I was always known to have short hair (approx neck length) by my friends during my schools days until I decided to wear it in a weave for five years straight when I started university. My hair never saw the light of day during those years because I, very sadly, just couldn't be bothered it. I developed a very negative attitude towards my hair whereby I felt I couldn't do anything with it unless there was some extensions in it.
THEN I took them out for the first time this year and my natural hair is now approx BSL. People who never knew me during my school days assume I've always had long hair and that I must be either mixed, Carribean, or something - I am not. With 4B type hair and Nigerian in ethnic origin, I see myself as proof that Black hair really can grow. I think the plight that seems to affect hair growth for a lot of black people is not our genetics but our PRACTICES and ATTITUDES towards our own hair. It's amazing, for instance, how black people have the most fragile hair type out of all races, yet we are the ones out of all the other races who treat our hair the most harshly. From glueing, pasting, relaxing and texturising, to plaiting and combing too tightly on a regular basis, I think the key to successful growth for black hair is to banish the practices and attitudes towards our hair that we subconsciously pick up from mainstream beauty advice in beauty adverts, magazines and music videos. Instead, ACCEPT the fact that we cannot be manipulating our hair on a daily basis like white people can and instead LOVE the fact that the genetic makeup of our hair different, beautiful and a mystic wonder for limitless versatility that no other hair type can dream of achieving. It is only when we learn to understand and accept a uniquely different attitude and relationship towards our own hair than that of white, asian and oriental hair can we truly be at peace and happpiness with the beauty of afro hair. Listen and love your hair for what it IS, not what you want it to BE, and it will soon reward you for it. That's the sort of attitude I'm currently learning to try and develop with my own hair anyway since deciding to wear it out natural for a bit and joining LHCF.
Boy did I go off on one a little just there - many apologies for this! Many congratulations if you managed to make it towards the end of this post without falling asleep though! Lol!