by Cassandre of cassandrebeccai.com
Huh? Who in the world is screaming at me?? I heard the voice again.
“Your hair F*#!’in ROCKS!!!” I looked around. It was then that I finally spotted the Caucasian male who had to poke his head out from the driver’s seat window, in traffic, to pay me that compliment. It’s probably been the 8th time today that I’ve received either an admiring look, an “I love your hair!”, or an “African queen” comment about my luscious afro as I walked along Pine Street. It’s a regular occurrence for me to get comments on my hair, but this time things are just a little bit different. My natural hair nearly reaches my tailbone in length.
See the length check video here.
However, that’s not exactly what’s bringing home the compliments. Today, I’m wearing my color 2, 10 inch Beshe wig.
That’s right. All the compliments about my hair are associated with the wig I’m wearing on top of it. A couple of weeks ago my mom came to visit us in Seattle. Rather than going through the process of styling my thick mane after a sleepless night with baby, I thought it was a perfect time to wear my wig. Up until a few days before, I had never ever worn a wig, nor even considered ever wearing one. I was brought up with the idea that you should only wear your own, real hair. I had never worn faux extensions growing up and I first shared my interest in them when I wore Marley twists back in summer 2012
See my Marley twist video here:
When my mom saw me with my “new hair,” she had absolutely no idea that it wasn’t mine. She didn’t blink twice. Well actually, she did, but it was related to the length of the hair not the hair itself. An hour into our convo, I asked, “Do you like my wig?” She responded with a rather bemused look and asked, “Why are you wearing a wig?” Here’s what I told her in a nutshell
I’m in that stage in my natural hair journey where I feel I’ve arrived. I’ve finally embraced this lovely, kinky head of hair of mine and learned to nurture it so it has grown healthy and long. But, I want to have my cake and eat it too. I want the convenience and styling opportunities that wigs afford without having to compromise the integrity of my natural hair.
Despite my resolve, I must admit- when complimented on my “hair” I feel a little torn and maybe guilty since I’m keeping up with a pretense that just isn’t true. I am in fact wearing a wig. I’m not gonna lie though, I hate when ladies feel compelled to ask you about your hair when they know it might not be yours just so they can shame you by sharing your business with every Tom, Dick and Harry. I say assume it’s hers until she tells you otherwise!
What do you think of me “coming clean” and confessing to admiring strangers that my lush, 10 inch, afro is fake? Do you have any hang-ups about naturals wearing wigs and faux hair?
