Black Women, Hair Loss and Trauma-What To Do About It
I know body positivity focuses on staying positive and celebrating women of all sizes; as a curvy gal, I’m thankful for it. But what about hair loss positivity? What about empowering the women who have suffered hair loss at no fault of their own through alopecia or undergoing the rigors of chemotherapy? Or better yet, trusting the wrong person with their hair like I did?
Story time: I remember like it was yesterday, seeing the look on my mother’s face when saw what happened. My grandmother even cried, “how could she do something like that to my grand baby?” Being so young, I didn’t even know what was going on until my older sister put me in front of the mirror and showed me the bald spots throughout my scalp. I was mortified and traumatized. I felt ugly.
That’s when I began wearing weave. I had no choice.
People made fun of me because I wore weave. They didn’t realize I did have hair; I was just ashamed of what was under the weave. It wasn’t my fault my scalp looked like this. It wasn’t my fault I felt ugly.
But how many women go through this? Not just in their childhood, but in their adulthood? Imagine having beautiful long hair that you adore. Now imagine it being taken due to one session of chemotherapy. Or from stress? Orrrrr from a bad experience at the hair salon? There is a multitude of reasons why we black women lose our hair.
Hair loss is a prevalent issue in the black community, and not just females. Men experience it too, hence why you have men weaves.
But for the purpose of this blog, we’re just focusing on the ladies. 50% of black women experience hair loss and when we experience hair loss, what’s the first thing we resort to? Wigs and weave, right?!
Well, God forbid, but what if the government decides to shut all that down and deems hair extensions and wigs illegal? We’d be forced to REALLY build a space for women who have hair loss to let them know, “You’re not alone. You’re still beautiful. You can shave it all off. Your features are actually more poppin’ without hair.”
I know society celebrates black women who have strong healthy and long hair or even the soft curly hair aka “that good hair.” But in all honesty, all hair is good hair, and all beauty is good beauty.
If you don’t feel beautiful, I’m not one to say, “Sure go out and display your bald spots.” But I encourage you to go out and wear your hair in a style that makes you feel beautiful, even if it’s shaving it all off or just wearing a beautiful glueless wig from Hair Bakery Boutique, a wig business I created for women as protective styles and fabulous options for women experiencing hair loss.
Having positive mental health with hair loss isn’t impossible, it’s a process that requires steps.
I encourage you to be a good steward over your hair loss and create a space of love for every part of you. Start a discussion on Facebook about hair loss. Create a group for women who experienced hair loss so they can empower each other. As a matter of fact, tune in to my IG live with Dr. Boogie of “My Mane Problem” on Sunday, May 30th at 7pm as we discuss Black Women Natural Beauty Self Love.
Hope to see you there.