Campaign
or fashion? Love or Protest? Aggressive dedication or free-life dares? Why
really would an African woman wear her natural hair in all its kinki glory?
“Relaxing your hair is like being in prison. You're caged in. Your hair rules you ... You're always battling to make your hair do what it wasn't meant to do.”
I
still get stares when I stroll into the salon with my natural hair in all its
kinki glory, seating proudly on my head. “Don’t you want to relax your hair”?
That’s a question I get a lot from the salon attendants. I can’t say I blame
them, for the most part of it, media and the social ideology silently rings a
note stating that you have to have a weave cascading down your back as a black to
win the fashionista award. I love to wear my hair natural because I think it’s
funky and as we in Nigerian would say, ‘its my
selling point’...lol Well, let’s talks African hair as a fashion signature.
Yours truly- kinki Fashion
NATURAL HAIR is art, it is my art. Its like the canvas, you have to be romantic with it, be persuasive, gentle and VOILA, you have an art burst that would have people turning heads. Once upon a time, I lodged my hair into a style called MULA [a high-up pony tail] but owing to the fact that my hair is still natural, the tips busted out into a beautiful art of tamed kinki. I had comments and turns my very own red carpet...LOL
According to Estrella Gada, “Natural hair is not a movement, it is not a political ideology or an academic discourse. It is pretty much the same way race has been prodded and analysed, black hair is also being guided into the racial discourse and its fine except that many people seem to make the mistake of assuming that natural hair is about making some sort of statement about who you are, it is not. A woman should wear her natural hair because she has come to the realization that her beauty includes her hair and can’t be defined for her by people who do not understand other concepts of beauty but their own. African writers, musicians, artists and other artisans tend to carry their natural hair as a statement that borders on defiance. It is because they have come to accept who they are. So in essence, not perming your hair is simply someone accepting that they like that kinky hair is unruly, difficult, slavish and burdensome.”
Omoni Oboli a Nigerian actress, wife and mother of two and Chimamanda Adiche, a new generation Nigerian writer are two Nigerian that have the natural hair fame as their fashion statement. The peculiarity of the way they take their hair-do makes is admirable and has a soft echo on the fashion they represent. I am particularly in love with the simplicity and dexterity of their statements is what I like to would call Sophisticated.
On the music turf, Asa, a Nigerian French singer, songwriter, and recording artist is My FUNKY African BAE. Her dreads are short, tamed and cute. LOVE THEM.
Viola Davis who plays the fierce and daring lawyer in the hit series How to get away with Murder takes on her historical Oscar award wearing her beautiful natural hair; Lupita Nyong’o also waves the natural signature as her fashion niche, trending it out whenever she makes an appearance and even photo shoot.
Hair brings one's self-image into focus; it is vanity's
proving ground. Hair is terribly personal, a tangle of mysterious
prejudices. ~Shana Alexander
Estrella Gada, writer .
Aṣa ,Nigerian French singer, songwriter, and recording artist. Her stage name "Aṣa" means "Hawk" in Yoruba.
Omoni Oboli is a Nigerian actress and producer
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian novelist, nonfiction writer and short story writer.
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o is a Mexican-Kenyan actress and film director.
Viola Davis is an American actress.
Why then would you join #teamnatural- the fashion diversity or the solidarity?
“Some of us are happy with our African hair,
thank you very much. I don't want some poor Indian girl's hair. And I wish to
God I could buy black hair products from black people for once. How we going to
make it in this country if we don't make our own business?”
― Zadie Smith, White Teeth
― Zadie Smith, White Teeth
The hair is the richest ornament of women. ~Martin Luther
SOURCES:http://www.gltrends.com/
http://www.gistus.com-
http://www.urbanfaith.com
http://www.pinterest.com
http://www.pinterest.com
