My friend Yvonne

When I was in school in Pennsylvania, I had this oh-so fabulous friend from Cameroun named Yvonne. This girl was always dressed to the nines...colour-coordinated outfits and all. All my other international student friends and I used to call her mother because she was very motherly. One thing about Yvonne though, she changed hairstyles like the way she changed her clothes.

Now, if you know anything at all about black hair, you would realize that it isn't so easy to do that. Well Yvonne did it. Today you would see Yvonne with a long black weave and tomorrow she would either have braids or be rocking a nice short wig. This girl was stylish. But anyways, the reason I am bringing this up in the first place...it was really funny to learn that caucasians (that means white people for some of my Ghanaian buddies who might not know what I'm talking about) really have no clue when it comes to our type of hair.

We had this caucasian friend and bless her heart but she always had us rolling on the ground with laughter when she asked Yvonne questions about her hair. Everytime she saw Yvonne with a new short hairstyle, she'd be like "oh wow, you cut your hair" and then the next week if Yvonne had on a long weave she go like "wow, your hair grew back so fast." Oh gosh she had us cracking up so bad but the funny thing is, she actually believed Yvonne's hair could grow that quickly. Of course we all played along for a while until eventually we told her how that was possible.

So anyways people, if you ever see a black girl who always and everyday has hair that matches her eye-shadow or her clothes and the length also changes, just know that it's probably extensions or a wig and not actually her hair. Lol so anyways, just thought I'd share.

The Beauty Standard

There was a time when black women loved the afro and rocked it with confidence but over the years, the straight look has come to be accepted as the norm. One thing I want to know is, who decided this was the norm? Was it black people themselves who decided this should be it? Or did we feel the need to conform in order to fit in?

Good Hair

This video is just a little snippet showing what black people classify as good hair. It is not only African-Americans who can identify with this video. Every black girl in the world (and I am not exaggerating) goes through this kind of struggle with her hair because there is a type of hair that is socially acceptable and most of the time, kinky hair, just isn't it.

What is natural hair?

Hmmm, as for this topic...it's definitely a little dicey. Just like how some caucasian women eventually forget what their natural hair colour is, there's many a black woman who eventually forgets what her natural hair texture looks like. Why is that? Well the answer lies in the fact that just like women all over the world, we are trying to live up to certain beauty standards that have been set by some other people years and years ago. The standard here in my part of the world is straight flowing hair that flies in the wind as opposed to kinky/curly/nappy hair as some people call it or natural hair.

It's funny, I was just about to define what natural hair is when I decided to do a search for the definition and  boy did I come up with some stuff. Some definitions I agreed with while some were pretty radical and even scary so I decided I'd rather put out a very basic definition so nobody comes to beat me up. For me, natural hair is hair that has not been altered from its original texture by a chemical process. This includes, perming, texturizing and sometimes even dyeing the hair.
Now when it comes to this, my friends from other races may have a hard time understanding what I'm talking about. Let's take the perm for example: With caucasians, when a person applies a perm, it means they want some curl in their hair. For us black people, it means our hair releases itself of the original curl pattern or the kink and becomes straighter thereby looking longer than what we started out with. Alternatively, some people prefer to go with texturizing because they feel it less harsh than the chemicals for perm and doesn't completely straighten hair. In fact, texturizers actually make the natural hair softer and produce more curl for those who feel their hair is too kinky.

Now the reason I said this topic was a little dicey is that people have varying opinions of what they consider natural and will even fight you for thinking any different. For example, some people feel that if you have never put a chemical in your hair but use a straightening iron to press the hair, then your hair isn't natural. Others also feel that if you dye your hair at all even without perming or texturing it, then your hair isn't natural. Now I respect these people's opinions, but I prefer to be a lot more laidback when it comes to what I consider as natural. I feel that as long as the hair texture you were born with remains the same, whether you choose to dye it or straighten it from time to time, you're still a natural head and I applaud those who have the guts to keep natural hair in Ghana especially 'cus chile (child), it ain't easy'. Next, I'm going to tell you about my own journey to self-discovery. Maybe you have guessed by now or haven't but I have natural hair and I'm proud of it so check back and you'll see how I eventually got to where I am.

Starting Off

I am starting this blog to talk about a subject that has been dear to my heart for many years. What is that subject you may ask. Well drumroll please... (boom boom boom boom)...It's plain old 'H-A-I-R'. What! Hair? Strange isn't it? I am sure people are wondering why I would want to talk about hair and more specifically, black hair but trust me, this is something that has ruled the lives of many Ghanaian women from when they are born until they die. How we value the hair we were born with and what we want our hair to actually look like to feel we are accepted by society.

The subject of black hair has actually broken many a relationship (no kidding!) and so now I have decided it's time I finally delved into this and put it on the examination table. Even though I'm talking about black hair in general, I want to focus from time to time on what Ghanaians think and feel about our kind of hair and I know there will be plenty to discuss. So here goes....