Why should we wear our hair in its Natural (Afro) state?

Viola Davis

At the workshop I conducted this past weekend, I shared some points on why it's important for more Black women to wear their hair in it's Afro-textured state and to wear it out loud and proud.
Some of  the points I came up with are as follow:

1. A True Representation of Us

While I was living in China. I had a lot of people asking me if my hair was fake or real. Although a few Chinese have seen Black people on TV and even on the streets, most believe that the straight weaves that they see on Black women is our real hair. So, when they see me walking on the street with my afro puff, twist out, twists and what not, they automatically assume I was wearing a fake. Celebrities such as Oprah, Beyonce, Michelle Obama with straight hair are not really showing the "outside" world  what our hair really looks like.

2. Minimal discrimination between us and the "other" race

People will only criticize what they don't know and aren't used to. It's a shame that we continue to let them dictate "appropriate" hairstyles for us to the point that we have to send our own child home for wearing her hair in an "unacceptable" hairstyle. But if more of us go to job interviews, dates and other functions with our hair out in it's kinky coily state, I feel there will be reduced tension between us and the "other" race. 

3. Eradication of Slave Hair Mentality

Those of us who follow Black hair in the media must have heard of Sheryl Underwood's statement about kinky hair. Perhaps you've also heard about the little girl at an Oklahoma school who was sent home because afros and locs are too distracting? It is this slave mentality that 's still causing many women to be ashamed of their hair to the point that they have nothing positive to say about their God given feature. 

4. Knowledge, Empowerment and Self Love

Teyonah Parris

Knowledge is power and it is the empowerment that we gain from this knowledge that will truly set us free from the slave mentality which many of us still have. And if we could get rid of this mentality, we'll be able to love our hair in it's natural texture without the need to change it's structure or always on a hunt for a product that will help us "manage" our hair. 

5. No need to wear other people's hair
If you've seen the documentary "Good Hair" by Chris Rock, I'm sure you're aware that the "human hair" which you paid hundreds of dollars for were sacrificed to some questionable gods. Also, did you know that some of those hair were secretly cut off from other women's hair as they were sleeping or watching a movie at the cinema?
Personally, I stopped wearing "human hair" weaves after watching this documentary because I refused to take part in the craziness. I was also enlightened by the film because it really made me think and ask myself why a Black woman like myself has to pay top $$ for packs of stolen/sacrificed INDIAN hair, when I'm not Indian. I also knew that wearing hair that was sacrificed to some unknown gods cannot be spiritually right and so I refused to take part in such sin. Now, I guess synthetic weaves are okay since they were manufactured in a factory. Nevertheless, I plan to completely eliminate wigs and weaves from my hair wardrobe. 

What other points would you add to these 5 points? Please leave them in the comment box