You may or may not know, but I happen to be a scholar. Actually, “junior scholar” is the term as I’ve yet to obtain my PhD. Nonetheless, I am quite interested in what I call official, meaning credible, information. So when it comes to hair, I am always researching, but I prefer to get my info from real sources not just this worked for me, it’ll work for you…
But natural hair is more than a preference for me. It is personal, and a my passion, so much so that I am dedicating my academic studies to the subject. I careless what people say about preference, that the majority of African descended American women drastically alter their hair with dangerous chemicals because it is viewed as :

• acceptable    
• appropriate
• professional
• manageable
• attractive

this tells me that natural hair is considered the opposite of the above listed qualities. It also tells me somewhere along the line we agreed to alter our physical identity, that which signifies us as direct inheritors of an African lineage. I realize our skin also serves this purpose, but it wasn’t too long ago that skin bleach was advertised as the cure all to the issues of black skin.

I aim to examine the issues (politics) which comes with the natural hair of African descended person.  Currently, there are handfuls of academic published material dedicated to these issues.  I have found articles in anthropology, sociology and of course in psychology. As a historian, however inter-disciplinary I may want to be, I need history sources. Sadly, I have found they simply are not there.   Sure,  there is much on Madam CJ Walker, black hair care innovator, millionairess and God-send to so many black women and men, but natural hair goes ignored…

…unless your research involves the Black Liberation Movement, Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panthers. Google image it, I promise you will find an Afro on the first page. But other than an emphasis on Angela Davis, history has hijacked the Afro, originally called “the natural,” from women and insisted on vilifying it as symbolism of Black Masculinity.  It’s vilified because it’s scary to those who cannot grow an afro. And when we as humans are afraid of that which we do not understand, to make it less threatening, we laugh at it. Head over to google again and type “Afro wig” and see what comes up.

Yes, the only colloquial (common place; laymen) understanding of black natural hair today is the Afro and it serves as comedic relief for white America. Party gear, Halloween attire, because it was scary at one point.

I point all these social issues out not because I’m that angry black woman sitting at the front of the class who causes collective sighs every time her hand goes up. Rather, I have a genuine concern for the ways in which we are depicted as it affects how we are treated and how we understand ourselves.

All that being said, I welcome you to my website and my blog. There are plenty of natural hair websites around, but I offer to you an intellectual outlet to vent your frustrations, share your triumphs, get the latest news and of course share your stories, pics, videos of all the great things you are doing with your natural hair and in your natural life.

-Ria