Wigs and Braids and Weaves...Oh My!

School is back in session and a smile came to my face a few days ago as I saw two little girls sitting on the bus with their mothers.  Yes, it was sweet to see them eager to head to school, but I was smiling because of their hair.  They had cornrows without extensions  and it reminded me of how my mother would do my hair.  The pattern wasn't too elaborate, but it wasn't going straight back and the ends had been curled. Sure, their hair wasn't long, nor was it super full, but it was nice nonetheless.  I've grown tired of seeing little black girls with yarn-like or plasticky extensions, looking ridiculous on their little heads and necks, tightly pulling their hair and likely setting them up for a lifetime with thin or bald edges that they'll spend all their life trying to grown in by using braids and weaves -- it's a vicious cycle.

Working up in Harlem, I am in awe of the array of hairstyles on the women and men on the street.  I'm assaulted by the African ladies who scream "BRAID?!? Braid Miss?" and I'm enticed by the Asian-owned black hair supply stores selling creams, gels and human hair on practically every block.  Hair, hair and more hair.

The one thing I find most crazy when I'm in Harlem (or any primarily black neighborhood) is the number of people walking around with bad weaves.  What is a bad weave?  A bad weave looks like a wig, or like plastic hair, or it's too long or ratty or it doesn't blend with the person's real hair.  Every time I see someone walking around with a bad weave I think, "Do you want long hair so badly that you would rather walk around looking how you look, rather than show your own hair?"  It fascinates me.

I saw Chris Rock's movie, Good Hair which skimmed this issue. I know it was a comedic documentary, but I wish that he had just interviewed women wearing wigs, (which doesn't really bother me), and with weaves and just said..."Why? Why?"

People should do what they want with their hair whether keeping it natural, relaxing it, braiding it, wigging it, locking it or weaving it, and if these women with bad weaves think their hair looks good, we all would be better to have their confidence.  Let's just say I'll take an order of extreme confidence, hold the bad weave.