The Great Hair Debate: Sew-in Weaves

Well its been a good 2 weeks since my last blog (on this site anyways). It's mostly because school is in full swing and I am taking 18 hours of reading and writing. I may not be getting my writing on over here, but I am surely getting it on all over campus!

Afro by David Shankbone, New York City

So lets start a great hair debate! (Because being black and talking about hair goes hand and hand). I've recently been trying to figure out how to do a sew-in weave. I've done a few in the past but these attempts were very, veerrrryyy long ago. I mean freshman year of college long ago. And they didn't end so amazingly: I usually had a piece of track showing that I had no clue how to cover, I would just put a hair bow over it or some sort of band (or soft belt one night) to hide it. The fact was I never knew the next step! To recap: 2004, Youtube hadn't been invented yet!! (gawd, that makes me feel geezerish), and I had been sporting a fro for a good 3 years then. Fast forward 6 years and we end up with an endless stream of free and informative (and sometimes uninformative) videos about every type of sew-in I can imagine. That brings us to today's post. While scrolling down a video looking for another one to watch that may be related, I see a heated debate going on between two characters. Something along the lines of "sew-ins are an insult to your natural beauty" and "Shut up, your a cunt." (well a one sided debate I guess). I paused at the former comment. Insult...? Are they really? I continued to read on and found that a lot of girls seem to have a take on this debate in particular.

Courtesy of Tipdeck.com

 A growing population of 'au naturels' are saying that a sew-in is one of the best protective styles for your lovely curls. An equally natural opposing side says its a persona black women use to feel pretty and should be looked down upon. Another prominent side says its just all around bad for your hair. I'm not personally a fan of sew-ins to the degree where I can say I'm for or against them. However, In my experience, as long as your not using any glue, chemicals, or heating elements prior or throughout the process, it shouldn't be bad for your hair. That means top notch human hair that's not dyed or blended with synthetic fibers. I personally think as long as you keep your hair healthy and moisturized, minimal heat usage, and in its natural state, weaves and braids should be fine from time to time. I'm not sure if  I agree with the whole 'protective style' ideology though. That is because I wonder aloud "if I'm always protecting my hair, then technically I never get to wear my hair 'naturally' out. It will always be hidden behind a weave." What do you think? Are sew-ins suppose to be a natural girl's 'no-no' or can us curly tops and track setters coexist within the same person harmoniously? I'm not sure the answer really. All I know is we should probably get together and shun relaxed hair wearers so they seem like a minority!! LOL

Ciao Baby!