Black People Can't Get Their Hair Wet

Here at Smart Girls we love the phrase "get your hair wet." While the phrase is metaphoric and all about diving into life, I wanted to talk for a minute about actually getting your hair wet — as a black female.

People have a lot of questions about black hair. The most common being: Why don't you wash it everyday? and/or Why don't black women want to get their wet? Let me provide my perspective and start out by saying that there are plenty of black women that wash their hair often and don't mind getting it wet.

My name is Camille. I'm a film student at the University of Texas at Austin and the digital media intern here at the wonderful organization that is Amy Poehler's Smart Girls. I was born and raised in a rather privileged area of Houston, and almost everyone around me was white. As a kid it made me so mad that I didn't have pretty straight hair like my friends. Mine was super curly and hard to deal with and I just wanted to be like them. Both my mom and older sister have straight hair — I didn't understand what happened to mine.

When I was about eight years, my mother explained to me the concept of a relaxer — putting heavy chemicals on your hair to straighten it out. That sounded like a sweet deal to me, and I was all for it! Little did I know, relaxer can actually burn your scalp pretty badly. It took the phrase "beauty is pain" to a whole new level, especially for a kid. However, I liked my hair straight, which means that the benefits outweigh the costs. I'm 19 now and I get my hair relaxed every six weeks or so. Since I'm in school and away from mom, she can't do it for me. This means that I have to get my hair professionally done. Let me tell you, that stuff is super expensive and time consuming! It takes about $90 and 3–4 hours every time.

This is the main reason I don't always want to get my hair wet. It looks really nice when I leave the salon, and it will stay that way if I just let it be. Since I put down decent money, I like it to stay neat for as long as possible. Therefore, I don't get it wet.

I've been taught since I young age that washing my hair every day would dry it out. My hair is already inherently dry. It thrives on its natural oils and washing it strips it of those, so once a week it is. When I do go swimming or whatever it may be, my hair dries into a curly, frizzy, tangled mess. If I'm going straight home afterwards or I'm with my close friends, I'll just leave it in its crazy state. If I'm at a big party or I have a lot do after I will have been in the water, I tend to not want to get it wet. Not even a ponytail can tame it, so I often choose not to deal with it.

I've made this sound a tad dramatic. At the end of the day, I do what I think is best and most comfortable for me. If I want to get my hair wet, I will. If I don't, I won't. There could be a multitude of reasons behind this decision — whatever they are, they're mine and need to be respected. Not wanting to get my hair wet does not come from a place of not wanting to take risks or dive into life.

I'm more than proud to be a black woman; sometimes my hair is just a bit of inconvenience. But, who can't handle a little inconvenience every once in a while?

Peace and love y'all.

Featured Image via Creative Commons .

Black People Can't Get Their Hair Wet

Source: https://amysmartgirls.com/get-your-black-hair-wet-208713a329d1

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