It wasn’t until I cut my hair short that I truly realized how many women wear their hair long. Surely my senses were heightened due to being mistaken for a boy, but it seemed that everywhere I looked, I saw women who could toss their hair, put it in a ponytail, or even just tuck it behind their ears. I’ve worn my hair natural since 2001, when I was a junior in high school. For several years I kept it short simply because I didn’t know what to do with it, or what products to use. As a black woman with an afro, my options felt limited to a relaxer or a weave, braids or dreadlocks. I didn’t see any examples, in my own life or in the realm of pop culture, of who I was or who I could be.
