Candy in Cairo: My Decision to Go NATURAL --with my Hair....goodbye Veil!

So, I came to Egypt with hair like this.....

And now, my hair is like this.....

View this video to find out why...

....I decided to "go natural", that is, commit to wearing only my natural hair (yep, that's right, no more extensions).....the video explains what prompted this for me here in egypt.

PRESS PLAY

Here are images of what I described in the video, for reference....

Now, I know that this is a very controversial topic. People don't really take too kindly to others commenting upon any aspect of their religion--espeically hijab because the Western world has often misunderstood it. But truth is, as a Christian here in Egypt, and a black America, I am totally in the minority. I feel the notorious "Egyptian stare" upon my black skin every time I leave the house. Often, I feel very isolated and distant from the people here even though I am in Africa. So, in order to identify with the life and culture here in Egypt, I try to make analogies by taking what I see and trying to relate it to my life. As such, being here with an exposed head of hair and seeing the majority of other women here (including my Abs instructor at the gym) wearing hijab has caused me to reflect on MY HAIR. Not just on whether or not I will wear hijab here to try to "blend" (which is unnecessary because some other women do not wear it, but helpful since it would appear as if I am Muslim and make me less of a target of harassment). But on a deeper level, WHAT IT MEANS TO VEIL ONES TRUE SELF FROM THE WORLD. Is it a choice? Is it required by religion? Or, is it just a tradition that makes a woman more beautiful in her modesty and a symbol of virtue?

In reflecting, I thought about myself and how I present my hair to the world. Like the women who wear hijab, I cover it--not with cloth, but with hair extensions, and this is certainly a personal choice. But, is a choice still a choice when it is heavily influence by societal pressure and the lure of beauty and virtue? I ask these questions because, though wearing hair extensions is a personal choice, like the women who wear hijab, I and many women in America undoubtedly experience pressure to conform to a very Eurocentric standard of beauty--in the work place (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-textured_hair), while watching TV commercials like the Nivea "Re-Civilize Yourself" ads (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/nivea-ad-racist_n_930501.html), or simply while admiring some of our favorite celebrities like Beyonce who recently has come to have a dramatically lighter skin tone and wears blonde extensions (http://perezhilton.com/2011-05-19-beyonce-reveals-new-album-cover-for-4). It is no wonder then, why many women feel the need and pressure to braid, weave, sew, glue, clip-in, or wrap-on hair extensions to achieve this self-loathing standard of beauty, instead of embracing Afro-textured hair and exposing it to the world in its most natural state.

While I respect that some women choose to wear hijab, just like I respect a woman's decision to wear hair weaves, it is undeniable that there are unique societal pressures underlying them both. Being here in Egypt has simply made this analogy more salient to me, and made me reflect more deeply into WHY I choose to veil my own natural hair. Below, I share an intimate conversation with a friend via FB that discloses both my "why" for wearing hair weaves and my decision to "go natural."

Candid message to friend via FB... "going natural"

September 11

Candace Neal

so the hair clips did it to me, helped me decide to go natural, because everyday, i would wake up and literally cover my hair with them...and it started to feel so artificial, going from my nappy corn-rolls/twists underneath, to the long luxurious curly hair....i just thought, "this is a lie", i'm lying to my self and to the world....this is not Candace, this is like the "sasha fierce" of Candace, like a caricature of my true self....i decided to stop putting on the clips/weaves because what i was saying to myself was that my hair wasn't good enough, that I wasn't good enough...I really had succumbed to the self-loathing standard of beauty, or at least "other" as we call it standard of beauty..."but why?" I asked myself....I had always used the excuse that my hair was "long" but too difficult to deal with, too thick, too incovenient, too this, too that...and I realized that they were all EXCUSES....if i were honest with myself and the world, I would have said something like.."Because it is what is cute in pop-culture and appealing to most people, and i want to be cute and appealing to most people." But anyway.....so i decided to embrace what God gave me, and to take it and learn to love it, to "deal-with it," and to be proud of the heritage which my kinky-coils and dark-n-lovely skin pronounce.

Here is an image that I just adore!

More natural hair pics...