As a woman of color, I prefer to relax my hair. Yes relaxing your hair can be very damaging but what isn't damaging to the hair these days?! I've been receiving relaxers on my hair since I was about six or seven years old, it's just easier for me to manage it when it is relaxed. I relax my hair because I like the way it looks and feels. I do NOT, however, relax my hair to fit the standards of the society in which we live in. For a long time and especially recently, woman in the African American community have been blasted for choosing to relax their hair. Some have said that we aren't satisfied with how God made us, and that we just want to 'fit in' and be what everyone else is. These statements upset me so much! To add insult to injury, the 'people' who are making these comments are African American men! Really? Are we seriously dissing the 'Sistas' over our hair? When we don't have our perms we're nappy headed, but when we do get perms we're ashamed of our heritage? I'm not too sure how this works! I don't think a perm is any different than woman going to get plastic surgery, a boob job, nose job or whatever. Obviously they want to enhance their beauty, a perm is no different. I actually think a perm is less severe because it doesn't physically change or alter a part of your body, just a new hair style.
This is just my take on it, as I said before...I'm perfectly fine with getting my hair relaxed. But what does bother me is that there are women and young girls who struggle with not having 'good hair'. Initially, I didn't think it was such a strong issue, maybe because I'm content, but there are layers and layers of reasons why women want perms. Here is a clip from The Tyra Bank show when she focused on the isse of 'good hair', she even wore her hair in cornrolls (braids)!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeXUm8OOUA8
So do we relax our hair because it's the closest we will get to having 'good hair'? Well with all the debate of the relaxers comes the question of what exactly is 'good hair'? Many people have a different opinions of what it means to have 'good hair'. Growing up, it was the assumption that someone who had good hair was mixed or Caucasian. I'm not mixed...or Caucasian...or any other race but I think I have a good grade of hair, its lengthy (having length in the African American community is huge!) and most of the time its easy to manage. Comedian Chris Rock has put his own take on relaxers and what it means to have 'good hair' in a new film entitled 'Good Hair'. He researched for this film for twon years after his 4-year old daughter came to him and asked 'Daddy, why don't I have 'good hair'? by the looks of the preview this is something I definitely want to see! Here's the trailor:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu7ID4Vz6-E
This is just my take on it, as I said before...I'm perfectly fine with getting my hair relaxed. But what does bother me is that there are women and young girls who struggle with not having 'good hair'. Initially, I didn't think it was such a strong issue, maybe because I'm content, but there are layers and layers of reasons why women want perms. Here is a clip from The Tyra Bank show when she focused on the isse of 'good hair', she even wore her hair in cornrolls (braids)!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeXUm8OOUA8
So do we relax our hair because it's the closest we will get to having 'good hair'? Well with all the debate of the relaxers comes the question of what exactly is 'good hair'? Many people have a different opinions of what it means to have 'good hair'. Growing up, it was the assumption that someone who had good hair was mixed or Caucasian. I'm not mixed...or Caucasian...or any other race but I think I have a good grade of hair, its lengthy (having length in the African American community is huge!) and most of the time its easy to manage. Comedian Chris Rock has put his own take on relaxers and what it means to have 'good hair' in a new film entitled 'Good Hair'. He researched for this film for twon years after his 4-year old daughter came to him and asked 'Daddy, why don't I have 'good hair'? by the looks of the preview this is something I definitely want to see! Here's the trailor:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu7ID4Vz6-E
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