I think this convo on my hair "type" proves a very valid point. In the end, who cares? Hell, I'll call me hair 4z if it encourages other women to identify with it and stop relaxing. It is our hair, the way God made us, and we just need to love it, be proud of it, and let it be what it is.
When people say they would be natural if they have my hair "Type", I say, "Do you even know what your hair looks like?" Most people do not. And that is the core of the problem.
For me, if you know and love your natural hair, but choose to relax, that is a personal decision... a style choice.
But if you feel you NEED to relax your hair because you dont like your natural hair, that is a problem.
They are called "relaxers" as if our hair needs to "relax" or be "tamed". So what does that say? That our hair is wild or crazy and needs to calm down? Word? Because I would never think anything on my body needs to be tamed (except my ridiculously large behind lol). And that notion feeds into the centuries-old idea that Africans and their descendants are some type of wild animals that need to be "tamed". Stop the madness.
I think if people REALLY think about it, they will begin to see things differently and change their thinking. But at the end of the day, not many people are willing to admit that they "relax" their hair for reasons far deeper than just a style choice. People want to brush it off, but seriously, its more than that.
Yes, it takes work. It takes changing one's entire mindset and learning new ways of doing things. But, in my opinion, it is more than worth it.