Great thread ladies! It's the age old adage, "You can show them better than you can tell them." When I told folks, at work and home, that I was going to cut my hair into a short fro, I didn't have a lot of haters but definitely doubters that it would grow back to longer lengths. I didn't get too may negative remarks either as most folks that knew me before I cut my past shoulder length relaxed hair up to a chin length bob(that many thought was a wig because it was so thick) knew that my hair looked really good while relaxed. I got the "You are going natural?", "Why?", "Why would you cut all that pretty hair off?", "What are you going to do with it?" questions of course. Family life was fine, my Dad was little leery but he got over it when I told him I was growing it out.
Work life was a little different but not so bad that I was stressed out. I am pretty secure in who I am, so any negative comments that did come my way completely rolled off my shoulders. Fast forward 3.5 years, my hair goes from a 3" fro to a mid back length (while straightened) head of hair that I wore down every now and then, or in a big fluffy ponytail. Some of the folks that I still worked with had the nerve to ask if it was weave...The old heads I worked with that knew, of course, that it wasn't a weave, even took up for me when new people (mainly younger, college aged, black women who have taken on weave as a way of life) who had started working there over the course of those years, that would stare and try to ask questions without me knowing. While I was still working there, I would never have to say a word anymore in regard to my hair. Some of my coworkers, who were also my friends outside of work
, would say it for me! I would sometimes even overhear the black males that worked with me say to all of those new people, "Yes, that's her hair, quit hatin!", "Her hair is off da chain!", "Heck naw, she don't wear no weave!", etc. I rarely wore my hair out or down. I am not kidding, it got to the point when I would walk into work in the morning with my hair down, everyone would turn around and say, "Oh shoot, you know you are gonna cause a stir up in here today, ain't nobody gonna get no work done"...in reference to how people (newbies, old heads, men and women) would act when I wore my hair down. I would just giggle timidly but deep down inside I was like "LOL, hate on haters!"
The really sad part about some of those females was that they would NEVER ask me what I was doing to achieve the length I had. It's like either they thought their hair would never get there, thought I had that "good hair", or were just so jealous and envious that they would rather stab themselves in the leg than to ask. I don't know. Keep doing what you are doing, because in the long run, you won't have to say a word, because you can show them better than tell them. Peace and love ladies!