Some Caribbean nationals choose to sport locs either as a symbol of their religion and in recent times, as a stylish do. For years Rastafarians were regarded with disdain; nasty people who did not want to comb or wash their hair.
You did not dare turn up for an interview with locs. In fact, dreds or locs started becoming popular when Europeans started to express some liking for it. In essence, we still continue to subscribe to the European view of what looks good and what is acceptable.
Many of the oldsters grade the quality of your natural hair and this in turn is believed to have implications for dating, social status and professional life, so the pressure to have good hair starts at the early stages of childhood.
Schools have summoned parents to school only to be asked not to allow children to wear Bantu knots, deemed an inappropriate style for school or professional forums . For this reason getting a straight relaxer at twelve is like a rite of passage, since the picture of beautiful, delicate femininity is smooth straight hair.
It is as though you are still a baby and not taken quite seriously if you don’t get a perm, so many girls get one to signify that they are all grown-up. In fact, some parents do not even wait until age twelve, since many children start the first grade with a relaxer.
It is so rooted in our mentality that wooly or coily hair is inferior or signifies a lower class that many a mother has told her son not to bring any “dry head gal” home to introduce as a potential girlfriend.
So deep rooted is this thought that some young girls who do not have loose curl patterns will often try to snatch a guy with the “nice hair”; one of an Indian, Asian or a Caucasian descent.The purpose of this really is to ensure that their children inherit some “good hair.”
Some girls actually fear that they will not attract the right type of mate if they do not get a relaxer and in this case, for many, the right mate has some waves, curls or straight hair and if he is of light complexion you have hit the jackpot because naturally, such a guy would come from a “good breed”.
Originally posted 2013-09-20 15:00:35.
The article should have been titled “Natural hair in Jamaica”. These views and attitudes towards natural hair are not prevalent in my home country of Puerto Rico.
Im from st. Lucia and my hair is natural and i have never been called a “negresse.” I have never even used the word or heard it being used by any st. Lucian i know….. This article is “interesting” even laughable.
Everyone everywhere has an opinion on this topic as with any other. As a person with natural hair living in Barbados I find this article laughable. Please do not presume to speak on the behalf of the entire Caribbean. I have many friends and family who sport natural hair, I see people proudly wearing their hair in its natural state every time I step outside of my house. I definately cannot relate to anything this author has written.
Than you Liz
and kimelle. The author lumped all of the Caribbean into this one article when in fact she is only speaking from her experienced in Jamaica and that’s not fair. While there is some hair bias in my island of Barbados as with everywhere else we for the most part accept natural hair. It is not common for children to get relaxers as parents feel that is too “womanish”. The young children u with relaxers (and not under the age of seven like in America) usually have young parents who either find it difficult to plait the child’s hair or could not be bothered with that.
Im of Haitian descent and I feel like women in the Caribbean seem to wear dreads, twist, and 2 finger twist more often than not.
What real research has this writer done to determine this article a generalization of the Caribbean woman and natural hair?
I am a Trinidadian and as it’s seen here, this article is not a holistic reflection of my country’s women of African heritage/extract…
Redo your research then rewrite a more accurate account!!!!!
She even said west Africa is believed to be where the black Caribbean people come from. And a number of suspect things…
Article say she’s from Tobago as well. But, most is focused on Jamaica.
@Liz Marie Maysonet Sostre….this article should not be titled”natural hair in Jamaica”ridiculous! this is not the Jamaican truth.I can not relate to the things said in the article an I didn’t even read beyond the first page….smh
this article is so wrong about st Lucian I didn’t even want to read the rest please do more research before implying that we use derogatory words to naturalistas cause there is no truth to this in st lucia we praise people with natural hair.this is pure nonsense. ps ive nerver heard that word in my life as a st lucia my mom don’t even know it.