A Love Letter to My Black Hair

Dear kinks and coils,

The kinks and coils that arise from my scalp as roots arise from the ground when growing a tree- I love you.

Please forgive me. Forgive me for burning you and heating you in attempts to achieve the straight hair that I’d never have.

Why did I ever deny the beauty of your coils that extended when I slightly pulled and sprang back into the hibernation of my scalp when I let go.

But I let go. I let go of the standards of what you were “supposed” to look like.

But can you blame me? Can you blame me for altering your form every single day with heating tools? 

They said that you weren’t appropriate for the workplace.

They said that you were unprofessional.

They said that you were distracting.

But how is something that is natural to me, something that naturally grows be inappropriate ?

I tried everything. I tried to change your color. I attempted to cover you. I forced you to hibernate for weeks underneath braids and twists because I did not know what to do with you.

But I’m tired.

Oh kinks and coils- how long it’s been. I lost you during childhood when the beast called a perm took you away.

The perm took you away and kept you until I was ready to see you. I’m ready to see you.

I had to cut you and start over. That tree was not growing right, I had to pull out your roots, plant seeds, and start again. I water you every single day. I care for you every single day. I cover you in honey. Oh, you are so sweet. You are extremely sweet to me.

Oh kinks and coils, how foolish it was for me to try to deny your existence underneath a sheer glass of the straight version of you.

Kinks and coils are a limited type that I attempted to hide- how foolish of me.

But that is why they told me to hide you- what is foreign to people ultimately causes fear. It is time to let you flourish, and it is time to let you breathe and let you be seen.

Oh kinks and coils, I love you.