Dispatches from Nappyville: What is “good hair,” anyway?
By Guest Contributor Tami, originally published at What Tami Said
With the premiere of Chris Rock’s documentary “Good Hair” everyone is talking about black women’s tresses–about our quest for “good hair.” What exactly is “good hair,” anyway? I suspect that, until now, many white Americans have not heard hair described in quite these terms. But blacks folks know all too well.
We live in a society where beauty is governed by Eurocentric standards that say the most attractive tresses for women are straight, long, shiny, fine and preferably light in color. To be sure, many, many women of all races fall short of this standard, but none so much as women of African descent, whose crowning glory tends to be, in many ways, the opposite of what is considered beautiful. It would be easier if, despite living in a majority culture different form our own, the black community as a whole was able to embrace the qualities most often associated with our hair, which tends to be highly-textured. But let’s face it: We do not, thanks in part to the legacy of slavery and continued racism.
Don’t believe me? When was the last time, outside of the natural hair community, that you heard someone use “nappy” as a compliment?
Sharon’s new baby is gorgeous! She has a head full of nappy hair!
When was the last time you saw a sister with a TWA in an R&B video?
Man, shawty looks good! She’s got a bangin’ body and a really short afro!
I think some of the protestations that black people don’t covet the appearance of whiteness are dishonest. Black women may not straighten their hair because they wish to look white, per se, but many of us seek to achieve a look that is based on a beauty standard set by white people and more readily achieved by white people. Black women have also been taught that tightly-curled hair is less manageable than straight hair (though this is only true if you are trying to “manage” black hair into something it is not.).I should say here that this isn’t about individual choices. Some sisters straighten on occasion simply cause they like to switch up their looks. No problem there. The problem is with thinking you have to straighten, at great cost and sometimes to the detriment of intimacy and health, to be acceptable or to have hair that is manageable. I’m talking about the general view of natural, black hair within our community — and that view is largely negative.
No one should think this hatred of our physicality is merely a quirk of black character. I worry from the little I have seen of Rock’s flick that this is exactly where that story is going. The idea that black hair is unsightly and unmanageable has been reinforced by the majority culture since slavery. Comparing black women and relaxing with white women and the quest for blondeness, as Rock has done, is facile and inaccurate. Black women covet straight hair not just for vanity’s sake, but for social and professional acceptance. Brunette hair is not thought unsightly and inappropriate for public view; natural, black hair is. For example, there are many companies that forbid natural black hairstyles, deeming them “extreme.” In fact, controversy erupted a few years ago when some historically black colleges decided to ban natural hairstyles in their business schools, caving to the idea that the hair of people of African descent is unacceptable in the workplace. The Baltimore police department banned black, natural hairstyles in 2006, calling them “fads.” And most of us on the ‘Net recall the Glamour magazine/natural hair controversy. Is it any wonder that black women straighten, weave up and wig? Our very livelihoods often rely on our assimilating our looks.
When most black folks use “good” to describe someone’s hair, they invariably mean the person in questions hair is close to the Eurocentric ideal: It is straight or has uniform curls, not kinks. It is long. It is easy to comb. The hair and beauty Web site, Spiced Honey, asked readers what “good hair” meant to them.
Long, thick, with a natural sheen… Sometimes curls up with the first sign of moisture, but always falls straight with a little work
Not nappy, and keeps it presentable
Hair that is shiny and wavy, and can pass through my fingers like silk
It is worth noting that these respondents praise traits commonly associated with white hair not black hair. And this thinking is all too common in our community. Now, I am bound to get comments from women who say that white beauty standards have no impact on why they straighten their hair. I believe you. Again, this is not about personal choices. I am talking about the black community as a whole. When someone checks for a woman with “good hair,” you know exactly what they mean, and it ain’t short and kinky or locked or twisted. The very idea of “good hair” is a manifestation of self hatred. That’s why Rock’s film makes me uncomfortable. Rock is a comedian and, thus, his first job is to be funny. Self-hatred isn’t funny.
So, as a sister who has been keeping it nappy for three years now, what is my view of “good hair?” (The term, not the movie, since it doesn’t seem to be playing in Central Indiana.) Good hair is healthy hair. Period. It took me a while to come to terms with my thick, spirally hair that is shiny and multi-textured and big and dense and hates to be “tamed.” But I have come to love it. It doesn’t fit under hats very well. Unless it is wet and soaked in conditioner, it really can’t be combed. But it is my good hair. I also like Solange’s short cut and Rihanna’s asymmetrical do and my friend’s honey brown locs and my other friend’s waist-length locs and my mom’s shoulder-length permed tresses and, though I’ve only seen it in photos, my blogsister AJ Plaid’s baldy. I’ve come to a place where I recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all “good hair.” It’s about confidently trying looks without being ashamed of what Mother Nature gave you.
What is good hair to you?
Image courtesy of masoesa on Flickr.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Eva wrote:
I like this because it is true. Nothing wrong with changing your hair because you want to, but if it’s because you feel you HAVE to there is the pathology.
I’ve been natural for a long time, however people tell me that my natural hair is “good hair” half straight half curly. To me good hair is hair that is clean and hair you can take care of without too much drama.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 10:09 am ¶
n wrote:
Love it! Thanks for this piece that gets to the root of the issue, no pun intended.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 10:38 am ¶
Melissa Hudson wrote:
Good hair is hair that is well loved and cared for. I too grew up with the notion that ‘good’ hair is hair that is easy to get a comb through. Well, during my Peace Corps tour, I lost my comb and abandoned the idea that I had no choice but to straighten my hair. That was over 16 years ago.
I have noticed over the years working in corporate sales and education that I’ve never been denied a job, I’ve never been turned down for promotion, and I’ve only had two white women make negative comments about my locs. On the other hand, I’ve had a number of my sisters express alarm, concern and outright disbelief that I can walk on this planet with my hair and be effective.
So my question is who is actually perpetuating the stigma of ‘bad’ hair?
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 10:43 am ¶
Karen wrote:
I cut the perm out of my hair about 8 months ago. The reactions from my peers and society in general has been an interesting. this summer at a camp i was working for, a little light-skinned boy told me that i didnt look like a girl and that my hair look “nasty”. good hair for me has been less about me embracing it and more about me dealing with the reactions of people to it. one of the most hurtful things it to be at a club dancing and seeing all your straight/ permed haired friends being asked to dance while you dance by yourself. I ended up doing a sermon at my church on youth day about how institutional and cultural racism influences what we think is good and how that relates to Christianity. (It’s on my blog link if you’re interested)
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 11:23 am ¶
Miss V wrote:
Well, I still think there’s such a thing as just a bad hair style….like Diana Ross when she showed up to jiggle Lil’ Kim’s boob. o.0
But other than freak instances like that….yes. Loved it. Very true and very even-handed.
The only thing I would point out is that white women don’t go blonde for vanity, but for social pressure associated with sexuality. Then, on the other hand, professionally they suffer because often they find no one takes them seriously. My mother has dealt with this her whole life, being blonde and attractive and just an all around sweet lady.
But…that’s a whole other subject in itself.
Great post! And I’ll be wary of what he says, but I do still want to see that dock(mock?)umentary!
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 11:26 am ¶
n wrote:
I am fortunate that my hair has never been an issue at my job. I forget that it is even “natural” or that it should be an issue. And that is how it should be, no one should have to worry that their person is unacceptable and will cause them problems on the job.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 11:31 am ¶
ABF wrote:
What is good hair to you?
I don’t believe in good hair because if I did that’d mean that “bad hair” exists.
I only believe in bad hairdos.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 11:39 am ¶
Eva wrote:
@ABF: I agree with that. I’ve never seen bad hair, just bad ‘do’s.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 12:05 pm ¶
Amber wrote:
I had a chance to see “Good Hair” and I must say that I was dissapointed with the film. I felt as if Chris Rock should not call this film a documentary. Documentaries mention facts and history. There was no mention of the self-hatred slavery caused or nary a mention of Madame C.J. Walker. How can you have a movie about black hair and not mention these things?
I feel as if people of other races who go see Rock’s film will not leave with cultural understanding. The film made it seem as if black women just woke up one day and decided to have straight hair. We all know that is NOT the case!
I support Rock’s effort to dive into this issue, but I felt it was a shallow attempt.
Very well written blog post, Tami. I also enjoyed the post you did on your blog about hair hatred not needing to be a right of passage.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 12:12 pm ¶
Charlotte wrote:
Despite being about as white as they come, I was often accused of having nappy or black hair at school in North Texas — while my hair was then dark blond, it frizzes and curls against the grain in a way similar to the hair of mixed-race women. While I experienced no kind of the systemic self-loathing or discrimination of black women with natural hair, it’s weird to think that the hatred of black hair could even jump to white women who have heavily textured hair; it was as if I wasn’t white ENOUGH.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 12:13 pm ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:
It’s really funny but growing up as a child, I was always envious of black girls at my school, I wanted to have their hair. I always begged my mother to let me have corn-rows or have my hair similarly stylized to black girls in my classes!
Since I started reading Racialicious over a year ago, I was very surprised when I learned that this is a very touchy issue for many Black women.
We live in a society where beauty is governed by Eurocentric standards that say the most attractive tresses for women are straight, long, shiny, fine and preferably light in color.
I like what you said. I think it’s true for women with black hair (whether they are white, brown, black, or whatever). I’ve often been told by other Indians that my hair is way too “black,” like that’s supposed to be a bad thing. Whereas white and black women have told me that my hair has a beautiful tone of blackness!
I hate how Indian women think black hair is ugly and they try to lighten it to make themselves look more Westernized. It fucking pisses me off.
I also hate how women (race doesnt matter) with dark hair are always villified in TV shows, cartoons, and movies (whether as whores, vamps, seducers, etc)– while blondes are supposed to be sweet, virginal, and innocent. Fuck that shit.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 12:15 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:
“good hair” in my family meant a variety of things. it could range from totally straight, shiny, and silky to curly ringlets that are shiny and soft, and as a result, easy to straighten. in my household, my mother (who has light skin and very very very “nappy” hair) talked a lot about her hair complex, and it continues to this day. all the other girls in her family had “good hair” and she was stuck with hair that did not fit the mold of what was considered beautiful. she has been relaxing her hair since she was young for the sake of “manageability” (and i agree with tami, here, that’s a completely relative term based on eurocentric norms of hair maintenance). meanwhile, i was born with corkscrew curls that were soft and not as difficult to manage (aka “good hair” in my family’s eyes). nevertheless, i had to submit to weekly hot comb sessions and later perms (which were fine for the sake of maintaining the certain haircut and style i wanted, but not so good on the health of my hair).
i think a lot of women get relaxers (for white people reading this, black people refer to them as “perms” too) for the sake of a hairstyle and not necessarily just for it to be straight. sometimes, i get annoyed by the fact that my hair in its natural state grows up and out instead of out and down and sometimes i feel like having my hair this way is not as flattering to my face or doesn’t match my style of dress. i am always tempted to go back to straightening it just for the sake of the hairstyle, but i refrain because i know my hair is in better shape this way. for me, good hair means having healthy hair.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 12:18 pm ¶
Eh wrote:
Honestly, good hair is IMO is thick and soft and easy to comb. I don’t consider my hair whether it is in its permed state or not, to be good hair because it is brittle, hard and I dread combing it. My cousin on the other hand has natural hair that is thick, soft and easy to comb and neither one of us is mixed AT ALL. For me it really has nothing to do with perms or whatever, just manageability.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 12:30 pm ¶
Cairsten wrote:
If your hair is hard and brittle, reconsider your hair care regimen. I grew up with a Black/East Indian mother whose hair is fine and almost straight. She had no idea what to do with my hair, which is very much like my Black father’s — I got my first hot combing at something like seven years old, and she permed it straight thereafter, always telling me I should have had the “good hair” like hers. She put Vaseline “grease” in it but no moisture, dragged a comb through it while it was dry, and then blamed my hair for the breakage and the pain that ensued. It was nappy, frizzy, and hard; I hated touching it, even permed.
It wasn’t until I was an adult that I decided no more perms, and set about finding ways to deal with my hair on its own terms. It’s thirsty — moisture is what it wants above all else. I dare not comb it or brush it dry. I do not often oil it, because that seals out the moisture it needs; instead, I condition, condition, condition. What I have now is the shoulder-length, curly hair I wanted so much to have when I was a child. It is soft, touchable, has a noticeable sheen, and is not brittle at all. Because I comb it through only when it’s wet and has conditioner in it, it separates into its own curls and is not frizzy unless I let it get dry and then try to style it.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 1:06 pm ¶
Karyn wrote:
Great post! I’ve seen “Good Hair” and agree he didn’t explain enough, but I went in thinking consider the source . WRT good hair, my mom taught high school and I think because she saw so many kids pick the light eyed, straight/curly haired kid as the one with the prettiest eyes or “good hair” she always was quick to correct us whenever we used the term. She would always say there is no such thing as “good hair”. Although we got perms through early teens into adulthood, I think because she did that exploring our natural hair didn’t have any stigma and we’ve (mom, 2 sisters and I) all been natural for several years now.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 1:06 pm ¶
Cairsten wrote:
… As a side note, I took my mother, my kid sister, and my little niece to the fair a couple of weekends ago. My mother pulled one of my curls straight down my back, noted that it reaches my shoulder blades, and pronounced firmly, in that I-am-your-mother tone: “You NEED to do something with this hair.” When questioned, she admitted she meant “straighten it.” So there’s no getting around the fixed idea in some people’s heads — even if the hair’s in great condition on its own, it’s not “good hair” without a perm!
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 1:22 pm ¶
yolanda wrote:
i had my first relaxer at the age of 3, and because of that i have been painfully aware of hair my entire life. i’ve done a couple of blog entries on my blog about hair (i decided to link my blog today in case anyone wanted to check the most recent one out about zahara, allison samuels and myself, inspired by latoya peterson’s awesome jezebel article!) while my parents never made me feel implicitly bad about my hair texture, it was always implied in the touch-ups every 3 months, my mom telling me not to play too much, and me referring to the hair on the nape of my neck as “my kitchen” and/or “beady beads.”
now…my whole head is “a kitchen” and i couldn’t love my dense curls and naps more if i tried. it’s a transition that takes a lot of thinking, but once you decide natural is for you and find a great support system–it doesn’t matter. i spent the first 17 years of my life wanting hair that would always be straight, hair that would blow in the wind and fall neatly back into place, hair that would never be mine. now i’m happy with the healthy, fluffy, spirally hair growing on top of my head–and to me, that is good hair.
i have friends who have relaxers, and the only thing that bothers me is when they’d rather burn their hair out and/or spend hours in a salon “getting it done” than to just be natural. that to me is self-hate, and while i try to maintain the view that, “it’s not that way for everyone” i can’t help but feel hurt when they reject natural hair for chemicals and scalp burns. a month ago i had a friend tell me, “natural just isn’t for me–my head’s too big,” and all kinds of excuses and i had to stop myself from asking, “how the eff can your GOD GIVEN HAIR not work for you?”
my mom (who gave me my first relaxer at 3) visited me a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t stop fawning over my hair, my TWA and how “soft and pretty it is” and how “nice the texture.” i decided not to debate the texture comment, and just bask in the woman who’d taught me to hate my hair loving the hair she once permed because it was “unmanageable”–my mom is also rocking a TWA now, at 50
good hair is hair healthy hair that you love.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 1:30 pm ¶
yolanda wrote:
Honestly, good hair is IMO is thick and soft and easy to comb.
not everyone has thick hair, and not everyone has hair that’s easy to comb. in fact, i have a head full of thick hair and if i were to put a comb to it (when it wasn’t wet and i was detangling) it’d look like i was electrocuted.
My cousin on the other hand has natural hair that is thick, soft and easy to comb and neither one of us is mixed AT ALL.
that’s awesome; but why are you applying YOUR hair and how it looks to everyone ELSE’S hair? my hair is not easy to get a comb through, but it is thick, soft, and healthy.
just manageability.
i am starting to get the feeling that “manageability” is the biggest code word of them all. if someone takes the time to look up how to take care of ANY texture of hair–it’s easy to manage, with or without combs.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 1:39 pm ¶
Eh wrote:
@ Cairsten
My hair is naturally brittle and dry, when I was natural, I did co-washes, dealt with coconut oil and shea butter only, slept with my hair in a satin scarf, little to no manipulation, tried to use natural products when I was able to and all that good stuff, still it was barely manageable, so I do believe it’s mostly a matter of genetics not how much you take care of your hair.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 2:18 pm ¶
Jamerican Muslimah wrote:
I didn’t realize how “good” my hair was until I was in my early 20’s, cut all the perm off, and grew a fro. At the time, I, like many Black women, had never seen my natural hair before. How shameful!
I happen to agree with ABF “I don’t believe in good hair because if I did that’d mean that “bad hair” exists. I only believe in bad hairdos.” But at the same time I know when someone refers to “good hair” or “pretty hair” they’re referring to wavy or straight hair.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 2:34 pm ¶
Celeste wrote:
The woman in the picture for this post is *so* gorgeous.
This whole “manageability” code word irritates me, too. I don’t think manageability should = combability, shiny, curly(as opposed to frizzy). Why does frizzy have to be bad?
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 2:37 pm ¶
Michelle_2 wrote:
I saw ‘Good Hair’ and felt sad about all the missed opportunity. I think if Rock had spent some time on the internet, reading articles and discussions like this one before he started, he could’ve brought a lot more depth to his documentary.
The biggest missed opportunity IMO was his non-reaction to the idea that a woman can’t succeed professionally with natural hair. The scene with the group of girls about to graduate, and the one lone girl with (adorable!) natural hair hearing from her peers that her hair was ‘cute’ but just not going to work in the real world…and he just accepted that as…what? Truth? Women being silly? I don’t know.
FWIW, I think ‘good hair’ is hair that makes you happy. When you accidentally/unexpectedly see your reflection and think, ‘Damn I look good!’ My style is to embrace what I have and work with it, but someone might get that good feeling with crazy-expensive, processed, damaged hair that *I* might think looks terrible, but what matters is how *she* feels when she looks in the mirror, you know?
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 2:56 pm ¶
n wrote:
“i think a lot of women get relaxers (for white people reading this, black people refer to them as “perms” too) for the sake of a hairstyle and not necessarily just for it to be straight. sometimes, i get annoyed by the fact that my hair in its natural state grows up and out instead of out and down and sometimes i feel like having my hair this way is not as flattering to my face or doesn’t match my style of dress. i am always tempted to go back to straightening it just for the sake of the hairstyle”
again, expecting hair to fit a certain style or frame the face is part of the non-african norm. i said that because having non nappy hair isn’t an exclusively european thing really. so after you ask why you want straight hair- the style. the next question is why do you prefer a style that requires your natural texture to be altered?
im not saying its wrong or right, just that the questions can do a little deeper.
“good hair” is relative. some people consider mine “good”, but its nappy compared to my mom’s and aunts and kids hair. im the sort of person who sees something being called “bad” by some people and “good” by others and says “this is all arbitrary and therefore invalid”
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 3:25 pm ¶
stepaside wrote:
I’m 100% Chinese (as far as I know…) and despite a conspicuous absence of curly hair in my family, I have what some would refer to as a “Jewfro”. But throughout my life, my hair has actually changed texture and appearance and when I was in high school, my hair was a lot kinkier, leading one group of Chinese kids to belligerently mock my hair as “nappy” and “like a black person’s”. Similarly, my hair stylists have always asked (with a certain amount of disdain no less), whether or not I had “black” in me–yeah, no joke. I personally feel absolutely fine with my hair, and I rather like it, so these folks can go suck it.
Racialicious (and all its guest and cross-posts) has been so super eye-opening for me in so many ways and this is yet another case. See, I’ve always felt vaguely uncomfortable with my hair being compared to that of black women–not because of the appearance of my hair or because I was offended on my hair’s behalf–but because of the disdain behind the sentiment, as if it’s a BAD or disgusting thing to have hair “like a black person’s”. I couldn’t care less if people were judging my hair, but I can’t get over the fact that some people attribute bad hair with blackness and now, I’m finally all the better equipped to deal with these idiots.
Hmm…just had to get that off my chest.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 4:06 pm ¶
jmn wrote:
I have nothing of substance to add to this discussion except to say that is a beautiful woman at the top of the post.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 4:31 pm ¶
Cairsten wrote:
@Eh: I didn’t say “how much” you were taking care of your hair. I said reconsider what you were doing. All hair can get brittle and dry, if you haven’t figured out what works for your hair. For me, it’s daily moisturizing and conditioning. For you, it may be ACV rinses or something else. I can’t use shea butter in my hair; it hates it. I spent a solid month trying before accepting that. Jojoba makes it greasy and clumpy. I can’t even use coconut oil more than a few times a month. That’s my hair. My hair wants water and a good conditioner, and not much else is tolerated. (Currently I use None of Your Frizzness conditioner as a leave-in, and wash my hair with the same mint and rosemary handmade soap I use on the rest of me. This is good, because I do not have buckets of money or patience with intricate regimens.)
Your hair may like my regimen, or it may not, but I promise you that there’s something that’ll give you soft, non-brittle natural hair. Finding it may take awhile, but I think it’s worth it — if you find what works for your natural hair, then even if you do keep perming, it should make your permed hair happier.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 4:53 pm ¶
brownstocking wrote:
In my immediate family, good hair is hair that is ours, whether we bought it or not.
In my extended community, it used to be about straight hair, but after I started locing, they realized hair can look good and be clean in any shape or form.
Currently, I perm, because I want to rock this particular short style, but I’ll go back to locing or braiding or pressing or whatever, as the mood strikes. I love the fact that hair grows back–no matter what I do to it!
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 5:26 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:
n,
i don’t think having one’s hair frame one’s face or be in a certain style is necessarily a non-african norm (btw, non-african? which africans are we including in this term, exactly?). for example, my hair is fine and not heavy, so even getting it to form a decent afro would be hard to do. it grows up and out, but not with any sense of uniformity or density lol. it’s just kind of there and i have to do something to it until it gets long enough to eventually fall over and frame my face properly. relaxing my hair a bit is just the quicker way to get to that goal (as my curls are too tight to notice growth for months at a time due to shrinkage). everyone’s hair is different and behaves differently as well. i think it’s also worth noting that so many black women who wear their hair natural notice a slew of textures in their hair, which makes care for it a challenge and times (hence some people’s giving up all together and relaxing). my hair is wavy in the back, practically straight on the sides, and thick and super curly in the front…to the point that gel is the only thing that brings about some semblance of texture uniformity). there are a lot of assumptions made when one transitions to natural hair, one of them being that it will be easier to maintain…but as many of us know, that’s not the case for everyone…and not a result of frustrations from it not being bone straight, either.
but as i mention in the rest of my previous comment, my hair’s health is what’s most important. i get compliments on how i style it all the time, but that takes a lot more effort than i ever had to manage for my hair when i had it relaxed. nevertheless, health is important. and if i am not going to willingly ingest toxic chemicals, why on earth would i put them in my hair just so that it fits the style i want?
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 5:31 pm ¶
chicagorose wrote:
GOOD hair is what God gave me that’s healthy and growing out of my head, so said every female member of my family and my dad on top of it all, with hair textures from wavy fine to kinky-course. And still it’s not completely sunk in. The clip that horrified me in relation to “Good Hair” wasn’t even in the movie, it was Chris Rock’s appearance on Oprah when she let him grab her hair and how he just went on and on about being denied grabbing a woman’s hair in bed. Forgive my French… Please. But FUCK you Chris Rock. Knowing full well the cartwheels that black women have tried to perform, all in the pursuit of being able to have black men touch our hair and use the words “silky” and “soft”, FUCK you. Maybe with the advent of weaves he can hide behind that shitty lamentation of a brother’s blues, but black men have been holding our hair over our heads for a LONG time. And the humiliation just continued when both Oprah and Chris tried to pretend that white/other women don’t *get it*. Um, yes. Yes they do. We’ve had it thrown in our faces for eons. How could they *not know* when “nappy headed” is one of the first insults to be hurtled out of any WOC/white female/white male bigot’s mouth at a black female? The only thing that calmed me down was the excellent commentary by users ZemarSea Urchin, Jennifer Daniels, and Rooo sez BISH PLZ over at Jezebel, on threads covering the same topic. Jezebel being another Buckingham Fountain of cluelessness. THANK you Tami for just spitting it out.
P.S The most vocal compliments I have ever received were from black men of various ages when I wore my afro puff 10 years back. Never beamed so hard in my life!
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 5:47 pm ¶
MoonCat wrote:
great article. i really appreciate being able to read so many people’s points of view and personal experiences with hair.
it really, really upsets me that black hair’s natural texture is seen to be unprofessional by employers. it’s a kind of discrimination i didn’t even know existed until a month or two ago when it was brought up on this blog. i feel like that should be considered illegal. the natural color of one’s eyes (or even most contacts!) or skin is not considered to be ‘radical’, so why should one’s natural hair texture? it’s not fair. =(
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 5:58 pm ¶
n wrote:
@ Wendi
I respect your opinion and I will share my own which does differ.
n,
“i don’t think having one’s hair frame one’s face or be in a certain style is necessarily a non-african norm (btw, non-african? which africans are we including in this term, exactly?).”
non-nappy? non black? non afro textured?
“for example, my hair is fine and not heavy, so even getting it to form a decent afro would be hard to do. it grows up and out, but not with any sense of uniformity or density lol. it’s just kind of there and i have to do something to it until it gets long enough to eventually fall over and frame my face properly.”
i suppose the question I am asking is why and where we have gotten the idea that hair that generally would not, if grown as it does, is supposed to frame the face at all? or that it has to be loose, or that it has to even be there at all?
why does it have to be dense or uniform? where have we gotten the idea that the way it grows out of our head isn’t good enough? regardless of how it happens to grow out of our heads.
” relaxing my hair a bit is just the quicker way to get to that goal (as my curls are too tight to notice growth for months at a time due to shrinkage).’
again, and the question is not aimed at you, but at the prevailing idea- why is it neccesary that hair noticeably grow. if a person, or a group of people,have hair that grows and stands up and sticks out and isnt uniform and doesnt frame their face and can grow for a year and still look the same length, why must that be remedied? why is that not acceptable as it is?
im aware that these are preferences, but I also believe that to a certain extent that these beliefs- not just that hair be straight but that it
is long
is shiny
is not “dusty” looking
is soft
is able to hang and frame the lower face
is uniform
is symmetrical
is on the head (shaving it all off is a valid option)
is defined
is not frizzy
is combed
is uniform in texture
are ones that we may need to examine more closely.
Why do we believe any of this is neccessary or desirable?
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 7:00 pm ¶
Martina wrote:
I probably won’t make any sense, but I wanted to comment too.
When I first heard about Rock’s documentary, I was excited. And then after it came out (and I saw him on the Mo’Nique Show), I dreaded it. It seems like he failed to broach the real topic and there wasn’t any real fact.
I’m always a little mixed when it comes to people’s notions on hair. I’ve had a relaxer for a long time and don’t remember what my hair was like natural, but I do want to go back to it sometimes. My only real thought about it all though, is ‘manageability’ and health. Obviously, relaxer isn’t healthy, but my hair is pretty darn easy to comb through. Seeing manageability makes me worried though, because it seems like it’s packing so much. For me, I just want to be able to comb through my hair and for it have some sort of style. As long as it’s presentable (and not presentable would be bedhead, that’s about all).
wendi, I think I see what you’re trying to say and I agree. Everyone’s hair is different, and some people just want different (and sometimes various) styles. Things like wanting your hair to frame your face, sometimes it’s not about a certain pathology or idea. It’s just wanting your hair to complement your face. Like a pair of glasses. Certain faces shapes are suited toward certain glasses shapes.
Although there are a lot of people who put a lot of pre-conceived notions and such into that, but I don’t really know what to say about it.
I kind of feel like I don’t know what I’m saying and I’m not making sense, so I guess that’s all I have to say. I hope it made some sense at all.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 10:30 pm ¶
John John wrote:
As an African man, it has been very interesting and enlightening to see how a simple thing as hair is viewed in the american community. It also makes me wonder about my sister who goes to an school where she is one of the few African students.
I know this is mainly an american blog but I would like to know if this issue of hair is the same in other non-African nations with African descended populations.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 10:42 pm ¶
Jen wrote:
I’m white and in the past was vaguely aware of some wrangling over “black hair” but have only really in the last few months begun to understand the level of crap black women have to put up with when it comes to their scalps.
I can’t believe that “natural” hair can be banned by an employer. That’s appalling discrimination. How is that possibly legal? I agree with Mooncat, it’s like declaring an eye colour of skin colour “radical”… oh. Yes. I see where that might be going.
And the woman whose photo is at the top of this post is gorgeous and her hair is certainly what I’d regard as neat. I love to see the argument for it being otherwise. I doubt it’s particularly sane.
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 11:29 pm ¶
ACW wrote:
I am in my third year at a nearby HBCU. It breaks my heart to see the freshmen ladies come in each year, their first time away from home, and the pains they go through trying to find a local salon. I balk at the idea of paying $30 to get my hair trimmed four times a year, and these ladies are shelling out that much or more a couple of times a month… and for what? For someone to yank and twist their hair, burn their scalps… all so they can have fashionable micros, etc.? It seems ridiculous to pay to have someone torture you. It makes me want to tote around a copy of ‘Happy to be Nappy’ and stand in the quad and scream, “GO NATURAL!”
Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 11:45 pm ¶
deathblossom wrote:
Good hair is hair that does the best with your face and looks like you put some effort into it. The girl in the picture’s hair is great. She looks cute and it goes well with her face. For other people, it might not be so cute because it doesn’t go well with their face or they obviously aren’t taking care of it.
I’m with wendi on this one, style has a lot to do with it. Cornrows, braids, poofs…they don’t work for me. What really gets me about the whole deal is that honestly, when we make a look and go out into society, most people forgo something that is “natural” for either something they personally like better or for something that conveys to other people how they wish to be perceived – nobody exists in a vacuum. It’s anecdota, but a lot of the girls I see with natural hair are VERY particular about other aspects of their appearance – in all other things besides their hair, their behavior and appearance is still very white, mainstream femme.
Personally, I refuse to budge on overly excessive and feminine clothes, shoes, jewelery, makeup, and obsessive fashion habits and obsessive rules about what constitutes proper ladylike, female business attire. The one thing I do is hair – it’s the easiest, the one that fits me the best, and the least affront to me personally. It’s my feminine crutch, if you will, and it’s not any more worthy of contempt than any of the other feminine crutches women all over the world use.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 1:00 am ¶
alumiere wrote:
Thank you for this post; it’s given me a lot of food for thought on how I treat and wear my hair…
Much like @stepaside, I am not (that I know of) even partially of African descent; but I have crazy, “unmanagable”, dry & brittle, curly, (naturally) black hair.
In school in the 70’s and 80’s my hair was a huge issue (private, xian school, maybe 10% not wasp, and I was part of that 10%). I could not get it into an acceptable style for the school’s performance groups (cheerleaders, gymnastics, majorettes, etc), I was harassed for not washing it in gym class every day (I wouldn’t be able to comb it out and bundle it into pigtails again if I did), and the ridicule from other students and some of my teachers was enough to still have me struggling with what I call terminal shyness (afraid to talk to people I don’t know when I’m f2f – yeah, and I’m 43).
By 13/14, I had given up completely (bad and painful perms, horrible haircuts, stylists who had no idea what to do with my hair as the rest of my family has “normal” hair) and wore it in what would start out as a bangless bob – until it started to dry that is, at which point it turned into an unruly, bushy, frizzy, mess (one of my more intelligent tormentors, Dave F, compared me to the topiary around the campus regularly). I was an absolute disaster appearance wise and had no real friends, only a few people who’d talk to me because they needed help w/ schoolwork (I learned that books were my friends, and I was too smart in many ways).
And then I found punk – music, clubs, styles – and started wearing my hair in a white blond mohawk (mom was furious, but I was an angry teenager). Bleaching black hair to white blonde is of course terribly damaging, but between that and the elmers glue/aqua net method of standing said mohawk up, my hair stopped being quite so curly and with no sides it was a lot less bushy as well, and I finally figured out how to take care of it. I also stopped giving a shit about my classmates or what my parents thought and met people I enjoyed being around for real.
I never grew out of wearing my hair in a mohawk because the shape is flattering to my head/face, and when it’s down I appear to have an asymetrical head of curls – shorter in front and longer in back. I also stopped bleaching it white sometime during the eight years I spent in college, but I do still bleach enough to be able to dye it purple or dark blue or burgandy or… depending on my moods. I’ve also never been turned down for a job because of the mohawk, although I have been asked to stick to shades of reds when I did retail management.
Wow, that got long… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think you’re dead on about how (at least in America) that blonde, blue-eyed barbie doll may be the look that is accepted as the norm, but I for one am happy to be who I am, curly purple mohawk of curls and all. And thank you for the reminder and the history (this is so something I had never really thought about before, I always figured the bad hairstyles were just my lot in life rather than not knowing how to handle my hair or having anyone to teach me how to do it).
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 1:05 am ¶
ashlynn wrote:
I would disagree and say that there is good hair and bad hair. Good hair is healthy, well taken care of. Bad hair is not. Simple.
Now, calling my little sister’s soft, looser curls good hair, and my tighter coiled, hella shrinky locks bad hair is not the same thing.
At this point, I’ve been up for close to 24 hours and trying to make some sort of formulated argument here would be a futile effort. And so I will ramble.
My sister goes to Howard, and before the great invention of MegaBus, she would spend 80 bucks round trip to come back to NY to get a FIFTEEN-DOLLAR WASH AND SET. And she wonders why she’s in debt. She keeps talking about how she is pledging and at some point she will have to stop relaxing her hair, so I try to bring up going natural. And she just won’t have it. I think that a lot of the battle between natural and relaxed hair is that some people are just really stupid about it. Girls burn the fuck out of their hair, PAY SOMEONE TO DO IT, and can barely squeeze it into a scrunchie, but want to make screw faces at me and my short, but healthy, fro(which is intentionally short, not because it feel the fuck out from over processing). And there’s natural women who feel like 1) they must rub it in that they are closer to their roots because they are natural(which is at least aesthetically true), or 2) are in this weird space where, as a previous commenter pointed out, have this sort of white-girl superiority to them, almost as if having natural actually liberates them from black stereotypes and the like; this one is not quite as easy to explain, so bear with me. One side is lashing out at the other because they can’t understand why they would force their hair to what it does not naturally do, and for the sake of what, and the other side is lashing out because they just can’t understand why someone would willing live with the hair that caused them so much mental, physical, and emotional pain growing up.
Honestly, fuck Chris Rock, his opinion, and his movie. Because as a black woman who has felt the shame of her hair(yet people found it acceptable), and felt the triumph of it(yet people balk at my audacity to roll my eyes at a comb), IMO Black men need to stfd for a minute and let us figure this out first. THEN, and ONLY then, will you and everyone else be invited into the sacred discussion that is our hair, our image, and our self worth.
Sidebar: It’s 3:30. Ashlynn, do you know where your bed is? Night.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 4:24 am ¶
AnonymousArab wrote:
My father had an something between a Jew-fro and a true afro when he was in college. It’s bizarre, really, considering that curly hair runs on his side of the family (my mother who is a white South American has straight hair) but it’s not really “kinky” unless it gets beyond a certain length. He keep it short now, thanks in part to a receding hairline, but it’s so weird that it appears to be straight at this length. I tried to grow my own version of this but my straight-hair genes from my mother mean that I get a curly surfer-boy look instead (which I’m not a fan of). It’s all good, but whatever blackness is in my father’s bloodline (and I’m sure it’s there- there are too many characteristics to discount it) is shrouded in mystery since it predates the memory of any living relative. Still, proximity to the African continent (Palestine, near Gaza) means that it’s not unlikely. I’ve always wanted to try and trace that back- and I really wish I had the money to participate in National Geographic’s Genographic Project.
In our family though, good hair has one characteristic: Soft hair. It’s doesn’t matter whether it’s curly or straight (and between all of my cousins, we’ve got a good mix going) the general consensus between relatives is to compliment soft hair. Me? Looking at all my male relatives, I’ll be glad just to keep my hair into my thirties!
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 6:02 am ¶
dersk wrote:
Hey, good hair is hair that stays in your head. Of course, I’m a man who just hit 40, so perhaps my perspective is a bit skewed. (:
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 9:41 am ¶
dani wrote:
as a black woman with relaxed hair i won’t be watching chris rock’s documentary. im sick to death of black women being mocked/told off for their choices when little if anything is said about black men’s preferences when it comes to hair. blaming the ‘white media’ all the time is nonsense. black americans have in their power the influence to effect change but they don’t. all those music videos and magazines where all the ‘beautiful’ girls are light-skinned with european hair are put together by black people. it is black people who came up with the idea of good and bad hair, it is black people continuing to perpetuate this myth amongst ourselves. lets take responsibility for our actions- i don’t hate myself and over the years have switched between natural and relaxed depending on how i feel- but i whole heartedly agree the problem is when black girls feel they must look a certain way to fit in and judging by some of the stories on here, there is no one to blame but the parents.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 11:28 am ¶
Ed wrote:
I agree with Dani for the most part. There is also discrimination within the community. I will be honest and say I didn’t see Chris’ documentary and I probably won’t because from the comments I’ve been reading and hearing it is exactly what I was expecting. A shallow piece that debases black women’s choices without any analysis as to why they make them. Now, black women have to deal with people who have seen the documentary thinking they know everything there is to know about black hair. Assuming all black women make the same choices for the same reasons and that all black hair is the same.
I’m glad Dani brought up how black men view natural black hair because that is definitely notable.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 12:52 pm ¶
Ain't I an African wrote:
@ Charlotte “I was often accused of having nappy or black hair”
Is it an offense to have ‘black/nappy hair?
“it’s weird to think that the hatred of black hair could even jump to white women who have heavily textured hair”
Please listen to yourself. So the hatred is not weird if it is confined to black people.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 2:39 pm ¶
Betty Chambers wrote:
Dani – #40 was on point.
The only persons who’ve bothered me about my hair were black women. One, who was unemployed at the time, wondered how I was able to work in corporate America with my natural hair.
It’s past shoulder-length, and I wear buns, french plaits, and style it as I please. I saw plenty of locs, afros and other styles at my job(s). I think this stigma is in our heads, and we need to be first to let it go.
We can all start by keeping our mouths shut about black people, especially young girls / women, whose hairstyles we do not approve of, or dislike. Minding our own business is a great way to begin. (Paging A. Samuels of Newsweek to get a clue.)
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 3:05 pm ¶
Solange wrote:
Good hair to me is – healthy hair on your head. My hair and I have had a love hate relationship and this website has been a great at discussing the issues POC have with their hair. I went natural about 5 years ago not by choice – my scalp is allergic to the chemicals in the perm. As a woman that always had a perm living with my natural hair was difficult but I embraced it and love it. I wish I could say the same for my peers, so many (mostly POC) were shocked and many did not hesitate to let me know that I look better and “more groomed” with my hair straight. In the beginning this caused a small complex but I realized that I was allowing others to project their ideals on me. I can’t tell you if I have ever been turned down for any opportunity due to my hair – I can tell you that I receive more negative comments from blacks than any other race.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 3:53 pm ¶
Amina wrote:
I saw the movie Good Hair last week and thought it was a good attempt at creating a wider dialog about this subject. It’s true that it definitely could’ve gone much deeper into the subject but no one has ever really made a movie about black women and hair before. Hopefully, this movie will be the beginning of more talk, understanding and perhaps more documentaries about this subject. It has to start somewhere and I hope someone comes along and adds more information and input into American culture about this. But again, it has to start somewhere. I hope that instead of people consternating on what this movie didn’t have they feel inspired to add more to the topic.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 6:03 pm ¶
ashlynn wrote:
I figure that I’ll throw in today that I visited my 8-year old cousin, who has very soft, but short(not by choice) hair that tends to look matted in braids and have distinct “beady beads.” Her mother is thinking of perming it. She tells me that her hair is nappy, to which I say, “Okay, and? So is mine.” Then she tells me that her cousin has “Puerto Rican hair-” aka, straight, but gets that “nice curl” when wet, not nappy.Since she is a tough girl despite her shyness, I suggested to my cousin that she try a wash and go, with nice headbands and clips and hats to accentuate it. I think she is game for it, but I know her fear is that the boys in her school will pick on her…and the girls, by extension, will as well. It’s often the case that the oppressed seem to do all the dirty work themselves…
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 9:29 pm ¶
MoonCat wrote:
@ 35 deathblossom
“a lot of the girls I see with natural hair are VERY particular about other aspects of their appearance – in all other things besides their hair, their behavior and appearance is still very white, mainstream femme.”
could you elaborate? i’m not being snarky, just curious. i’d never heard this before. natural hair is white, mainstream femme?
is it like the idea or experience that ashlynn wrote about ~~superiority that ladies with natural hair have?
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 10:48 pm ¶
Moviegirl wrote:
I don’t have much to add except this: I’m glad the woman you used in your photo actually has hair that would mimic the natural state of many black women. All too often when I see women with natural hair or images of natural, it looks like Halle didn’t get the blowout or little Zahara or that girl from “The Craft”. Its disingenuous to use those women as the face of natural because most of us wouldn’t have hair like that if we went natural. That’s not to say that everyones hair would be as thick as the woman in the photo, it probably wouldn’t but the texture looks more on par with what I would expect to see, not Freddie from A Different World.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 11:35 pm ¶
Vina wrote:
@ Charlotte: I’m another white woman who has gotten the “like a black person’s” spiel because of the natural condition of my hair. It’s telling that it was never once meant as a compliment.
I did try to straighten my hair once. Two months smelling like chemicals, and the stylist told me if I wanted it to last longer I should go to an ‘ethnic’ hair salon.
Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 11:48 pm ¶
deathblossom wrote:
@Mooncat
No, not really. It’s part of what I find to be disingenuous about the selective pick of hair as the representation of what is natural for our race. Many women with natural hair still uphold mainstream, European notions of beauty in everything else besides their hair. It is present in the clothes they wear, their makeup, the manner in which they speak, how they carry themselves, and just everything else about them. So it’s not really about the superiority, but the hypocrisy present in a mantra about being rejecting white standards and being true to yourself. I mean, why are we drawing a line that basically says that your hair must accurately reflect your race regardless of the standards put upon it by other cultures, while other aspects of yourself are allowed to reflect the culture in which you live despite that culture being formulated by people who aren’t of your racial group?
Posted 04 Nov 2009 at 12:28 am ¶
n wrote:
@Moviegirl
ITA
The lack of images depicting that particular texture of black hair leads many women who go natural to despair when they can’t achieve the defined curled, totally symmetrical shiny look that they believe is typical of black hair. They think theirs (and others) is dry, brittle, matted,ungroomed and unkempt because they just don’t KNOW.
Posted 04 Nov 2009 at 10:29 am ¶
ACW wrote:
@ Dani (comment #41)
“blaming the ‘white media’ all the time is nonsense.”
“when black girls feel they must look a certain way to fit in … there is no one to blame but the parents.”
I would respectfully partially-disagree.
My thinking is in line with yours so far as believing that changing mindsets must come from within, and that parents must monitor cultural influences to the best of their abilities and help to shape a child’s self-image. However, when 295 of my 300 television channels are owned and operated by old white dudes, can we really say the media is blameless? We can limit or screen what *our* children watch, but then we send them off to school to sit in a classroom with thirty other children who *are* subjected to the barrage of images and stereotypes that are broadcast. I understand “Raise up a child in the way she should go…” and all, but at some point we recognize how powerful peer influence is.
@ Amina (comment #46)
I’m still on the fence about going to see this movie, but would categorize it like pizza (you know: even when it’s bad, it’s good?)… I agree with you: I’m glad the subject is being broached and hope it serves as a jumping-off point for bigger and better things.
Posted 05 Nov 2009 at 10:53 pm ¶
TeakLipstickFiend wrote:
I was interested in seeing the Chris Rock “documentary”, but was disturbed when I saw the trailer and it was described as a “comedy”. What, let’s all laugh about black women’s hair?
I agree with others who have said that there’s no “bad hair” only bad hair do’s and that “good hair” is healthy hair. I see so many women each day with bad do’s and unhealthy hair, all in the name of having “good hair”. For me, fake blonde is such an ugly colour. (If you’re going to dye your hair, why not make it interesting and do green or purple or blue?)
I was born with naturally blonde hair, which has darkened over the years. It’s basically straight, with a slight wave, and very fine. It’s not good enough for society, though. It’s too flat. I wash it every day because it gets greasy quickly and I blow dry it to try and give it some body, as well as using shampoos and sprays. It’s not blonde enough, but I draw the line at dying or highlighting my hair and have never done that, despite being “encouraged” to do so.
I’m not having a pity party here, because I know that’s nothing compared to using relaxers, etc. to get so-called “good hair”. But we should tell society to get stuffed, because it seems to me that no one has naturally “good hair” (and I’m referring to society’s definition of good hair).
I have a Japanese friend with beautiful, thick, straight black hair, who envies mine, I have a friend with naturally curly hair who straightens it because she thinks her hair is too frizzy.
I certainly have hair that I envy: black hair, red hair, short hair, curly hair, nappy hair, afros…but I am slowly becoming happy with my hair and with doing less and less with it.
@deathblossom
It was interesting that you brought up make-up, clothes, jewellery, etc. Just like women feeling they “have” to have their hair a certain way (which, as you point out, often comes from the white mainstream), women also feel they have to wear make-up, have to wear a suit, have to wear jewellery – and it goes on.
I now rarely wear make-up. I love make-up, it’s fun, but I don’t want to feel that I have to wear it, that I can’t leave the house without it. I don’t dress up for work (except for meetings or if I feel like it) and am lucky that I work somewhere that means I don’t have to dress up (and which also, from what I’ve seen, accepts natural black hair). I wear jewellery because I love it and also because it’s a great way to make plain clothes more interesting – but I don’t have to. I wear perfume because I like the smell.
I know it’s hard to say no to society’s ideals and it’s also easier for some of us to say no than for others. But I hope we can all try to do so in our own way, however small and help to change attitudes.
Posted 07 Nov 2009 at 6:54 am ¶
April wrote:
@deathblossom: co-sign!
It seriously irks me when black women who have chosen not to relax their hair try to present themselves as the supreme arbiters of blackness. By the way, this is why I appreciate this post, because Tami is most definitely NOT doing that. (I cannot say that for many previous posts Racialicious has had on this topic, however.) Guess what? The black women I’ve encountered who struggled most with their racial identity happened to have natural hairstyles. Equating hair with confidence in one’s racial identity is lazy and wrongheaded.
Posted 07 Nov 2009 at 3:54 pm ¶
DivergentDana wrote:
“If a person, or a group of people,have hair that grows and stands up and sticks out and isnt uniform and doesnt frame their face and can grow for a year and still look the same length, why must that be remedied? why is that not acceptable as it is?”
Because for many people and cultures, long hair is inextricably linked with a higher level of femininity, and the reputation that black women have for having short hair compared to other groups is seen as “proof” of their deficient womanliness, both inside and outside of the black community. For some women, “embracing” shrinkage would be the equivalent of “throwing in the towel”, accepting the reputation and all of its connotations, and everybody’s not ready to do that, even after they’ve gone natural. Also, men seem to prefer longer-appearing hair on women, and straight women care about that kind of thing, for better or for worse.
“It’s anecdota, but a lot of the girls I see with natural hair are VERY particular about other aspects of their appearance – in all other things besides their hair, their behavior and appearance is still very white, mainstream femme. ”
Because of the aforementioned connotations, some naturals may feel the desire or need to “overcompensate” with other feminine accouterments, especially since among some, natural hair is associated with “butch” women and “aggressives.” Also, natural hair is an emerging class marker, and some may indeed see it as a way to visibly differentiate themselves from “that other kind of black person”. It may be an expression of a rejection of Eurocentric beauty standards and mainstream cultural norms, but on the other hand, for some, it may signal a dogged adherence to them… I’ve heard women speak of seeing the seemingly simpler/more mainstream hair rituals of their non-black friends/relatives/room mates and wanting to mimic them by also having “wash and go” hair and wearing it in its natural state, even if the result ends up looking more aesthetically different from non-black women than straightened or weaved hair. Other women go natural for the primary purpose of obtaining a hair length that’s equal to the non-black female average and in line with mainstream standards.
Posted 08 Nov 2009 at 1:41 am ¶
Happy n Nappy wrote:
I viewed some of Chris Rock’s Good Hair and I understand that to make an attempt at universal appeal some sacrifices on depth had to be made. Overall I think that it’s a step in the right direction. Chris Rock was not the first and he will not be the last use film to talk about black hair. I did feel like many of the points in the movie fell flat because they were breezed over. On the controversy around natural hair, I did like that one actress said that she found it odd that choosing to wear the hair that grows out of her head is politicized. I feel the same way. i am often looked at as being political some how if I don’t have a weave in or a wig on. I love what my own hair can be and I also love that i have the choice to style it with extensions if I so choose.
Posted 08 Nov 2009 at 11:54 pm ¶
Stef wrote:
John John, my husband is from Trinidad (a non-African country with a sizable population of African descendants, as you were wondering about), and he has told me that growing up there (in the 1980’s), there did not seem to be the same sort of hullabaloo over omen’s hair as there is here, and that natural, short hairstyles were very prevalent and accepted everywhere. So there is one non-American person’s different perspective.
Despite having moved to USA with his family 20 years ago, he says he can’t really relate to the great hair debate that takes place among many American blacks. Perhaps this is due to him being a guy, though. Perhaps as a man, there is not so much pressure over hair, although he also bucks our local prevailing trends for black men’s hairstyles, so maybe he’s just good at shutting out the rest of the world’s opinions…lol. I do notice that his sisters have worn a wide variety of styles (straightened, permed, weaved, braided, dreaded up, etc.). Their daughters are usually relaxed and braided, but my husbands aunts mostly (if not all) have natural styles.
If we ever had kids (they’d be multiracial), my plan would most likely be to see what their texture ended up being and just figure out how to work with it as is, and if they wanted to do anything beyond that when they were teenagers, that’d be their decision to make (however I do not ever forsee me spending hundreds of dollars on a child’s hairstyle). I love “wild and free” (like I had) hair on kids, so long as it is clean, healthy, loved, and cared for.
Posted 09 Nov 2009 at 3:14 am ¶
Stef wrote:
*women’s hair, not omen’s hair
Posted 09 Nov 2009 at 3:16 am ¶
selah wrote:
I definitely agree with all that you are stating. my grandmother told me at the age of five, that unlike my mother, who is light-skinned and had straighter hair, i had a “bad grade of hair.” This is a very good blog and I will be linking it to my own site! However, I did the natural hair all throughout college…and the truth is the fro is just so hard to maintain for me!!! so i have gone to relaxers. but another reason why i myself cant do the fro anymore is because the style in itself isn’t noticeably feminine. i am aware that this is a statement based on gendered stereotypes, but the afro for the male and the afro for the female are in a sense genderless. there is nothing different between the two. dreads and cornrows and the like can be differentiated through beads, bows, ribbons, designs, etc. but thats why i had to let the afro go. i didnt want the same hairstyle as my boyfriend. and no that is not the same as a crew cut and a pixie hair cut. what can i say, im a girly girl. but great blog!!
Posted 09 Nov 2009 at 4:27 pm ¶