I Am Not My Hair
By now, I'm sure you can tell by my pictures that I have naturally long hair, but listen, to get this naturally long hair (that I didn't have to purchase....no shade to the buyers though) it comes with consequences. Speaking of buyers....more power to ya'll because the one time I got a weave it required way more work than my real hair. I ain't got time for that.....literally. Back to the gift that God gave me....not only does it keep growing but it ends up everywhere!! I love my hair but it doesn't define me.
Before heading to Dallas, I decided to bantu knot my curls before I left for the airport. Since it was late at night, I decided to keep them in while I traveled. When I tell you, I got all types of stares wondering what that is on my head....I almost started barking at people, but I didn't want to get labeled as a terrorist and kicked out of the airport. When going through security, all the pins in my knots set the metal detector off. The sista patting me down just looked up and said, "I bet those will be pretty when they come down. Have a good night." ::insert raised fist:: Thanks for appreciating the beauty in my work of art.
I went to buy a pretzel and the Asian cashier stared at my head the whole time and then asked, "how did you get that like that?" I'm positive there's a better way to pose that question or be less awkward about it. As I grabbed my pretzel from her, I said, "Just twist," and walked away. I went to purchase gummy worms (flight necessities) and the cashier smiled at my head and said, "Wow. I like your hair." I guess she felt compelled to comment because her awkward stares already told her true feelings ::rolls eyes:: It's just hair folks....you can do all types of things with it. Some people just need to get out more. Better yet, some people need lessons on dealing with "differences". It's a shame that I have to say that because of HAIR!
While on vacation, the humidity mixed with rain increased the frizz factor on my lovely bantu waves. As a result my neat tresses became a natural work of art. My natural hair state isn't a fro, just a lot of volume, but certainly comb-able. There was no way that I could walk around with my hair everywhere so I brushed my hair from the center and braided it into a crown.
When going home, the woman at Ft. Lauderdale's security check was alerted by the screen that there was ONE bobby pin in my hair. She began squeezing my braid crown all around and patting my hair down like there was a whole kitchen stove and refrigerator in there. I understand we all have to be safe, but all the extra squeezing was so unnecessary. Please help me to understand when a crown braid became a security threat. "I sure could do a lot of damage with this hair braid," said no one ever ::rolls eyes:: I felt so violated and apparently this is the norm with black girls. When I posed the question to my Facebook friends, black girls responded saying that it happens all the time. How come the other girls in the airport don't have to get this extra pat down? What's in their messy buns? I went through the first airport with about 20 pins in my knots and didn't get a pat down. I had one pin in my braid and it called for a whole search squad!? Anything else "hidden" in my hair would have fallen out. Oh wait...get this....the metal detector would have picked it up...just like it picked up that one bobby pin! Dear society, let's do better.
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