sunday retrospectives: natural not hot in nigeria?
Ok, I’ll admit it.
I stereotyped Africa. I did.
I thought that on a majority and indigenously black continent, natural hair would be celebrated and commonplace.
For a whole week on this blog, we displayed and discussed styles from “the motherland”, which I guess I kinda put forth as the cradle of natural hair ingenuity.
Which is why I came to a screeching halt when I read this in my interview with Miss Fizz (a native Nigerian now living in Ireland.)
Whhaaatttt???
Let’s take off our dashikis, stop burning that incense, stop using vague diasporic language and discuss this!
Nigerian ladies, if you’re out there, break this down for me. PLEASE break this down…
***update @ 12:01 p.m. Monday… I am amazed at the discussion this post has sparked. I won’t be updating today, so that the post can get its due attention.***
I grew up in Nigeria and the US. My parents (both academics) did not allow me to relax or straighten my hair until I got to University.
I resented it immensely having to go through high school in Madison Wisconsin with natural hair, but I am so glad for it now because it taught me to understand and be comfortable with my hair.
I now live in a small town in the UK with no access to African-Caribbean salons. I have been natural now for almost 5 years and will never go back.
Went home to Nigeria recently with natural hair and every one couldn’t stop going on about my hair. Wore it in twists-outs using a UK brand – NaturalCurls – http://www.naturalcurls.co.uk.
Everyone thought I had texturised it and I spent half of my visit explaining the dos and donts of shampooing, cowashing, conditioning our natural hairtype.
My hair is shoulder-length, my grandmother, mother and aunty have hair down to their backs – and all they use is black soap, shea butter and coconut oil….go figure really!!!!
Recently, I watched a talk on youtube (I think) given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the acclaimed Nigerian author of “Purple Hibiscus”, “Half of a Yellow Sun”, and “The Thing Around Your Kneck”. The title of the talk was “The Danger of the Single Story” (or something along those lines) and its theme was that human beings often base their knowledge and/or perceptions of others on a single story culled from a limited source. The single story of Africa is what sparked this thread, i.e., as a place where only “natural things” are allowed including hair, where everyone lives in abject poverty, people are fed by the UN, absolutely everyone lives in a hut and carries a spear, and absolutely no one has seen a tv or read a book.
A good number of Americans (including African-Americans) have this one-dimensional view of Africa that is so dangerously myopic. In my experience, when Americans encounter individuals or viewpionts from the Continent that don’t fit their understanding of what it means to be African, they seem perplexed. This is what started this thread: an American “discovered” that not all Nigerians like to be natural…and THIS is supposed to be news. That’s like “discovering” that not all African-Americans like the use of the word Nigger. Question. Do all Americans like to be natural? I think not. So, why do you expect ALL Nigerians to like to be natural? Why is your expectation of us so different from your expectation of yourselves? Are we not human beings with a myriad of likes and dislikes just like you?
The best tip that I can give to those reading that are unfamiliar with Nigeria or any other African country, is to not assume anyting about any African country and keep an open mind. This goes for any country. The world has gone global and it is a market place of ideas, which are constantly being exchanged to those who care to participate. Also, traditional practices/customs/belief systems have not died simply becuase we are living in a modern era either.
As for the hair thing, as a Nigerian (of the Igbo ethnic group), I have to first say that I do not know the face of every Nigerian experience when it comes to hair, so it is difficult, if not impossible, for me to generalize without a qualitative or quantitative study. Nigeria is extremely diverse with over 200 ethnic groups, languages, dialiects, etc. It is also a country in transition in terms of development with a mix of old world and new. Given this diversity and dynamics, hair preferences is on a slippery-slope. In other words, hair preferences seem to be influenced by a number of factors: media (especially Nollywood), where one resides (rural vs. city), purchasing power, social strata, expectations of family and friends, access to hair services and products, personal convictions, etc.
When last I was in Nigeria, I went to a salon in Dolphin Estates in Lagos. While having my hair braided by two young males, I observed that many of the clientele had weaves, HOWEVER, when the weaves were taken out, underneath were an abundance of long beautiful natural hair. I was informed by the stylists that a lot of the clientele had natural hair underneath their weaves and used weaves for convenience and as a means of hair growth. Of course, there were plenty of women getting relaxers and braids too. When I went to one rural area, I noted that traditional hairstyles such as braids, cornrows, and threading predominated, though threading seems to be on the decline.
I read your article and was intrigue to leave a comment as well. I recently came back from Nigeria (Victoria Island) and I see an abundance of natural and women who wear weaves. In this day in age African culture has been mended with western cultures alike. People tend to forget Naija was British Colonized so a lot of ways we have adapted from European cultures. I am natural and never had a negative stereotype plague me when I went back home. Naturals are widely accepted in Nigeria. Is it the norm now, that is debatable. I feel that trends are adaptable over time and yes Nigerian cultures also follows that seg-way rule as do many other cultures. Its seems like people think that Nigeria or even Africa itself stopped progressing. The country is heavily populated with technology and trendy aspect as due most of the world. We still do hold our tradition very valuable to heart as will. My family is believe in our Yoruba culture and needless to say it will be a part of me where ever my hair blows me.
I am not nigerian but heres my perspective,
one of my closest friends is a freelance model(NYC), she is almost very deeply into this industry and i have met many people through her (models, photographers, etc) NYC is a big giant pot of networking so being in the fashion industry period, you’re gonna be dealing with every aspect and meeting people from every strand(I am an aspiring stylist).
Theres a running joke about the nigerian models of the NYC fashion scene. ONE is that they never date within their race, you always see them strolling down the streets of soho with a white man on their arms, not only that but they only hang out with white female models, and/or the nigerian models like themselves.(their very snotty)
Second you will never see one with their natural hair out..they always have in top quality weave freshly sewed down their backs
Once again this is just jokes that i always here floating around from people.not really my personal experience with these models(however i have seen these exact situations that are being joked about come to life in front of me) but i do find the frequency and consistency peculiar.
Also i dont think this explains EVERY nigerian model, just the ones that you see often
Nice!, discovered your webpage on digg.Glad I finally tried it out. Unsure if its my Firefox browser,but sometimes when I visit your site, the fonts are really small? However, love your site and will return.Bye
I am Nigerian American.
I grew up in a household (in America) that frowned upon natural hair. Both of my parents grew up in Nigeria and I know from viewing my mother’s photos that she did have natural hair growing up..
I guess times have def changed.. My mom was outraged when I (at 24 years old) came home to visit rocking my once Arm pit length relaxed hair now big chopped to 1 inch and natural.
March of 2009 I went home to Nigeria to visit (this was my first adult visit. My last time there I was 16 years old). I was surprised to see almost NO natural women around me. I visited Abuja, Port Harcourt and Obosi and the only natural people I saw where males, young school girls and some elderly women.
Hey! I’m so happy i stumbled upon your website, i think it is so helpful. I am a Nigerian woman who recently moved to London from Nigeria(lagos). About 2years ago i decided to cut off all my hair, i had been thinking about it for ages but never had the guts. I finally cut it when my hair stopped relaxing and always had a curly half inch at the bottom.
The reactions i got from people varied quite a bit but the main one was disbelief. Noone could understand why i would choose my curly “unmanageable” natural hair instead of straight easily styled relaxed hair. There i was in nigeria and i was suddenly acutely aware of how brainwashed we were about our hair. Even in the villages the idea that relaxed hair was good hair was present and for the first time in my life i had to sit and think about why i had been relaxing my hair at all.
I am a doctor and i actually got called in by one of my bosses in nigeria to discuss my decision to be natural, how it didn’t quite look right.
I must admit that at first i gave into the pressure and texturized my hair, i somehow thought that it wasn’t quite relaxing but now i know better.
Nigerian women are extremely fashionable and stylish and unfortunately, having relaxed hair has become deeply entrenched in our collective psyche. it is completely normal to have relaxed hair and strange to be a young adult professional woman and want to keep your hair in it’s natural state. It seems to be acceptable for people in more creative professions but for people in the corporate world, fitting in frequently involves having a weave or braids, definitely not a fro.
I have found my natural hair journey to be an extremely challenging one. i have been tempted several times to go back to relaxing but thankfully have not done so. I enjoying discovering what my real hair is all about, it’s likes and dislikes and i finally feel like i am me for the first time in so long.
I think that a woman can be beautiful with natural or relaxed hair but the most important thing is that she must be able to decide which style she wants to wear without feeling like she is choosing one style to fit in with the people around her. Black her is not bad hair, in spite of the fact that we have been made to think so.