Vanessa, the heroine from my book Church Mouse on his Motorcycle, has always had wild hair. because her mother, having zero experience with black hair care, and a bad experience that involved her grandmother and too tight braids, she became a self-taught natural hair diva from an early age.
And what have the years taught Vanessa?
Moisturize! That’s her number one (and mine) when it comes to natural hair care. She tries to explain this to Spike, the hero of the story, but he still insists she wear a helmet and ditch all the jars of ‘hair stuff’ behind.
Spike just doesn’t get it. So, she ignores him and stuffs every possible bottle of moisturizer she has into his motorcycle saddle bags anyway.
A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
Sorry Spike, but you’re dealing with a black woman and her hair. You’ll get used to it by the end of the book.
Vanessa’s character inspired me to love my natural hair; we’ve always had a love hate relationship. Covid forced me to grow out my hair and lockdown has reminded me how to love and take care of it. I started following all the natural hair pages and profiles on social media and have come to re-appreciate all that defines me and my hair.
Now I remember why my mother used to call me sugar head. Beneath all that colour and now gray, my natural colour is actually a rusty kind of brown!
My nieces have always rocked their natural hair and are more than happy to help ‘aunty’
Thanks, ladies you are a true inspiration.
