Sunday afternoon in apartment lobby, with laundry card in hand.
Knock, knock
" My laundry card does not work." I say
"Hi", says the Building Manger, " You look different."
" Really"
" Did you gain some weight?" she says.
With a frown, " No"
" But you look so different" she insists.
" No I haven't gain any weight" I say. " you saw me just a week ago, the only thing that has changed is that I took out my braids."
" Oh yeaaahh! you look soooo different, come I will get your card to work."
Monday Morning, at work
click clack click clack, space space click clack (Typing on my keyboard)
" wow, what did you do to your hair" Sheri says.
" she went and cut it all off"
I look up to see a small crowd is gathering. " No I did not cut my hair, maybe a little trim but no I did not cut it. My hair just shrinks up, that all, see" I pull one curl extending it to show it's length.
" It is curly, can i play with your hair?" Angela asked with excitement in her voice.
"No, I don't like it when people play in my hair" I responded.
Same day, the last hour of work
"You have one curl sticking out" Angela informs me with a grin on her face. She still has that look of bewilderment. " I like your hair, it is like my sister-in-law's hair and I am always playing in it"
Tucking the culprit curl right in, " You can touch my hair if you like, it is almost time to go home so, I don't care very much if it is messed up"
" I love it, it is so soft" Angela touching my hair very carefully. You can tell she is trying not to mess up my fro.
"Erin you should come touch it"
"No" says Erin, giggling by my desk.
" It is okay Erin, you can touch it"
"It is so soft (giggles), it is like a pillow" Erin practically squashing my fro like it is a loofah.
Freeze, now my thoughts at the time was "my hair is not a loofah but you know what? let her knock herself out, it does not matter anyway, she is just curious."
The next day at work, in the hallway
Helen stops me, " Hey I love your hair, I keep trying to explain to every one that it is your real hair but they keep saying you cut it. I told them that you took your extensions off and you are natural so your hair looks short."
" I like that you are natural and don't use relaxers"
" Thanks Helen, I tried explaining too, but no one is getting it so I stopped"
" I love your hair like this, it looks good for the summer, fresh"
" Thanks Helen" with a big smile on my face.
A few days later.... at lunch
" Do you like Jenell Monae?" asked Savi
" Yes" wondering where this was going? I had my hair in an updo the day before and she had asked me if I cut my hair and I described the whole roll, tuck and pin.
Savi shows me the day's metro paper.It had a picture of Jenell Monae with a scan code for the hair tutorial.
" Savi, this looks complicated" it was a updo but the front was not the usual pompadeur but a 40s press curl.
" it is not that complicated, besides there is the code, you scan it and do it"
" Okay Savi, I will take a look at it, thank you"
A few different reactions I got for my natural hair, days after I took down my braids and wore my hair in twist-out afro and updos. I wasn't too surprised with the comments but was a little surprised at the amount of attention, which even after three weeks am still getting. To be frank, I don't like the amount of attention, but that is just me, I get really uncomfortable if I get too many compliments for my looks. Especially when it comes in the form of getting a good morning or hi greetings like 5 times from the same person in a space of an hour.I know I know, I should learn how to take compliments and move on. One thing I can say is I appreciate the compliments and reactions, they have all been positive and have made re-embracing my natural hair easier.
