I promised myself that I wasn't going to post about this topic. But after all of the other conversations that has gone on as well as Chris Rock's media appearances, I feel compelled to say something.
I'm not that interested in seeing Good Hair anymore. At first, I thought that it may be an interesting conversation starter but the more I hear about it, it sounds a showcase for Chris Rock to talk about how superficial and high maintenance black women are using hair as an example.
I've watched the conversations turn into straight vs nappy and I think that dichotomy is stupid. Your politics, self-image, and potential self-hatred are not solely dictated by the hair on your head. But I think that with any lifestyle choice, you owe it to yourself to be honest about why you made those choices.
I used to hate my natural hair. I thought it was unruly and impossible to deal with. I believed that it had to be beaten into submission with relaxers, pressing irons and curling irons. I resented that my hair didn't grow long and felt resigned to wear my hair short, thin, and flat or braided.
I didn't stop resenting my natural hair until I learned how to care for it. I didn't learn how care for my hair until I stopped expecting it to behave like straight hair.
And that is the core of the problem. We have to reprogram ourselves and society out of this idea that straight hair is the baseline and the norm. Yes, hairstyles are choices but your hair texture is not. And it is wrong to judge all hair textures as presentable against a single, arbitrary baseline.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel
