i AM my hair

There is a cognitive dissonance with what guys say and what they actually do when it comes to natural hair. If and when you ask any guy about natural hair they know that the right thing to say is that natural is good and the way to go, but they've been programmed so deeply in their subconcious to be attracted to long curly - not typical Black textures.

I have a good number of male friends and everyone knows I have no attachment to my hair (shaved the side, designs, perms, mohawks, color, braids etc). As much as we are cool and I am decent looking standardly speaking, when I GOT A WEAVE?!?! I was like a brand new girl. Turning heads of ppl i've known forever - because I had a weave.

After wearing short hair for most of a year, my restlessness and need for a change caused me to get a weave and when i changed my facebook profile picture to the picture below, yoooo!! My stagnant inbox suddenly had activity, aunties calling me to compliment me - it was all very amusing and admittedly it was a fun and drastic change :) - you girls with the weaves have all the fun it seems lol...

I then got the weave below a few weeks later, just to give the whole weave thing a go and this one was fun too - i prefer the straight hair to the uber curly.

What was most interesting about the whole experience is that guys don't even realize how their own behavior changes and my changing my hair can be seen as somewhat of a social experiment. The constant being the guys in my life (friends, family etc) and the variable being my hair. Their reactions, whether they were either completely unaware or wouldn't admit to it, and preference for weaves and longer hair was definitely obvious.

It's cool though, no love lost - they are products of our society. I'm natural now as a personal choice, but i also reserve the right to get a weave, color it, shave it off.

About two months ago I was here...

Then i traveled to the motherland and got it braided - still have them in now...

In closing, not to be corny or cliche, I will say that I am not my hair //...,,!! *record scratch* . I AM my hair in all the changes it goes through. I am natural, yet admittedly into my looks, sometimes superficial, sometimes bold, sometimes subtle. All of that is me and if I switch up my hair it's because I am can and I am all those things that our hair is supposed to be a reflection of. Yes I love it short, but sometimes I might need a little help [of the extension persuasion ;)] to get it into a ponytail and that's ok. You should know that when there's anything going past my shoulder it's probably not mine. I know it,but gosh darnit if it looks good and I feel great...  Ascribing to one type of hair is limiting and boring, but people love to be able to label and categorize to make sense of things/people.

What are your experiences with switching up your mane/locks as far as people's reactions?!