Black Hair

 

There is a lot of tension in the Black community around issues and opinions on hair. I noticed early on in my life that there is a stigma associated with women who wear hair extensions. By definition found on m-w.com, a 'stigma' is an identifying mark or characteristic - your brand essentially. Most women would agree that hair is an important part of our appearance; hair is our identifying mark. Black women are known to have exceptionally ‘high maintenance hair’ requiring frequent visits to a hair stylist. The controversy is around Black women wearing hair extensions and straightening their hair versus natural and not straightened.

Some people believe that wearing hair weaves and wigs or somehow altering the hairs natural texture is a form of self-hate. Asian and European nationalities have straight hair and Black hair is in the curly to kinky texture range. To some, false hair is associated with fakeness and comes off like the wearer is pretending to be something else. By not wearing your hair natural it sends the message that your natural hair is inferior, but I disagree. There is a long history of women and even men from all backgrounds that have worn wigs and changed the ‘natural’ color of their hair. Our hair is a statement of our personality. Hair is important to all women regardless of race.

We come in contact with hair advertisements for all races on television, on the radio, and in magazines every day. I have always been experimental when it came to my hair. I wear braids, twists, straightened, extensions, different styles, and different textures. But I have noticed in the media that there is a lack of representation of Black women who wear natural styles, such as locks and afros. Most of the Black women you see on television wear weaves. I can agree that long straight hair is a symbol of beauty in our society but natural African hair is beautiful as well. I would love to see both hair perspectives represented equally in the media to help erase this stigma.