Guest Post: Emma Thompson

Along with this guest post Emma will be taking over the Hair of Heritage Instagram. Don't miss out!

Please introduce yourself!

Well….I am Emma Thompson and I blog as The Part Time Model at Wordpress. I’m 20 years of age and work as a writer, freelance model and stylist. At the moment I live in Bangkok, Thailand but for the most part of my childhood I lived in Stockholm, Sweden. I started my blog due to the escalated rise of racism and lack of actual race and ethnic representation in the world. As well as I felt that it was time for me to share what I have been through growing up; racism and discrimination in fashion and my thoughts about anything in between as I know that other individuals can relate or had similar experiences. Discussions about all of this needs to happen and I hope that through me speaking up about my life could possibly help somebody else to do the same.

What's unique about your hair?

What I can say about my hair is that it has a life of itself and it is definitely special because it is my hair and it’s me. I guess that kind of answers the next question too but what makes it unique is that it is not a traditional afro nor can it be classified as anything else. It’s big, it’s curly, it’s an afro, it’s a pain in my ass and it’s just large and a lot.

I have literally tried everything that you can buy for all types of hair and nothing seems to work (anybody have any tips, please hit me up!!!) resulting in me not really embracing my hair as it is as well as I do not really appreciate it. Which is a real shame and I try to change that every day.

"Hair is not just hair it's a part of your identity" - do you agree?

I very much agree with this statement!!! I might be more significant to women and men with more texturized hair but I believe that it applies to everyone as well. I can only speak from personal experience and in my case you have to talk about hair just as much as you talk about my childhood and my life experiences. Growing up I started to hate who I was, how I looked and I hated my hair. Why?? Well because it was different and I didn’t fit in. I was bullied, discriminated against and racial remarks was a part of my everyday life so for me, my hair is a part of my identity. But I only came to realize this when I started to accept myself, love myself and actually appreciate who I actually am because I can never have straight blonde hair, I can never be white, I will never be like everybody else, I can’t and I will not fit into the mold society wants me to conform to and I most certainly will not try and change who I am to get accepted by others.

What's the worst hair decision you've ever made?

Relaxing my hair!!!!!! Many years ago, I think I was around 12 years old, I actually relaxed my hair. For those that do not know, relaxing as it is called is basically a perm for afro hair to become straight. So I did relaxing, which hurts and burns I might add, to straighten my hair because I wanted to be like everyone around me and I damaged my hair so badly that I had to shave everything off after a couple of months. Because my hair is not quite as tough as regular afro’s, it just broke and got completely damaged instead of just becoming straight.

What's the craziest comment you've received about your hair?

The craziest comment…...I have gotten plenty of comments and pats on my head but some of the weirdest comments that I have received might be the : “Is this your real hair???” and the “Can we please trade hair??? I just love your afro.” comments. I guess that the “Is this your real hair??” comment is the mostly ignorant and annoying while the “Can we trade hair” just gets on my nerves.

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