BEATRIZ OLIVEIRA SAID: "I’m tired of hearing: What a surprise! Your hair is so soft. "

Just like the majority of black women, I grew up straightening, relaxing, and mistreating my hair. When I decided to understand my own hair, I started hearing questions that never should have been asked, like for example, the classic: “Can I touch your hair?” that always came with the same classic response: NO! The problem is that there are always these people who think they can do whatever they want and when you realize what they’re doing, their hand is already in your hair. With a lot of education and not so much patience, I always say to them to not do that. It’s my hair and I don’t want anybody else all up in it. After they ask I always hear: Wow, your hair is even … soft.  What do you mean “even …”? How come nobody asked me this when my hair was straightened? Since when is kinky hair not soft? Since when does kinky hair not deserve or shouldn’t receive care? UNTIL WHEN WILL THE TEXTURE AND THE VOLUME OF MY HAIR BE QUESTIONED?