I feel you, Tea. I do. When I was a baby, I had very straight hair. It turned into pretty spiral curls when I was about 2. Then it grew out to my knees and was super straight. I got it cut to mid-back when I was about 8, and then it was very similar to yours, though I doubt it was quite as thick.
I would have it french braided or pulled back into a pony tail every single day. Why? Well, one day on the bus, after a particular boy got off at his stop, another kid told me that that boy had been sitting behind me picking through my hair. He had even put some of it in his mouth!
Another day in the fifth grade, when I had dressed up nice and worked up the confidence to try wearing my hair down, I was in line coming through the classroom door when my teacher (of all people) said from behind me "Joanna, do you think that hair will fit through the door???" That devastated me and I didn't wear my hair down for a very long time after that.
And another time, a friend made a comment about my "nappy" hair. I didn't even know what that meant at the time but she said it in a way that made me understand that she meant it as a negative thing.
I started using a clothes iron to make my hair straight. I would have had it chemically relaxed if my parents would have allowed it. I still have burn scars on my upper arms from that iron.
When I was about 12, my hair kind of relaxed into looser curls on its own but I am still super, super sensitive about it.
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Date: 2009-08-14 12:03 pm (UTC)I would have it french braided or pulled back into a pony tail every single day. Why? Well, one day on the bus, after a particular boy got off at his stop, another kid told me that that boy had been sitting behind me picking through my hair. He had even put some of it in his mouth!
Another day in the fifth grade, when I had dressed up nice and worked up the confidence to try wearing my hair down, I was in line coming through the classroom door when my teacher (of all people) said from behind me "Joanna, do you think that hair will fit through the door???" That devastated me and I didn't wear my hair down for a very long time after that.
And another time, a friend made a comment about my "nappy" hair. I didn't even know what that meant at the time but she said it in a way that made me understand that she meant it as a negative thing.
I started using a clothes iron to make my hair straight. I would have had it chemically relaxed if my parents would have allowed it. I still have burn scars on my upper arms from that iron.
When I was about 12, my hair kind of relaxed into looser curls on its own but I am still super, super sensitive about it.