BALD, BOUJEE & BEAUTIFUL

this is for all the people that prefer me with hair,

it’s for the people that don’t understand why I shave my head,

it’s for you who you told me to grow my hair again,

this is for the person I was before my haircut.

i make no apologies for how you perceive me,

i make no apologies for preferring a barber to a therapist,

i make no apologies for defying your standards of beauty,

because to you, a woman without her hair is shameful,

to you, a woman without her hair is a widow,

to you, a woman without her hair is not beautiful enough.

i make no apologies for how I choose to live my life,

unlike Samson, to me my head is my strength, my hair is the cover that protects the crown,

the cover that hides this crown of a brain that makes you so uncomfortable you have to tell me I’m too much,

my hair is nothing but the garnish society has said enhances my beauty,

my hair is a layer of dead matter escaping my body so I let it free,

my hair is not favorable for you when it’s long and natural, it’s not favorable for you when you don’t like my hairstyle, it’s still not favorable for you when I shave it off,

today, it’s not favorable for me, to please you

when I cut my hair for the first time I looked myself in the mirror and I was like, wow, beautiful

i mean, I’ve always been beautiful I’m a very beautiful person but why did it take cutting my hair off for me to feel that beauty?

why was I posing for Instagram pictures with a different hairstyle every fortnite but never feeling pretty enough?

you see, I am a black woman, nothing I ever do is enough,

i braid my hair, all the Asians want to touch it and ask if it’s real ,

i put on a wig, they wonder how a black girl can have such long and beautiful hair

i wear my hair natural, and “oh it’s pretty, but I mean it’s not that professional, try straightening it”

i cut my hair short and it’s “are you sure you’re okay? I mean when will this phase end”

nobody ever tells you how demeaning your comments are,

nobody ever tells you how your standards of beauty are simply for you, and nobody is governed by them,

nobody ever tells you to take your opinion, writ it on a piece of paper and shove it,

but this is me, this me doing what I know best

this is me talking too much, being too much, coming at you with all I’ve got,

this is me wearing my hair how I want it,

this is me shaving my head every time I’m emotional because it gives me solace,

this is me walking around exposing the shape of my head because that’s how I want it,

this is me, bald, boujee & beautiful.