Nappy-headed people are no strangers to the disapproving remarks they often receive from people who seem downright offended over their choice to wear nappy or African-inspired hairstyles.
But they also get affirming comments from people like them who have also chosen to be true to their natural ‘do. Their comments express support and encouragement. They are words that say, “It’s all good.”
I call such positive comments “napfirmations.”
I give them every chance I get.
When I meet someone who is in the beginning stages of growing locks, I pay them a napfirmation by telling them how “happy” their young “nubbies” look.
My napfirmation for those who are offended when someone calls them “nappy-headed” in a derogatory tone is: “Nappy is simply a natural state of hair and an open state of mind.”
I have also been the recipient of napfirmations from friends and strangers.
The most special ones have come from my friends who know of my struggle with alopecia and have complimented me on the way I wear my “custom-made” hair. They offer praise for my choice to represent my hairitage “symbolically” when I could no longer do it naturally.
Even influential and well-respected personalities have uttered napfirmations that inspire and take us higher. I have compiled a list of several and will share a few with you:
District of Columbia Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton: “Nothing is more liberating than letting your hair be naturally what your hair is.”
Singer Abbey Lincoln: “I discovered at the time that my hair was my crown. So I wore it naturally.”
Universal Negro Improvement Association founder and leader of Back to Africa Movement, Marcus Mosiah Garvey: “God made us in his most perfect creation. He made no mistake when he made us black, with kinky hair!”
Poet Nikki Giovanni from her poem “Ego Tripping:” “The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid across three continents . . .”
Reggae musician and Rastafarian Bob Marley: “Trust the universe and respect your hair.”
Nothing like a napfirmation to make a bad hair day better.
