I have looked high and low for a fully melanated Oracle deck and I finally have one in my collection with the Wisdom of Natural Hair. This deck does not come with a guidebook, but it does have clear keywords on the cards. One of the cards appears to not have been cut evenly, but this does not detract at all from the quality or usability of the deck. The keyword phrases comes in both English and French.
I resonated instantly with this deck because I, myself, experienced my own natural hair journey. It was not an easy road, as I chose to “transition” or clip off the straight ends when my natural hair was long enough. The other option was to “big chop” my hair by cutting it all off, but I was too scared to do that. Instead, I dealt with two different hair types for two years before I finally was able to trim off the remaining straight ends. Because of this long journey with my hair, I decided I would never again use a flat iron or chemical to alter my hair’s curl pattern.
I had long, thick hair when I was girl, but it became too much for my mom and I to deal with on a daily basis, so she took me to a hair salon and I got my hair chemically relaxed at the age of nine years old. I would relax my hair for many years and the only time my hair was slightly curly was when I used a curling iron to bump the ends.
I remember the summer of 1993, when I was thirteen years old, and I dared to go all summer without a relaxer. I braided my hair and then took them down, so I could have wavy hair. I loved it. I then wondered if my hair could ever naturally be like that. It would take me decades to find out what my hair was truly made of.
In my early twenties, I heard it was unhealthy to use chemical relaxers, so I moved to heating my hair with a flat iron. I became an expert at using heat to straighten my hair. It came with a price of thinning edges and thin, brittle strands. Then in 2014, I felt like I just needed to stop flat ironing my hair. But, I didn’t realize I had to change up my entire hair routine to get to a place where my hair was happy and healthy again. I had to change what hair products I used and to have a strict detangling schedule – something I was not used to dealing with when I was straightening my hair. At times I would get frustrated, but in the end, all of the effort was worth it.
I had to navigate emotional ups and downs with my transitioning hair. It was not easy managing two hair types. I did not feel “pretty” most days and my confidence took a hit when I would see other black women wear straight hair. It was quite a realization for me that the natural hair journey was not just about the physical, but also, very much about my spiritual and emotional journey with my changing appearance.
I had to readjust what my standard of beauty was for myself. I had to reconstruct who I was on the inside, as my hair transitioned on the outside. This was not an easy journey, but it made me so strong and so confident once I got to the place I was trying to reach. My natural curls makes me so happy now and I would not trade my hair texture in for the world. This is why my heart sang with joy when I saw this deck – because it represents a very personal journey I was on for several years.
What many may not realize is Black women consider our hair as our crown jewel and we hold great pride in it. We also hold great shame. This inner conflict comes from our slave and colorism history. We were made to feel ashamed of our kinky hair. The straighter, the better is what we were told by White people and our own relatives. If you had straighter hair, you were treated better in society by Whites and Blacks. That was the sad truth of it. If you were light skinned, with wavy hair, you were better than a dark woman with kinky hair and this was pervasive throughout the centuries that Black women have been in westernized society.
It wasn’t until the late 1960s and 1970s that Black women celebrated their course, kinky hair by wearing afros and other natural styles. And, thankfully there has been a resurgence in Black women wearing natural styles in recent years. Women should be able to wear their hair however they wish, but, it is my hope that they never have to feel like they have to wear straighter styles to be accepted, because that is not what I want for little girls growing up.
I think me having a little girl is why I felt a strong need to wear my natural hair. I wanted her to love her curls and to learn how to take care of them at an early age. She will never know a relaxer or flat iron, if I can help it.
I’d love to hear from you on this deck or on your own journeys that you all are embarking on.
A little about the deck:
These cards are glossy, larger oracle sized and borderless.
This lovely oracle deck was created by Ida Ngueng Feze, better known as YouTuber Makeda Wisdom. You can further check out this deck here: https://gumroad.com/l/naturalhaircards and on the creator’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XO4wDlXbXQ
Thanks for watching the unboxing and reading my post!
Kim
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