The one hundred thousand hairs on my head
Curl and coil in just as many directions.
My hair is a crown reaching up
To kiss the heavens, defying gravity.
It is a halo, an entity of the divine,
Infused with argan oil and my mother’s love.
My hair is my beauty.
My grandmother always told me that.
I never quite understood what she meant
When she said it to me when I was nine.
But I get it now, my hair is symbolic
Of the legacy of my ancestors,
Its maintenance requires knowledge
Passed down from mother to daughter
For centuries.
I spent hours on the ground
In front of my mother.
I’ve spent lifetimes seated there,
My shoulders pressed between her knees
The back of my neck rested against
the couch cushion as her fingers
laced my curls with castor oil and
Blue Magic.
Practised fingers contorted themselves
And configured road maps,
cane fields and escape routes
That those generations before used
In a time where a hairstyle
Meant the difference between
Life and death, freedom and bondage.
Gentle hands adorn my braids and twists
With cowrie shells and precious metals.
My locs and cane rows are threaded
With cords of gold and copper.
The ends of my flat twists hang
From the weight of wooden beads.
My hair is a monument to the
Women who came before me.
The ones forced into captivity and had
Their heads shaved like cattle
By green-eyed slave masters’ wives.
Those who were forced to cover their hair
due to its alluring appearance
During colonialism.
Those who mangled their curls to be accepted
In the post-industrial workforce.
My hair is an ode to my fellow sisters.
It is so much more than ‘just hair’.
Author’s note
When I wrote this poem, I was feeling really homesick and reminiscing about my mom and how she used to spend a lot of time with me taking care of my hair. As I thought about it some more, I reflected on the deep cultural heritage tied to the practice of doing Afro-textured hair and this poem was the result.
Chaunte Blackwood is a third-year international student from Jamaica. She is double majoring in Criminology and English (Creative Writing).
