3 posts tagged “commentary”

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

African American hair has been all over the news lately. I don't know if it's because of Michelle Obama or Tyra, but people just can't stop talking about African American hair. Now, this is a blog devoted to care and keeping of MY African American hair, not the politics of hair, the science and structure of hair, or the sociocultural implications of being natural but since there is a national dialogue going on (and suddenly people feel the need to talk to me about my hair), I thought I might contribute to the conversation.

Today I talked to one of my coworkers who has decided to go natural. I couldn't help but cheer for her, it's my first time someone has come up to me IRL to talk to me about going natural. And she said that she hoped her hair would turn out like mine which absolutely baffled me. Not because I don't love my hair, because I do. But because there are somethings I haven't left behind and one of those things is being told over and over again how unmanageable my hair is. I know better now - caring for my hair is so much easier and more fun now that it was when I relaxed my hair. But it is still so odd to hear someone say that they hope their hair is like mine because it is curly - my "curls" range from pen spring to coffee stirrer size. When I get a good digital camera (maybe by my next birthday) I will post a texture shot to prove that I speak the truth. This week in particular, the coils were popping, but they aren't exactly ringlets. Anyway, I digress.

I guess I'm not really used to having my hair admired in its natural, completely unmanipulated (aside from the headband) state. But it feels good.

Of course, I had two people ask me if I cut my hair (no, it just shrank. I can't quite explain how collarbone length hair shrinks to an inch long, but trust me, it happened) and one woman ask me if I curled my hair to make it look like this. I couldn't even process that one at the time because I didn't want to laugh and hurt her feelings, I just smiled and said it was naturally like this.