Umihair

Growing up in a suburban, metro Atlanta neighborhood has its pros and cons. It is advantageous being in close proximity to downtown Atlanta and being able to immerse myself in the Atlanta hip-hop and R&B community. However, there are some aspects where--being an African-American female--I have to be confronted with few biases. One of those biases are biases that has to deal with my hair. Personally, I generally like to wear natural styles or braids. Although my neighborhood is racially diverse, ...

My experience of wearing wigs and extensions started out when I was about 16 in my sophomore year of high school. Since I was seven years old, my mother had relaxed my hair and growing up I used to wish my hair was longer, but the longest it ever grew was to my collar bones. All of middle school my hair was relaxed until I hit Eighth grade, I finally got my first pair of box braids and became attached. I loved the look, the feel of something swinging on my back as I walked, and the hair laying o...

For as long as I can remember I have had issues when it pertains to self-image. I have suffered with low levels of confidence and insecurities due to my hair loss. At the age thirteen, traditional sew-in weave hairstyles and braids where my go to styles. When I think back my mother attributes my hair loss to a time when I was around five years old and playing in the sand box. While playing with one my peers she rubbed sand in my hair. The sand in my hair caused ringworms on my body and the scalp...

I used to think my hair problem was just my hair. With frizzy, unruly locks, I was always self-conscious about my curls growing up. In school I was picked on a lot for my hair. Boys would throw staples in my hair from the back of the classroom because they said it was like Velcro. My mother, the source of my tangled and twisting mop of hair, always said that people pay a lot of money to have what we have. She would say to be thankful because we will never have “boring hair.” In middle school...

“Good hair― that’s the expression. We all know it, begin to hear it when we are small children. When we are sitting in between the legs of our mothers and sisters getting our hair combed. Good hair is not kinky, hair that does not feel like balls of steel wool, hair that does not take hours to comb, hair that does not need tons of grease to untangled, hair that is long” - bell hooks, “From Black is a Woman’s Color” 10 years ago the conversation of natural hair did not exist. ...