As a woman of color it can be daunting to move to a new country with a predominantly mono-culture. I am working as an English conversational teacher in a High School in Japan and have been natural since 2007. I wear my hair in its natural state and it reaches my collar bones in its stretched state.My washing routine would be to wash my hair once a week, deep condition it and stretch the hair by blow drying it, braiding it, African threading it or twisting it up. In the week I would do low manipulation styles and buns.
The very first time when I visited Japan was during my summer holidays. I had my hair in tiny braided extensions. I got a lot of positive reactions to my hair style. When I removed the extensions I would wear my hair out in an afro or in an afro puff. I would get the occasional stares, but I was on holiday so I didn’t really care if I blended in or not.
This time around I am here for work. I work at a prestigious Christian high school in Japan. Putting my natural hair aside for a second, Japan is a country where formal attire and uniforms are the norm for most work environments. I am already standing out by being a black woman and here I am with my natural coils. Don’t get me wrong, I love my natural hair and I would never ever have it chemically straightened ever again. I renounced all relaxers more than 2 decades ago. However, I have to constantly find ways to style it so it will be deemed “professional”.
When I google ‘natural black hair’ in Japan, I get a blog from a Canadian Jamaican who writes where to buy relaxers. Not what I am looking for at all. I just want to be able to rock my hair the way I want and still be considered professional.
Sometimes it makes me feel so tired that people of color have to always think about how they will be perceived or is it only in my head?
The thing with my natural hair is that it's so versatile. I can change up my hair every day, whereas people of other races with straight or looser curls either wear it down or in a bun, I can braid it, twist it, pin it up, straighten it and so forth. I have so much fun with my hair and I love taking care of my tresses. I just hope that I can be more of myself at work including my hair. .
This was my hair routine previous week:
Sunday: I washed, conditioned, detangled and deep treated my hair. Blow dried it, trimmed my ends and made loose twist for the night and wrapped my hair in a satin scarf.
Monday: My hair was nice and soft and manageable. I French braided halfway my head and twisted the other half down and tucked the ends away. Really cute style
Tuesday: I unraveled my twist and made a high bun and tucked my ends away. At night I made 8 loose twists and wrapped my hair in a satin scarf.
Wednesday: I unraveled my twists and made a low side bun with my ends tucked away with bobby pins. I would notice that my hair would become super dry throughout the day. The weather is cold and dry and inside there are vans that blow out warm dry air.
So I had to remoisten my hair again. I used rose water and shea butter and made 8 braids.
Thursday: There was a New Year’s banquet at my school and I was going to be introduced to the staff. I wanted to wear my hair down for the occasion, so I made a side flat twist and a low side bun with a few loose twists and again tucked my ends away. Same night routine.
Friday: This was the day that I would do self-introduction to the whole school. I have a few styles that I have that I consider professional. 3 high buns with the ends loosely twisted. Then I would pin them up in a way that they looked layered with a small bang.
Saturday: My first day of teaching my classes. I did the same hairstyle as the day before, but after my second day I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and I looked old fashioned in my opinion. So I unraveled the buns and twists and made a bun.
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