Black Hair

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Choosing My Many Selves

“Ion know, but they say my attitude change every time I change my weave.” – City Girls.

That’s how I feel every time I look at myself in the mirror and I have my new hair in. I feel like a different version of me.

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I have loose curls that make me feel more island and tropical, and I wear that when the weather’s nice, or I have my straight hair that I wear in the winter, and I just comb it with my fingers and you can’t tell me anything. Being East African as well, a lot of people can’t really pinpoint where you’re from, so I get lots of different assumptions as to what my ethnicity can be. It’s a mini version of what happened to Adichie with her roommate. My identity isn’t consistent. Every day when I wake up, I choose which layer of me to identify with most, depending on my mood and how I feel.

In “The Danger of a Single Story,” Adichie talks about how a single story is when people reduce someone to one narrative. Her roommate pitied her, was surprised by her English, and assumed she couldn’t use a stove. She also admits she held a single story herself about Fide’s family, who she only saw as poor, until she saw the basket his brother made. Her identity is multi-layered. I picture her as your African auntie one day, and your award-winning, very educated writer another day. It doesn’t mean she can’t be both.

I found hair to be a perfect example, because as a Black woman, changing your hair gives you a certain confidence, and it softens or toughens up your appearance. You could go for something bold and eye-catching, or something so people just don’t look at you. When you look in the mirror you can decide, “I want to wear this hair with this outfit, and I want to give off this vibe,” or I could do something else. The difference is that I’m choosing my many selves. At moments, Adichie and MJ had one self chosen for them, until they took the narrative back. But I can’t control how other people read me. Whether my hair is curly or straight, people still guess at my ethnicity, and Adichie’s point is that whoever has the power decides which story sticks.

In “Namesake,” MJ’s experience of people judging their identity shows how harmful it can be when others decide how you’re allowed to express yourself. For MJ, it wasn’t about being a tomboy and not being a girl or a guy. They were themselves. That is how they wanted to dress, that is how they wanted to carry themselves. It didn’t have to be about gender until people made it about that. MJ didn’t realize they were an “it” until other people defined them that way. MJ’s partner was the one who was pregnant, and MJ chose the name “baba” for their role. Just because they didn’t conform to gender norms doesn’t mean that they can’t be a parent as well. Is parenthood limited to a woman and a man?

I don’t mean to complicate hair, but I probably overcomplicated it on purpose. You could be whoever you want, as long as you’re the one choosing. Making identity a bigger deal than what it is might stress my hair stylist out, because I like to change my identity every day. So the next time I change my hair, I might be a little ruder. Watch out for that. How do you feel when other people decide who you are instead of you?

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“I Liked Your Hair Better Straight”

tumblr_n7r6vgKPpR1t6dcj7o1_500.jpgI’m getting tired of hearing that….

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Viola Davis: Oscar Loss, Natural Hair Win

Viola Davis, an award winning black actress, recently starred in the movie The Help. At the 2012 Oscars, Viola appeared on the Red Carpet glowing and debuting her natural hair. The media, of course, made this a into a huge story. When asked what made her decide to wear her natural hair to the Oscars, she stated that h

er husband encouraged her to do so.

I believe that Viola Davis was radiant and confident that night. She was absolutely beautiful. Many black women and young girls appreciated seeing natural hair on the red carpet. Wendy Williams, radio talk show host turned television host, did not feel the same way. On her self titled talk show, Wendy Williams insinuated that the Davis’ TWA (teeny weeny afro) made her look mannish, like the history teacher in the 70’s sitcom “Room 222”. At another time, Williams stated that Davis’ hair was just not professional. Many black women were appalled at her statements. They felt that Williams was attacking black women. As you can see in the picture on the left, Davis display of natural beauty was inspirational to black women and girls; and, Williams blatantly shot it down on national television to an audience who probably does not understand natural black hair to begin with.

Black hair has so much politics attached to it. In the past, black women have felt restricted by white beauty standards of straight or wavy hair that is often unnatural to them. I, like many others, am appalled that a black woman would scorn another black woman for displaying her natural beauty. “Natural” hair is our hair. Kinky, curly, wavy, coarse, whatever, it is our hair. I am encouraged by the fact that so many black women have decided to transgress white beauty standards and free themselves from chemical relaxers, letting their own unique beauty shine. Viola Davis certainly took a stand at the Oscars and became even more of an inspiration to black women.

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What determines the beauty of the African American Female

It is surprising to me that people believe that the beauty behind an African-American women is the straightness of their hair. not their beautiful complexion, the figure God gave to them or the way we carry ourselves but our hair. Black women today say the straighter the better, but why not the healthier  the hair better. African-Americans are putting many chemicals in their hair to straighten it so they can try to come close to the women of the opposite races or whites.

Actor Chris Rock featured a documentary called Good Hair to ask the African-American Population what they consider good hair. He interviewed many African-American female actors to give this definition on what they feel. Many of them responded “the straighter the better”. To them if it’s not straight then it is an embarrassment to them. when watching that movie all I could notice was that many of those women were not even wearing their own hair, many if not all were wearing weaves-an attachment pieces to the head that is sown in after real hair is hidden away in braids. How can these women know what African-American beauty is when they don’t show it.

The term that many African-American use for their hair care products that would straighten their hair is called “Hair Crack” or relaxer the reason why this chemical is called Hair Crack is because once you use it once your natural beauty is gone and you must continue to use it to keep hair from being damaged. one thing that really disturbs me with the using of these chemicals is that children as young as six get these relaxers, destroying their hair because mothers think that their natural-born hair is not acceptable and ugly and will make their daughter’s beauty suffer. When watching Good Hair, Chris Rock talked to a little girl while getting her hair done and asked her why does she need a relaxer, she says that it makes her look pretty. What are we teaching our young daughter that without a relaxer our young female are ugly and are not as pretty as our white women and daughters and the only way to look like them, beautiful we must put chemicals in our hair to become them.

In conclusion black women should not be judged and classified as beautiful because of how straight their hair is but the inside. Yes, African-American women are known for their hair but the natural beauty of it, the way it grows, and the way women have used the natural beauty to pave the way for the daughter of African-American decent to look at themselves in the mirror and this of themselves as beautiful even though their hair isn’t straight or looks like the opposite race. just knowing that if a young black woman look in the mirror with their natural hair and say that they are beautiful and will not be tempted to change it because it doesn’t fit society and what they think is beautiful. Be confident in your natural beauty and one should let no one to tell you otherwise.