POLL RESULTS for 1st RELAXER
Just looking at the poll results (from ages ago, lol).
Firstly Thanks to everyone who took part.
I figured before I post the next poll, its only right to have a lil discussion on this one before I take it down.
Incase you missed it these were the results:
The poll shows that the Largest Majority of the women who answered, First Relaxed their hair when they were aged between 11yrs and 15yrs.
This was followed by those who first had it relaxed aged between 6yrs and 10yrs.
WOW!
I was surprised as I think those ages are very young.
It got got me thinking why this was?
I was 18yrs when I had my first relaxer.
My aunt said I had come of age and took me to a brilliant hair dresser. I agreed cos I thought it'd be Fun. It looked good but I Hated it. It just felt uncontrollable and too floppy to work with.
However, over the next 7yrs I got so used to having straight hair I began to loose appreciation for my own hair. (tut tut)
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| Me taking out my extenstons before my first relaxer |
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| Getting my 1st Relaxer |
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| sorry bout the quality of the photos |
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| After my 1st Relaxer |
Now 8yrs later Im back on track, but:
Why do so many of us get relaxed so young?
Feel free to let me know if you think Im right or wrong...
Self-Expression
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| Willow Smith |
Sophistication
During these years many girls long to be older and view straight hair as a sign of sophistication.Which leads to the question - why does straight hair equate to sophistication and beauty in the eyes of young girls? I think this is due to the following reason...
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| Tyra Banks |
Celebrities & Society
The majority of black celebrities in popular culture wear their hair straight and the idea of straight hair being more desirable is so often reinforced in everyday western society.
Ease
And of course there's the isssue of managability. Without knowing how to really take care of our own hair then we do tend to think it'll be easier to straighten it.
Having said that, I think parents have a large part to play too, as the 11-15yr old were followed by the 6-10yr olds whose hair decisions are most likely to be by parents.
Again I think managability is probably the main reason for this.
I was looking online at what some parents had to say and it was very interesting. Quite a few parents seem happy to relax their daughters hair before the age of 10! But according to safehairrelaxer.com it's not recommended to relax children's hair before age 13!!
This is because the chemicals can be harmful.
I found a brilliant article on adults relaxing children's hair with a funny photo and tragic story to go with on NaturalNigerian.com here's the link to the article: AuntyYouNoGoRelaxHerHair
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| Source |
I also watched a good video on youtube by a woman called MsIndigoLove who talks about parents relaxing their kids hair. This is the link and it's about 1.55mins into the vid: MsIndigoLove
Its interesting to think about our experiences with our hair as this poll suggests that our parents or elders seem to have a big influence on this, so Im just wondering:
How would you do things differently with your daughter?
I know I will definately try and encourage my daughter to feel good about her natural hair, so that if she decides to relax her hair, it's not because she doesn't recognise her natural beauty.
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| mini me |
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| lil me |
