Sampson

It is with much shame that I am about to admit this . . . but I want to preface it first . . .

Like many Black women, I have hair issues. Being biracial and growing up with a white, rather no-nonsense mother, didn't really help. Though my sister and I always had a healthy crop of thick hair, I don't think either of us knew what to do with it between the 3 times a year that we went to the shop. It was really the blind leading the blind - we experimented with Pink Oil, water and every form of grease there was. And it RARELY looked good.

In college, I found salvation in the form of my sorhority sisters. They immediately took me in and said, "Well, we must do something about this hair." I couldn't afford regular visits to the beauty salon, nor did I have transportation to downtown San Diego to the shops when I did. So my prhophytes gave me perms in my kitchen and taught me how to wrap my hair. Those were good times . . . soon after college, I got a salary and a car and was cool . . . and my hair didn't impede me from too much . . .

Then about 3 years ago, after cutting my hair very short, I decided I would stop getting it chemically relaxed. I thought it might be damaging and frankly I was sick of the cost and the monthly burns. Now, my hair is completely natural (I still straighten it, but the perm has totally grown out) and now it is impeding me. And so I have to admit this . . . I will not exercise if I have just gotten my hair done.

That's pathetic, I know. But it's true. I spend 2 hours and $50 getting my hair straightened twice a month and now that I am perm-free, one drop of moisture COMPLETELY ruins it and renders that 2 hours and $50 completely meaningless.

Schools are now concerned about this - seems that some young Black girls are willing to FAIL their PE classes because they don't want to mess up their hair. This is VERY SAD. On the surface level, it seems REALLY stupid to choose your freakin hair over your health. And logically it IS. But last week, when I had the time and energy to work out but decided not to because I had just gotten my hair done, I realized just how PATHETIC it is as well as stupid . . .

Like many things I write in this blog, I don't know what the solution is (invest in better head wraps?). But it sure made me feel better to admit it . . .