NATURAL HAIR AND SELF LOVE | ANAS MUNIRA

People don’t get my “obsession” with my natural hair, so when they ask me “will you perm your hair eventually?” and I say never ,they give me the "why the hell not" look

Or when they ask why I “Pamper” my hair so much and I say because it is my hair, they give me the "you are crazy" look

So today let’s talk about what natural hair means to me

We all have different reasons for going natural and when we are finally natural, we all have different relationships with our hair

Personally I take care of my hair as if it were a baby, I try my possible best to give it the attention it needs and yes, I feel guilty when I neglect my hair due to life happenings

So I am “Obsessed” with my hair

I am Obsessed with my natural hair because it is mine, period!

Like everything else it comes from me unadulterated, with its kinks and coils, supposed hardness and unmanageability

I’m obsessed with my natural hair because it has taught me to love myself unapologetically and without conditions

I don’t love it because it’s in vogue or because it is the new norm

I love it because it has taught me to stand for something

It has taught me to believe in something

It has taught me that yes something this amazing comes from me

It has taught me the importance of taking care of me

I’ve learnt to take care of it, nourish it and be attentive to it

Which has made me learn to do so for the rest of me because, if I can do this for a part of me then the rest of me deserves love too

My natural hair defies standards

It defies norms

Hell, it even defies gravity

So I’m learning to defy standards too

I’m learning to break norms too and I’m learning to defy gravity because once I get up, I am not willing to come back down

My natural hair is not unmanageable

It is not only nice when it has a certain shape or when it is curled

My natural hair is beautiful because it can be curly, straight and coily all in one space

It can be whatever it wants to be

And so I’m learning to be whatever I want to be too

It has been deemed impossible, so yea, I’m achieving the impossible

I’m obsessed with my natural hair because if something made you love every inch of yourself without question, wouldn’t you be obsessed with it too?

Wouldn’t you want to care for it?

Wouldn’t you want to listen to its needs and provide them

And wouldn’t you just want the whole world to know how amazing it is.

                                                                                                                Love, Neera.