Leave Me Alone...

No seriously, leave me alone.

Now I'm not trying to push my readers away (all two of you hehe) but I'm talking to those who feel the need to make remarks about my hair.

Let me start from the beginning.

Today my friends J, S, and I went to a concert held in Central Park (we went to see Santogold). Now despite the extreme heat (sunburn to the third degree) it was cool. But the people at the concert decided to spray water on the crowd and the only reason I gave in was because I was hot as hell so for the few hours that I was there, I said screw my hair.

On the bus ride home, I was on the phone with another friend gushing about how much I just loved my friend S natural hair (so thick and curly and just plain beautiful) and I was complaining about how sweaty and poufy my relaxed hair had gotten. The guy behind me must've been listening to my convo because the minute I said "later" to my friend, he taps me and says

"Now you learned your lesson. I don't see why you young black women feel the need to look like the rest of them and have straight hair"

Excuse you? Who are you to talk to me like that?

He then went on a tirade about how black women shouldn't perm their hair blah blah blah. Needless to say there was quite a debate on the B17 bus today.

I've tried to go natural but I never really gave it a shot because my hair was breaking and quite frankly I missed my relaxed hair. This doesn't mean I'm trying to be "white" nor am I "neglecting" my roots. This just means that I prefer my hair straighter.

Why?

Because I'm lazy. There I said it. It's so much easier (in my opinion) to unwrap your hair in the morning and let it fall. During my failed attempt at au naturel my hair was breaking and shedding and I had no idea why. So I went to what I knew. Good old FABU-LAXER (the one with the black and purple box..hehe). Natural hair takes time and patience- two things I'm not good with- kinda.

I'm not knockin' women with natural hair. As a matter of fact, I'm quite jealous. I stared at my friend's hair today and gushed about it to J on the train ride home (her response as to why my hair never looked like that: "YOU NEVER GAVE YOUR HAIR A CHANCE!!!! YOU ALWAYS PERMING IT!!"...count on her to yell at me and keep it real). There were (and still are) plenty of times when I would [miserably] attempt to curl my hair and try to make it look somewhat natural (straw set anyone?) all just to give my hair a shot.

Now leave me alone. I'm not fake. I'm not trying to be Barbie. I have not been brainwashed by mainstream media. But natural hair just might not be for me at the moment. Let ME figure that out when I'm ready.

Jeez.

So this may be a rant and some of you might find it foolish but I'm sick and tired of the backlash and the negativity towards black women with relaxed hair. I love curly hair but I'm no less of a black woman just 'cuz I've put chemicals in it. What, next you're gonna tell me I can't color it? Is that bad too?

What ever happened to "I am not my hair"?

And to the guy on the bus...mind your beeswax!! (how's that for mean...ha!)