Okay, so it has been a great past week! And I am looking forward to an even better week ahead. But all week, I could not shake that feeling I had to write about this controversial issue of how black women are supposed to present their hair. There seems to be this unscripted undocumented rule about how women with ethnic hair should carry their hair in public. This year to me, has been remarkably significant in black female hair history, especially since Lupita Nyong'o won the Academy Award for Best Support Actress, so much buzz around the standards of African Beauty has been on the news.
Only a few weeks ago, I read about the story of Rhonda Lee, a meteorologist who worked for , who defended her natural hair on the TV station's Facebook page, and got fired for it. This is not the first incedent of its kind.
The Rhonda Lee case is just one of the many controversial debates we have seen in the natural african hair community.
Only a few weeks ago, I read about the story of Rhonda Lee, a meteorologist who worked for , who defended her natural hair on the TV station's Facebook page, and got fired for it. This is not the first incedent of its kind.
The Rhonda Lee case is just one of the many controversial debates we have seen in the natural african hair community.
A young student, Vanessa VanDyke, was asked to choose between her natural African-American hair or getting expelled from school. One will think that the ordinary person on the street was subject to these criticisms, mainly because they were, well, ordinary people.
But even celebrities are not exempt from societies scrutiny around African-textured hair. Beyonce herself, also came under heat, when change.org petitioned Beyonce to comb daughter, Ivy blue's hair. In addition, the US military were criticized fro banning twists and other natural hair styles. Now having looked at so many of the controversies in the natural hair community, I feel like my thoughts can be summed up in three simple points:
1> Every human, woman or man, regardless of race, should take time out to groom themselves. I really do not think race has anything to do with it.
2>The do's and dont's that exist when it comes to how to rock your natural hair exist only because we let society determine how we should look. While many women are scared to wear their natural hair to work or at corporate functions, others seek approval from external sources because they fear criticism. For every time a person does something that society finds unusual, there are bound to be critiques. What matters is how we as African women respond to those criticism and bounce back from them. I really do not feel like we need to throw our hands up in the air, every time people ask, is that your real hair? I really think we spend a lot of time talking about the critiques instead of focusing on other things, like building ourselves.
3>As much as I hate to admit it, we all judge books by their covers. In the same way, people will judge based on how you look. But whether we are being judged does not matter, its how we see ourselves that matters. Look in the mirror and see a beautiful you. A strong, empowered woman.
Love,
One natural hair lover.
xx
Love,
One natural hair lover.
xx