FullCycle

What is wrong with my hair?!!

2011-02-16T21:52:00.002+01:00

Before i begin, i know the title is a little juvenile but no, i'm not here to rant about my hair, about why i have split ends and why my edges are chipping off and what not, these things happen of course but that is not what prompted me to write this. This is just one of those things that i think about sometimes and i just ask myself why is this so? what is the reason for this? This trend that is becoming a way of life so much so that we are not aware that we are doing it anymore and at the end of the day we cant say what caused it or where it is rooted. Another disclaimer* i know someone will read this and be like omg its just hair, well my answer is 'the title says it all so just skip this post'. Well, having gotten that out of the way, i will start by saying that being Nigerian, i will only talk about what i know and what concerns my country, i know its a general thing with the black race but i am not ready to generalize the whole black race in this post but to talk more on what i have seen around me.

I remember as a kid i had the biggest head of hair and even though it had been chemically altered it was still one big head of hair, i remember my mum taking me to the saloon and no one would want to be the unfortunate one who would have to plait my hair, and so my mum would plead and pay more money before i had it done and as i went on to secondary school, i had to chop it all off until i was a senior before i had the privilege to grow my hair once more and during this time we were not allowed to chemically alter it, i remember one of the reasons i was so happy to graduate out of secondary school was that i now had the freedom to do whatever i wanted to do with my hair, funny i know. I could now relax it and look grown up. From where i come from, a relaxed hair has the ability to distinguish between grown ups and kids, and most importantly and i say most importantly because its the most prevalent perception, an ordinary person from someone belonging to a strict religious sect. Ha! funny isn't it, now i tell you, you see a lady back home with hair that is not relaxed and you are forced/tempted to ask them what church they go to and then(in our hearts of course) we feel so sorry for them like they are missing out on so much good stuff, mind you, i am only talking about the hair aspect, i know there are other things involved but the point i am trying to drive at is that we have this notion about our hair, that since its wild and bushy and and looks unkempt and all, the only way to go is to cover it up, change its texture, just do anything to change it from what it really is and i ask myself, what is wrong with my hair?Our hair? Why is the fact that it's curly and wild considered a bad thing, they say it makes me look wild and because of this i have to cover it up with long silky straight hair which will make me look neat and educated and put together, its funny (sad also) how something thats not mine can do so much for me and add to me and change the way people see me positively and yet something that is mine that grows out of me is considered bad and wrong and can take so much from me and make people percieve me to be opposite of what i am, hey i'm not preaching or advocating anything, in fact as i type this i have extensions in my hair..i'm just lamenting at the sadness of it all, that we as a beautifully,curly, woolly haired race can so depend on what other people think of us that we decide to alter ourselves to change for them so as to be accepted, talk about influencing a whole race! Sad thing though is that most of us won't acknowledge this. Some say our colonial masters brought this to us and made us feel so inferior that this was just one way to step up and feel equal but that was like almost 60 years ago(?) and the stigma is still there, well i wouldn't really say stigma, neither does the colonial masters excuse hold weight any more cos as far as i can see i don't see any colonial master holding a club to our head saying that unless we change ourselves we are in big trouble, so, at the end of the day its our decision.

I think its sad that young girls back home don't know what their natural hair looks like, infact grown women don't know either nor do they know how to handle and take care of it, their natural hair. These days babies get their hair relaxed. Just a few days ago i asked myself why is it that even though my hair has been chemically altered i still feel the need to add extensions to make it longer, why i mean, if a relaxer can make my hair longer and straight(cos that what we want) and over a period of time with the new ingrowths and more relaxers, why isn't my hair so long that i can't even contain it? Yet it doesn't happen and then we resort to putting in weaves to give the impression that this is ours when its not, one thing i realized also is that even though i have a relaxer and i relax almost every 2 months my hair does not go past a certain lenght now why is that? what is happening to all my new growth, and its not just me, i see it all the time, i know a lot of people with long relaxed hair yet it remains at the same lenght for years.

This post is not talking about ladies alone but the men too..i can't begin to tell you how many guys i know that relax their hair on a monthly basis to look cool which in a way means to be accepted. And this is not to advocate for anything or to start a movement as some call it but to just have each of us thinking, i know that at the end of the day to each his own and its just hair..dead cells..bla bla bla...but look at the bigger picture and the negative effects it has, the damage to our self esteem, the fact that if i have long hair i have to have extensions in it or better yet, i have to be mixed race, it just can't be simple as being black with long hair, what you do with your hair is your concern but if it gives you and everyone like you the name 'fake' and all its synonyms isn't that something that we may want to change? Oh well just saying.....

My alma mater is 50!!

2010-10-29T14:55:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone, hope our week has gone as good as we all wanted it to, well mine did :) Okay so guess what? This is a special piece to my Alma mater St. Louis College Jos, i have always wanted to do a write up showing my appreciation for the six years i was opportune to spend there especially since i graduated and later on saw into play the morals and principles that i built up from there even without my knowing, that really distinguished me from the others, and not just me but all the women who have had the opportunity to pass through a prestigious institution like it. Today my Alma mater is celebrating its 50th birthday..yes a golden jubilee, 50 years of teaching and preparing young girls for the future and i am very honored and proud to say that i am one of those girls, believe me when i say it wasnt an easy ride, infact i had some of the worst moments of my life down there (and i forgive you seniors lol) but i look back, a couple of years later and i can only say it was worth it, after all, who says anything good comes easy but then, on the other hand some of the best moments of my life was also experienced there..and now i can truthfully say that the upbringing that Sis Mary Patrick, Sis Florence and all the wonderful teachers gave to me ended up building this beautiful(inner beauty i mean;)) elegant and confident woman that i am today and not just me but all the SLC girls that i know..we are distinguishable from the others, yes we always stand out, we cant help it!;)..i remember when i was still in primary school(Fatima Private School Holla!) my dream was to go to this prestigious college and one of the main reasons was because of the way the girls carried themselves in public, alot of people called them snobs and all sorts but i didnt care, i didnt see anything snobbish, and all i saw was elegance and grace that i just wanted to be one of them and when i was later admitted i wanted to know where all this came from and lo and behold it was from our Mother and Principal..i have to say Sis Mary Patrick is the single most beautiful, elegant, wellspoken and inspiring woman i have ever come across, whenever i remember how all our parents no matter who they were, the position or money the had, would be shaking whenever they were in her presence and not with fear but with respect i am in awe and i laugh because common seriously, who wouldn't be intimidated by Sis Mary Patrick?..well at that time it didnt mean anything but now i have come to realize what an incredible human being that she is. Also like i said it wasnt all laughter in there there were tough times especially in our junior years but life got better when we came into power lol, My girls know what i'm talking about;) On a final note i just want to say thank you again to all the people who made St. Louis College what it was,is and will continue to be..the best, and who made my six years in there the most memorable period of my life, to my teachers i say a big thank you..especially to those of them who have passed on, May their souls rest in perfect peace and also to all the students who have also passed away too and gone to rest with the lord, i can only say you are in a better place and may their souls rest in peace. Amen.
And lastly to my 2k6 set, i love u all, mehn, all the fun we had together can never be quantified, the way we stood up for each other and had each other's back even when it was going to cost us breakfast or dinner or a day in the field hoeing those tough grass is commendable.. i will never forget you guys..and i love you all. Cheers!!

Welcome everyone. Yay my very 1st post!!

2010-10-20T21:53:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone, welcome to my blog, just wanted to say thanks for visiting and hoping this will become a place we can all share our thoughts on things and still respect one another. i have always loved to write about pretty much everything so i decided to get a blog and put that into action instead of just owning one in my head. I enjoy politics a lot and i come from a country where there is never a dull moment in that sector that i'm sure i will always have something to talk about, i love to live healthy and i love all things natural so i will get to talk about those things too and go into details as time goes on. I also love relationships but i have to warn that i'm not one of those teary eyed romantics, i'm more of a realistic romantic, if there is anything like that, i tend to see things in a different light and rarely go with the crowd.

Also with this blog, i want to tap into another hobby of mine which is observing people and getting to hear and see their various perspective on things which will help to broaden my knowledge as well. Okay i will stop here with the welcome note and i look forward to a very fruitful journey with you guys. Chal.