I Am Not My Hair

I am not my hair!

And yet in this world

It can define me,

But I love my hair and its abilities

But I don't like that society tells me

What to do with it

Or who I am because of it.

I am not my hair!

It is transformative and beautiful,

But society tells me to change it

Based on what I'm doing

Or what I want to be perceived as,

But I am NOT my hair!

If I wear my hair in Afro puffs

It doesn't mean I'm a Black Panther

I am not my hair!

And if my hair is straight,

It doesn't mean I'm a Rhodes Scholar,

I am not my hair!

Or if my hair is braided,

It doesn't mean I speak any African languages,

I am not my hair!

I am me,

And I am beautiful

As is my hair,

But we are not

One in the same.

And as some of these things may be true,

It wasn't my hair that did it,

I am not my hair!

So I may not be my hair,

But it can empower me,

With its strength, beauty, and dynamism,

I LOVE MY HAIR!