I expressed to my friends this evening, the thing that I tell myself in order to remain positive about the future is recognizing that the beautiful thing about life is that it can totally change from one day to the next. This thought allows me to continue to move forward in a situation that might not be ideal for me now, but is necessary on my path toward completion. I honestly believe that I have had the great pleasure of experiencing life in my own unique way.
Over a year ago, I began on the path toward change. I began the process by packing up my apartment, while I had no real plan for movement, I knew that I needed to mentally prepare myself in order to cope with what I believed was a stagnation. The change was not enough to satisfy my need to maintain, so I later decided to fast over the summer and allow God to lead my path. Unexpectantly, I discovered that my hair was a neccessary part of this transition.
I have spent the last year discovering how simply beautiful, relaxing, and damn near sexy it is to run my finger through my nappy/kinky/course, whichever you wanna use, hair. Although, 8 hours from cutting off my perm and currently covering my lucious locks with extensions, the experience of wearing natural hair has been an essential part of my transition. I give myself a headache playing with my natural hair, so the braids become a necessary break for me and my hair.
The beautician who cut my hair off laughed at me the entire time. She thought it was quite hilarious that I was so calm about cutting off all my hair. I actually was just as surprised as she was. I have heard from so many people about the liberating feeling that you get when their cutting out the perm, but I wasn't getting that feeling. It was really nothing to me. I am good for an after shock, and that's exactly what happen. For me, it wasn't getting my hair cut off that felt good, it was feeling the natural that excited me. It has been the attention and appreciation for my Blackness.
