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Natural Hair Vlogger & Blogger from St. Lucia elaborates on the 'Movement'                                                                21st April, 2017

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Natural Hair Vlogger & Blogger from St. Lucia elaborates on the 'Movement'                                                                21st April, 2017

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Chadel Mathurin Weighs in on 'The Natural Hair Movement'

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Caribbean hair vlogger & blogger adds to the discussion on the movement that represents acceptance of black heritage.

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Teaching Our Children to Embrace Our Heritage                      2nd April, 2015

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Teaching Our Children to Embrace Our Heritage                      2nd April, 2015

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An article highlighting a book by Caribbean author, Tamika Phillip, geared towards helping young girls love their natural hair.

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It always perturbs me that in the 21st Century in the Caribbean many women are still negatively criticised about their hair. I am particularly astounded by the way people treat women who have tight curly hair that is not chemically straightened.

Some women have been told that natural hair is not professional. Some have been told that they do not have "good hair," and some forms of hairstyles have been outright banned in institutions.

While I cannot recall a recent reported incident in Trinidad of women being shamed for their natural hair, there was an incident last year in Barbados which made regional news of a school that forbid natural hairstyles and told a senior student that her hairstyle was too "unsettling and flamboyant" for school.

The constant policing of women's natural hair has become such a point of concern that I wonder why women are taught to hate the hair that they are born with. However, one author is attempting to celebrate women's natural hair by linking natural hair to the majestic beauty of trees.

When I first picked up Tamika Phillip's book My Hair Grows Like a Tree, I was truly excited. Finally, I thought, a book that aims to empower young girls to love their hair.

My Hair Grows Like a Tree is a workbook-styled children's book that helps teach young girls how to love their natural hair. In her note to the readers, Phillip says the book series is "for young girls and women to learn about themselves and the Earth."

The book is printed back to front, and I suspect it is her attempt to invert the way natural hair is perceived in society. Each page has a picture of a young girl with her hair growing like a tree.

One picture shows a girl depicted as a tree, comparing the girl's body to the different properties of a tree.

It reads, "Like the pipelines of a tree trunk my cells feed energy from my body to my hair. The Earth in and around you, the outer layer of a trunk is to a tree as your skin is to your body."

The body positive perspective of Phillip's book is very admirable as she deals with both the many different types of hair and ancestral heritage many women with naturally curly hair come from.

One picture shows a girl whose hair is depicted as Africa and inside of the continent there are pictures of different women, both sculptures of women and women from different tribes.

Phillip asks the readers what they have in common with the women in the picture in an attempt to get girls to appreciate their cultural and historical ancestry. "Like trees, our hair grows from our roots."

However, while Phillip's ideas around body positive imagery were brilliant, her execution left much to be desired. The workbook literally felt like an essay-type question on each page, and I wonder if children look forward to extra work after they come home from school? As a child the last thing I would want is more homework in my leisure reading.

I also wonder if young girls are able to appreciate her work. While the layout of the book may appeal to young children, the level of questions and metaphors in the book may be too advanced for children and some young adults.

I also do not think Phillip gave much thought into her readership and the impact her book would have on them. In the preamble of the book, Phillip said the book was written with mothers and daughters in mind so that the adults could help young girls learn about themselves and the Earth.

While it is great to have a book that helps mothers encourage their daughters to love their hair, I think she neglects to acknowledge that some of these women may have gone through decades of self-loathing towards their own hair and thus found it difficult to help their daughters along. I hope parents, particularly mothers, pick up the book and together discover the love of their own hair, but we do live in a society where older women frequently tell younger women to maintain the status quo when it comes to their hair.

Despite the shortcomings, I hope people read and appreciate My Hair Grows Like a Tree. I grew up on books that depicted only white girls with blue or purple eyes who have straight hair that was either red or blond. I never saw myself in a literary character as a child, and still rarely see the representation of women with different shades and hair textures as an adult, especially in pop literature. Representation matters and I hope that more authors follow Phillip's example and write more stories celebrating the natural beauty of all different types of women.

My Hair Grows Like a Tree is available in Trinidad at all Cher-Mere locations, Body Beautiful on Ariapita Avenue and RIK Bookstores from April.

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Book helps girls love their natural hair

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It always perturbs me that in the 21st Century in the Caribbean many women are still negatively criticised about their hair. I am particularly astounded by the way people treat women who have tight curly hair that is not chemically straightened. Some

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Colonial Girl's School By Olive Senior                                                          20th April, 2016

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Colonial Girl's School By Olive Senior                                                          20th April, 2016

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Read by Tracey Wright

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A Poem by Olive Senior, read by yours truly.

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I'm Not Afraid To Break The Comb                                                            20th April, 2016

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I'm Not Afraid To Break The Comb                                                            20th April, 2016

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A Few images of me embracing my natural hair. It is part of my Caribbean identity

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Let's Reflect!                                                                                                                                             20th April, 2017

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Let's Reflect!                                                                                                                                             20th April, 2017

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Revisionism is refreshing! The elucidation I obtained from this course was quite helpful. One of the things that loomed for me the most was the incorrect labeling of the indigenous people. In my country, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, there are still a number of direct descendants of the neo-Indian people. We still refer to them as Caribs, however, through this course, I've come to know better. It is beautiful not just to see remnants of our past laid out before us, but now to understand it. It is a privilege to be able to identify what aspects of our history constitute our identity as a Caribbean people.

Another thing that stood out to me was the great pain my ancestors suffered during slavery and even in the post-emancipation period. It was not simply physical brutality but slave masters set out to break down an entire race mentally as well, and to some extent succeeded. Every race that was brought here to the Caribbean for labour faced countless challenges but we all have survived. This course has given me the reminder than we can not only survive but thrive. The revelations we have had and the things we have created: from instruments like the steel pan to the genres of music we can our own, we have made strides. Our civilisation is one of resilience, beauty and unity, and that is what I would take from this learning experience.

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Don't Be Afraid To Break The Comb                                                                                                                    19th April, 2017

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Don't Be Afraid To Break The Comb                                                                                                                    19th April, 2017

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We still have a long way to go before there is full acceptance of who we are. In order to embrace our heritage, we must first know it. There is a 'Natural Hair Movement' sweeping across the world and it has not missed the Caribbean region. Many persons, especially young women are learning to embrace their hair and what it signifies. We are now being educated on what makes our hair unique, the versatility of it, and the resilience of our race that it embodies. There are now more than twenty natural hair vloggers in and from the Caribbean, a number I expect would only increase. My hope is that we all grow in the understanding of how slavery has shaped our society, but also that we no longer allow it to.

European slave masters have caused us to rank ourselves based on physical characteristics. I believe that things as minute as our hair or our complexion should not be used as the determining factor of our class or our capabilities. Our youth should not have to feel disregarded, inferior or disadvantaged because they decided to embrace themselves the way they were created, acknowledging their heritage. I applaud the Natural Hair Movement because it awards us something slavery strived hard to take from our people: freedom. Freedom to create our own identity, understanding the nature of our past.

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Colfire Employee in Trinidad and Tobago Recieves Warning Letter About Hairstyle                                                                                                                       11th August, 2016

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Colfire Employee in Trinidad and Tobago Recieves Warning Letter About Hairstyle                                                                                                                       11th August, 2016

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News Link: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20160813/news/insurance-firm-under-fire-as-employee-posts-warning-letter-about-hairstyle

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Natural Hairstyle Banned at Harrison College, Barbados     10th January, 2015.

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Natural Hairstyle Banned at Harrison College, Barbados     10th January, 2015.

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News Link: http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/61884/hair-knot

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The Present Day Issue                                                                                                                                     18th April, 2016

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The Present Day Issue                                                                                                                                     18th April, 2016

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The question may be asked: why is hair so important in relation to Caribbean identity and is it relevant to our present society? My answer would be that it is still relevant and it is important because it was one of the things used to bring disharmony among people of African descent. In 2015, a black mother of Barbados took to social media to express her aversion of a situation involving her child. Her daughter's school's principal disapproved of her natural hairstyle and it was banned. In 2016, a young man of Trinidad and Tobago, who worked for an insurance company received a letter from his employers indicating to him that his hairstyle, dreadlocks, was unprofessional.

In African civilizations, hairstyles are used to represent one’s family background, tribe and social status. During slavery, slaves were sometimes forced to shave their heads. During the post-emancipation period, women found ways of reflecting the Europeans’ standard of beauty. It has always been important and in this present day, we still subscribe to what European culture deems as good. This would explain the distaste demonstrated in both situations mentioned above. We, as a race, have not entirely shaken the grasps of our centuries old  bondage. Therefore, these styles that are inherently ours, we reject. As a means of appearing prestigious and professional, we frown upon the things we think the “superior” race would frown upon; surrendering our Caribbean to a world ran by them. We still have not yet recognized that being comfortable with something seemingly so small, our hair, expresses comfort of who we are as a people.

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Understanding Our Heritage In Sweet Little SVG                              18th April, 2017

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Understanding Our Heritage In Sweet Little SVG                              18th April, 2017

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I remember the grand discussion that erupted in my 6th form class after one of our classmates, who had been 'natural' all her life, decided to straighten her hair. In my country, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, natural hair is not viewed as negatively as it may be in other Caribbean countries. However, there are still some stigmas associated with it. Some view it as unkempt; the coarser your hair the lower the class you are in. I admit that I myself am guilty of that. However, a lot of those stereotypes have proven to be true in my nation Lighter complexions and more flowing hair tend to represent the higher class of people; many of which are descendants of Europeans and had inherited wealth.

There are many in my country that think they can never be beautiful with their hair as it grows out of their head. Subjecting themselves to the European standards of beauty, with long straight or wavy weaves and wigs. They look down upon other young women who cannot afford to or choose not to look like them. They find their identity written in every strand of someone else's hair. Sometimes I wonder, if they only knew that their definition of what's beautiful is not their own, what would be the outcome? In a way, Willie Lynch succeeded; his plan has managed to keep many of us mentally enslaved and afraid to embrace many of what is ours, forcing ourselves in alignment with the slave owners' will. It is as if he still has a whip hovering over us as he did our ancestors.

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The Continuation of Slavery                                                      17th April, 2017

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The Continuation of Slavery                                                      17th April, 2017

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In his speech to European slave masters in Virginia, Willie Lynch, a British slave owner in the West Indies, highlighted some of the ways these men could keep their slaves under their control. He went into even further details in a letter he wrote, addressing ways to keep one's slaves sunken in the depths of mental slavery and oppression. His methods were simple: slaves with certain characteristics were to be put against each other, or one would be ranked higher than the other, thus, creating discord among them. One of the characteristics mentioned was the texture of their hair.

When the slave masters raped the slave women their offspring were usually of a lighter complexion and their hair texture consisted of light, flowing curls. These slaves, the mulattos, were given preference to work in the Great House. They were often treated as superior to other slaves on the plantation. That mentality continued among the slaves; the belief that a darker complexion and coarse and coily hair textures are inferior. Presently in our region that pattern of thinking has been passed down to this generation. A woman with coarse hair is regarded as less than those with a mixed hair type. I have been made aware of some of the stereotypes associated with each hair texture and it has caused great debate and a great deal of self-hatred among the black race. To us it is more than just hair but for centuries it has been a representation of who we are as a people and for me acceptance of my dark skin and coarse hair is acceptance of my African heritage.

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Source: New Crisis. Sep/Oct 99, Vol. 106 Issue 5, p32. 1p.
Written in 1712.