Resilience…“How We Bounce Back”: Black Hair’s Elasticity

Hair elasticity is the hair’s ability to stretch and return to its original shape.

Why is elasticity important?

Hair with little elasticity can be brittle, stiff, dry, and/or fluffy. It becomes more delicate and unable to handle much pressure before breaking. [1] 

What makes our hair stretch?

The presence of an amino acid called cysteine contributes to coil and curl of your hair. Afro textured hair types typically have a high concentration of cysteine which form strong bonds with each other, creating tension which causes hair to bend and curl.[2]

[1] https://absolutelyeverythingcurly.com/hair-elasticity/

[2] https://www.protresshaircare.co.uk/blogs/news/why-is-afro-textured-hair-curly

Our natural tresses represent abundance and plenty, and although our Black crowns flow beautifully and are resilient, we’ve come through many struggles throughout this journey to accept our natural beauty. Although we’ve come a long way, we’ve weathered the storm. Natural hair is very complex; It is a process. Some of us have associated our natural hair with pain. Pain from pushing through tangles and pain from being oppressed because we wore our hair natural at work, or in some instances at school. In resisting the oppression, some may have struggled with loving who they were, as well as with social acceptance.

Here is a quote from one of my clients:

"Why should I feel like there is something wrong with my natural hair if I was created by God, because the bible says, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  The Lord made all different races with diversity, but He did not differentiate that any one race was better in features, but all races are considered equal in His sight, and unique with a PURPOSE."   - Maria McNish, Client

Growing up I had 4 brothers and 3 older sisters, and I was the youngest girl. My mom had to manage through 3 other sets of heads beside mine. My sister to this day, reminds me that her hair and one of my other sister’s hair was the most difficult for my mom to get through because of their texture. She said, “Dee, you had that “good hair”, and it wasn’t so bad for you; but my hair was tough to comb out.” Little did she know, when my mom put that hot comb to my hair I cried like a baby because I was tender-headed and the slightest touch of her hand to my head hurt. I could still feel her knuckles in my temple to this day, while she tried to hold large strands of my hair in one hand, and slowly slide the curling iron onto my hair with the other hand.

When I went natural in April of 2016, after using relaxers since I was 16, I was amazed at what our natural tresses were capable of. Outside of YouTube videos, no one was out there to tell me the tremendous things that I could perform with my hair being natural. I learned that our Afro-textured hair could go from curly to straight, and then revert right back to curly after a shampoo and condition treatment. I loved it!!! Our hair is so versatile.

Growing up, I would dread washing my hair because it seemed like it would take so long to detangle, mainly because my hair was very long and thick since I was a child. But now with the various products for natural hair, this is not such a difficult chore.

When I went natural I loved to put my hair in twist styles. Here is one of my favorite styles.

https://youtu.be/JutXiPVXqUk?si=7TJGqVBOkrjt4EdX  (Link to my 2 strand twist video in my blog)

“Certain hairstyles reflect a woman’s character and life decisions.”[1]

It is the same with hair textures; Our hair’s resiliency reveals our quick ability to recover, as well as discloses who we are. (strength)

When I put relaxers in my hair that wasn’t who I really was, I was trying to get a straighter look than what my mom produced with the heated hot comb. I had to use a chemical to straighten and change the natural curl pattern of my hair. This resulted in migraines, scalp irritation, burning, and thinning of my hair, which also caused my hair to be brittle and have breakage. In doing this I didn’t embrace who I really was. Once I went natural, I felt free. No more trying to conform to what others thought I should look like. I had the freedom to showcase my versatility with my hairstyles because of my hair’s elasticity. I was free to be me. I had been squeezed and pressured by so many outside forces in life that it felt so great to be who I wanted to be; and not only that, be who I was created to be. Natural was my original state. My hair’s resilience was now something I was proud of. I didn’t have to damage my hair to get the look that I wanted. In my opinion, “Natural Wins!"

Our natural tresses are living proof that you can stretch us and we’ll return as exuberant and strong as we first started. All in all, we bounce back!