Perception of Natural hair.

Hair has become political issue across Africa.Chemical relaxers, which straighten hair, have been popular for years. But while the look is seen by some as professional, others call it un-African. There's a move away from relaxing hair - a journey the BBC's Pumza Fihlani has
made.


  I started using Chemical relaxers for my hair when I was very young. Never knew your hair could be natural,  African,  unnatural or   unAfrican.  From age 10, my mother would braid and relax my hair, my head cradled between her legs while she sits on a kitchen stool.

   My scalp was very sensitive and had to rush to the  wash basin immediately she finished.

   I would be crying funeral tears by the time she was done.

 The chemical sodium hydroxide is put on the hair to break down its protein causing it to
become straight. This can be a painful process that sometimes leaves you with a burnt scalp.

 Although African hair is versatile, with endless hairstyles to choose from, Africa has been flooded with relaxers to smooth that stubborn kink and coarse hair.

Why?

     Because they say when a woman wear her natural hair she looks unkempt.

    Not just that some of this African men see a woman on her natural hair as one who cant take care of herself.  They prefer her on weave-ons or wigs or tell her to relax her hair to be presentable. But her hair wasn't straight it was thick,  coarse and kinky from birth. It's who is she.

   Black hair has been treated with disdain for years because black people have been made to be a problem. European hair made a benchmark which every black girl should strive to wear.

   For centuries black women around the world were discriminated against because of their skin, hair and culture. White attributes -including straight hair - were seen as
superior.

    There are still remnants of that to this day.

When a black woman graces our screens she is usually wearing either a weave or has bone-
straight, relaxed hair.

  But believing that all women who relax their hair or wear weaves do so because they are trying to be white would be simplistic.

It doesn't take into consideration the social  pressures.

    Later in life, some women worry that they will be passed over for promotions and relationships if they keep their hair natural. They actually do because companies make harsh policies about being natural (being African too). And the Men choose the UnAfrican ladies over her, they feel she is not as beautiful with her natural hair.

 That's because there is still a stigma around natural hair. Its harshest critics consider it to
be unkempt.

 Ms Adichie also points out that many people choose to relax their hair because they don't
know how to care for natural hair.

'Education is needed on hair care'

"There's a perception that natural hair is unkempt hair. A bit of education needs to be
done here. I know that natural hair can look neat too."