Personal Narrative: Why I Love My Hair

Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair, investigates the notion of what good hair is. Dominant society views good hair as straight or essentially caucasian hair. This is not only problematic to the self-esteem and confidence of black women, but it can also cause black women to appropriate Asian culture. Black women unfortunately take advantage of Asian culture in search of what society believes is good hair. Many black women wear weaves in order to align to what society believes is good hair. However, when they buy this hair, they do not realize what Asians go through. Likewise, Asians who give up their hair do not know where or who this hair will be going to. Thus, this desire for good hair further perpetuates the lack of understanding that black

At four in the morning on February 6th, my friend Lauren and I headed down the the basement of the Iowa Memorial Union, where they would be cutting our hair. Lauren and I stood in line, waiting our turn for our hair cuts. One by one we got closer to the front of the line. Lauren started to get nervous, as she has had long hair all her life, and didn’t know if she would like it short. To me, hair is just hair, it will grow back. I had to keep reminding Lauren we were doing this for the kids. It was finally our turn to sit down and get our hair cut. My hair dresser asked if I wanted her to cut the minimum of eight inches off, I told her it’s just hair and to cut 10 inches off. I no longer wanted the hair, it didn’t belong to me anymore, it belonged to a little girl battling cancer. The hair dresser parted my hair down the center and put three rubber bands in my hair. She started her clippers and began to cut my hair. Next she grabbed her scissors, and with one chop she handed me 10 inches of my hair. In 5 minutes, I went from hair

I see my weekly client come in and sit on my chair. “The usual”, he tells me casually. I nod my head and begin to pick up my clippers. Before I know it I see a line of eager people anxiously waiting to hear the words “Who’s next?” Yeah, it’s a tough job but somebody has to keep the clients looking their best. That is why I decided to become a hairstylist. The idea of cutting hair has always been a dream for me ever since I was a small child growing up. I would take my Barbie dolls and pretend I was a hairstylist and created all sorts of peculiar and weird hairstyles. I mean lets face it; my motive for cutting hair is to revamp people so they can feel confident about themselves on the outside as well as in the inside.

Approximately 2-3 months later I found myself asking my mom if I could be enrolled in gymnastics classes,. She didn't seem to have a problem with this, except that gymnastics is very expensive, which is something her and dad had to discuss. With the expense in the sport, I would have to be doing many chores, which I was fine with since, I did them anyway, but I would still have to ask my dad. He, however, was concerned with prices and the financial sector, and so was my mom. They at first they did not agree, and said “there’s high school and cheer at school”, I scornfully walked back to my room holding tears that were on the fence. Getting into my room, I buried my face in my pillow and let all the tears free onto the cloth that now resembles a darker shade, because of its dampness. My mom then came in a caught me crying my eyes out and brought dad out to talk about this more. I felt so weak like I was trying to change their mind, but I was truly just very upset and had been thinking about this for weeks now. My mom and dad then agreed, together that, we can try 3 months of it, and I guess then we’ll just

Have you ever been through a journey faced with complications that lead you through frequent steps that can occasionally make you want to give up? I decided to do my capstone project on The Journey of Natural Hair, mainly focusing on the selections of afro-textured portions throughout my project. A journey of natural hair is a route you take along with your hair as you encounter different changes and ideas pertaining to your hair. The Natural hair journey technically starts when you are born because everyone is born with different varieties of natural hair. My reason for choosing such a topic is because it is something I can relate to. I have also experienced many of the common stages along my natural hair journey. This topic stands out to me and is something I enjoy talking and learning about. I understand that many aren’t able to self-experience a journey of natural curls which varies with race and background. Exposures to chemicals such as hair relaxers can permanently change the texture of the relaxed portion of hair. As I research further into my subject I hope to learn how certain things can manipulate the hair. I also seek to learn new things the journey has prepared as it continues step by step. I can achieve this by gaining more knowledge about natural/afro-textured hair through others experiences and studies on it.

When I was 10- 12 years old I begged my mother to let me get a perm. She denied my request daily. On my 13th birthday she took me to the beauty shop and told me, I was getting a perm. I screamed so loud. You would’ve thought I had won the lottery. The reason why I wanted a perm was because every one of my friends at my school had one too. After a year or so of having a perm and getting them touched up, I told my mom that my hair started to come out. She instantly decided to let the perm grow out and stop there. I then started doing them myself the older I got, until one day my hair started to fall out again. I started doing research on healthy hair for black women. I came across articles about other women hair falling out because of perms. I started to notice my hair was so uneven and different textures and such, I became so intrigued in the topic I decided to do study this more seriously. It almost was my after school job. My junior year of high school, I decided to perform the “big chop” on my hair. Which is where a woman cuts out all of the damage hair and start from scratch. My friends turned on me, and I was an outsider for that next year. But I had the support of my family. I stuck with it from then to present day. This item represents my adolescence because it taught me so much about myself, which has still been a leading cause in my life even now. I have been natural since 2009 and I do not regret my decision at

The 5th graders kept taking me from my owner as she was walking down the aisle,

My instincts rallied together and introdused the thought that later led me to my decision of a drastic hairstyle change.

Naturally, during adolescence, I decided to test my independence, forge new boundaries, and find my personality. My hair was no different.

Thank you for inviting me to interview for this position, and congratulation for getting your online store off the ground. It just so happens that I know a bit about hair extension since I am consumer of them myself.

Not only did I cut my Barbie's hair, but my own hair was snipped off as well.

When my mom and dad separated in early March of 2008 I was heartbroken. My dad had been staying with my uncle up until their divorce and my mom had looked so put together that nothing seemed wrong. One day, I came home to two packs of Oreo’s on the table and a note that said “know that i will always love you-daddy” and that was that. Not too long after my parents had separated, my mom noticed that my hair was beginning to fall out in certain places due to stress. By the end of my 5th grade year my hair was reduced to an Afro and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. My mom and my teachers were concerned about my well being because of my hair falling out and the amount of a stress I was going through. I was only eight years old and naively thought my parents would stay together.

Today i'm going to be writing about how I want to grow up and do hair. When I was was about 11 or 12 my moms friend gave me a mannequin head. I would always play with it and do braids in it and stuff for practice. When I would have left over extinctions I would try to put it in my mannequin head and it didn’t turn out as bad as I thought it would lol. My mom actually has a picture of me doing braids in my mannequins head.

I was the average Junior High student attending school with no worries. The summer before I started high school, my life changed forever. Of course it was for the better. I was blessed with sharing a life with my nephew. He showed me a way of life I never knew existed. My nephew, John, was two years old and he always spent a lot of time with us. He was at our house on a daily basis. Of course, he spent every weekend with us, too. His Dad, which is my brother, was in prison. His teenaged Mom, Alyse, was struggling as a single parent. She felt like she couldn’t give John the life he deserved. Alyse decided she could no longer raise a child by herself. She wanted the best for her child and believed letting him go would be the best option for him. Alyse called my Mom and asked if John could come to live with our family. My Mom did not hesitate when she answered in excitement; “When would you like for me to pick him up?” I knew that John moving in with my family meant that my life would be changing forever. Due to financial reasons; my Mom, who was also a single parent, would have to work nights and double shifts to make ends meet for our family. Because of this, I would be responsible for caring for John after school. My Mom tried very hard to allow me to participate in school activities as a normal High School student would. I was allowed to be involved in as many activities as logically possible. The reality was we all had to make sacrifices. I don’t think I realized at the

My neighborhood was always filled with kids. Everyday there were kids laughing with joy left and right. I had been riding my bike with my training wheels of course, and a girl with cocoa brown hair zoomed by me leaving my face in awe. I knew right away that I had to get my training wheels off. As I continued to roughly pedal my way up and down the neighborhood, I ponder about if I was making the prime choice for myself. I parked my bike back into the garage, and I bursted into the house and hollered, “I want to get my training wheels off!” My parents came rushing into the room as if I was screeching in tremendous pain. I saw that their faces are left in shock with their mouths wide open. From their expressions, my hope had started to diminish. Therefore at school the next day, one of my closest friends came to me at recess and excitedly expressed, “Guess what? I got my training wheels off! It’s so much faster!” My face had reddened slightly as