I read the question and most of the responses given and for the life of me I can't understand why people are trippin on how folks wear their hair. It's ridiculous to me. No person is more connected to their African heritage than another simply because of the way they choose to style their hair. Damn! Is this what knowledge of our heritage has come down to these days...hair? For me I KNOW it's much deeper than hair and for those of you that believe people who style their hair with chemicals are denying their heritage...get real and stop frontin' for the masses!

I mean seriously it's been said many times throughout this thread, on these boards, and in many discussions on this topic that you can't judge a book by its cover. In essence saying that just because a person relaxes their hair or chooses not to does not mean that they are more or less "conscious" of anything!

EVERYTHING lies WITHIN love of your heritage and if you TRULY understood this as much then you wouldn't be so caught up on the preaching of displaying this on the outside with the likes of hair and clothes! That's why people have encounters with others they think "fit the part" because they're caught up on image and when they actually speak to the person it turns out they aren't really what they appeared to be. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not in any way saying that I'm against people expressing themselves in whatever way they choose, but don't think that just because you wear your hear chemical free that you're automatically linked to Africa. That's the biggest myth ever sold and I bet if any of you ever got the chance to visit or live in Africa you would see that its all about love and not about your hairstyle!

You can fake the outside, but the inside is TRUTH! Believe that!