there also came some unbelievable pain. I would repeat to myself the phrase, BEAUTY IS PAIN! Many sisters in our community would say this to me whenever I would go on and on, complaining about the tightness, the itchiness and discomfort of wearing weave! I always questioned, but is it really? I remember it taking weeks before I could get some relief, touching the scabs embedded in my scalp. I hope i'm not making your skin crawl but that’s how bad it was; after the tightness passed, the itchiness stayed persistent. I remember at the end of one summer, I said to my mom and sister, “I won't be wearing weave for the first day of school this semester.” My sister responded with a confused face, “how you gon do yo hair?” I said boldly with my shoulders held high and a little attitude, “I'm gonna do my own hair.”

NATURAL HAIR JOURNEY

I can't remember how I styled my hair for the first day of school but I do remember the emotions. I was nervous of how I would be seen or if I was gonna regret my decision. That day in school, all the girls had their hair freshly done, some had bumps already appearing on the side of their heads and I could almost hear the clicking of the ibuprofen in their backpacks. Well, maybe I’m over-exaggerating a little bit, but I could notice all the wrong things about weave. Each day I started to get more confident with my natural hair and began to despise weave based on my experiences. In my defense, I was growing because I was wearing my natural hair. My sister said I inspired her and she wanted to wear her hair natural on the first day of school next year or it could've been the following year. As years passed by, I was known as the natural and christian girl. We’ll get into that christian part in another blog but my walk with God was loud and everyone could see it.

I started to post natural hair videos and tips on my personal page to help other cuties out there who also wanted to transition to being more natural. I had all the tools to keep my natural hair healthy but the question for me became, did I give up on weave too soon? Was there a solution to the tightness, the bumps and the headaches?

To be continued…