Why is "Nappy" a bad word????

!!!!Warning this may become an excessive rant, but in the words of my friend Jenny..I do what I want!!!

Earlier this week I decided that I was going to let my hair ADD get the best of me and start taking down a few of my yarn twists.  My guy friend came over to study with me for a while and turns out he's doing a paper about  non-traditional beauty standards in African American women. (Sighs)  That is such a good topic to me, needless to say he began picking my brain about why I wear my hair the way I do, btw he loves my hair.  I ended my diss about my hair by saying "I love my nappy hair."  He touched the piece of hair that I had taken down already and said no you dont you have good hair.  (Rolls eyes)  That wouldn't have been a bad thing if he meant that my hair was healthy, but I could tell he was referring to the texture of my hair and not it's condtion.  Im not goog at typing my hair but I know Im a 4 something lol and that's not what most people consider "good" hair. 

This pass week I have come across a few girls that love the way I wear my hair, but claim that they have "nigga" hair, or that I have good hair so I can rock the styles I do easily.  Not!!! I love my hair and I appreciate the texture, I wouldn't care if someone called it nappy, in fact I might even see it as a compliment.  I think the problem comes when people mean it in a hurtful way and turn a word that simply means tightly curled or coiled into something derogatory.  Even my ex said that my hair isnt "nappy" it's manageable.  WTF, thats anyone's hair, if you take the time to learn to properly care for it.  Whether your hair has big juicy loose curls, is straight, or kinkier than lamb's wool.  Deal with it learn to take care of what you got. 

Why is it that other races walk around with their natural hair textures all the time, but when we (AA's) do it we're making some kind of political statement. That truly baffels me, if God gave me this hair that can mold into any shape, reach for the sky, and be straight or curly why would I want to give that up just so I can look like someone Im not.  (Not bashing those that do wear relaxers or weaves) I just feel that you should love yourself first and then decide what works for you, don't do it just to fit in and look like everybody else, it's overrated. 

Back to that nappy stuff and the baseline of my rant

There's nothing wrong with referring to your hair as nappy, the problem lies within us still wanting to conform to European standards of beauty that dont hold out natural kinks in high regard.  I love that my hair is tightly coiled and kinky.  It bounces back from being twisted our braided, is soft to the touch, and makes me stand out wherever I go.  No one can tell me that's not a beautiful thing, and God knew what he was doing when he made us this way.  Don't look down on your kinks because of what others say, empower yourself and know that you are all beautiful queens.  (Takes deep breath)

Until next time...
Stay nappy, Stay happy!