Mi pelo bueno (My "good hair")

Would you believe that I would fly 1000 miles away and still be talking about Black hair?! That's the last thought that would have considered, however one day last week, I found myself discussing the documentary "Good Hair" by Chris Rock with my professor and two other students. I think it's so ironic that black hair is something that would come up on a trip like this to a Central American country when that is not the focus of our journey. This topic also arose in whole group chat when we were discussing how language and culture affect one another.



Before coming on this trip and when telling people that I would be in the middle of the rain forest for a month, there was much skeptism. Some responses were, "uh, girl what are you going to do with your hair?!" "You should get braids", and my personal favorite, simply laughter at the thought of trying to take care of the beast that is "Black hair". It's such an interesting concept to try and lumb us all together, because clearly no two people have the same texture of hair, but we all tend to share that same hesitance when it comes to doing our own hair. It's always a production. Some people won't even attempt to try it on their own. To me, this has become a market where we relinquish our power over our own appearance in order to look a certain way.

Over two summers way back when, I stayed with my aunt who owns a salon in Baltimore and really learned how to take care of my hair. Not saying that I would ever trust doing my own relaxer, but the simple steps it takes to washing, drying and styling your own hair can add up. I remember being younger and wanting to decrease the cost my mother had to pay to get both mine and my sister's hair. Also, I wanted to be able to have freedom over simple things like going swimming or washing my hair after a work out and other things in life. I also had to come to a point where I stopped being jealous of other people's "good hair" and started to learn about what works for me.




Here I am hiking (4 miles) through the rain forest/mountains and jungle not worrying about my hair. Yes, I got a relaxer before I came, but I also know what to do with it when it's 10 weeks in. I'm not going to say that it was easy to come to the place where I know what works for me. I encourage you to do the same for you. Free yourself! Lemme know if you need help with product advice!