Imperious Entertainment

I only know a handful of black women who wear their hair natural. And I am inclusive of that number.  I recently read Assata Shakur’s autobiography, and I think she is right on point when she writes about black hair. She writes:

“When you go through all your life processing and abusing your hair so it will look like the hair of another race of people, then you are making a statement and that statement is clear…Maybe in another time, when everybody is equal and free, it wont matter how anybody wears their hair or dresses or looks. Then there will not be any oppressors to mimic or avoid mimicking. But right now I think it’s important for us to look and feel like strong, proud Black men and women who are looking toward Africa for guidance”.

Those words are very important and very true. In a country where blacks are being oppressed and kept enslaved still in the year 2007, where black is looked at as inferior and ugly, image is everything. The way a black person carries oneself on the outside lets us know how that person feels about being black in the inside.

For over 20 years I straightened my hair. First by relaxing it, because it was “too thick” (read too nappy/black) to manage. When I became a teenager I stopped relaxing my hair and just made sure I was in the hair salon every two weeks to get my hair blown out straight. Long, straight hair. That’s what every black woman is aiming for. And that’s what I had.

Sometime between sophomore year of my undergraduate studies and being really turned on by black studies, I was enlightened. Not only did I not want to look like every other black woman that was around me, but I realized how psychologically damaging straightening my hair was. Why did I feel like my own hair was not good enough? So I stopped flat ironing my hair, and have been sporting what I call a curly fro ever since. I have gotten many compliments but of course I have also got the countless, “You look really beautiful with your hair straight” and “You should straighten your hair, it looks hot like that”.  As if I looked like some grotesque moron with my hair in an afro. Comments like those were all made from black men, many times black men that I was dating at the time.  Comments like the one’s I received turn off other black women from going natural.  We must stop affirming white ideals of beauty to start fixing our low self esteem.

Comments (7)

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written by Looki , August 24, 2007

I'm sorry but i must respectively disagree with your views. While there was once a point where the closer you were to white the more beautiful you were. While the effects of this type of thinking still exists the future is bright for ethnics views of beauty. Although Halle Berry is the product of a interracial relationship 30 years ago she would have never been consider the most beautiful person in America, a title that People bestowed on her that few questioned. Further Beyonce topped countless Men's magazines as the most Beautiful woman in America, including AskMen.com, and Maxim. While both of these women are fair skinned and have permed hair it would be ignorant and erroneous to not consider this as an advancement on America’s conception of beauty. The full figured women that many people associate with black beauty is becoming more and more popular. Further would be hard pressed to find a top ten most beautiful list that is not adorned with ethnicities from all over the globe. While it is true that African Americans have endured a history of being considered unattractive and still face residual effects from this treatment, tall, thin blonde hair, and blue eyes are no longer the aesthetic measuring sticks. Further black women are not the only ones that drastically alter their appearance to appeal societal norms. White women tan and dye their hair on a regular basis, and they also perm their hair. There will always be an issue with people finding beauty within themselves and it has existed as longs as the world has. African Americans have usually had to deal with a society not only dominated with one form of beauty but with a national sentiment that they are natural unattractive. In today's society the media is not dominated by one form of beauty nor is there a sentiment that black people are ugly, there is still work much work to do on our self image but the future looks bright.

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written by EscapeArtist , August 24, 2007

You are absoutely right here... it has gotten to a point that women have been conditioned to believe that beauty is light, bright, blue eyes, and so on.. Even their conditioning has been conditioned to make them believe that it is not taking any effect on them (i.e.... the above comment to a point)..

As a black man, I love a woman with the confidence to wear their hair the way Gof and their mother gave it to them.. I'm not going to say that all beauty products should be burned or anything like that.. it might be a little too drastic, but I am a staunch avdocate of the using products for the ACCENTUATION of the beauty that a woman already has.. and not sending out her REPRESENTATIVE to face the world instead of her.

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written by dominiquef , August 24, 2007

Your blog is so real. I have a perm, always have, but I still agree with everything you are saying. I am sure that many people, mostly women who perm thier hair will disagree with you. But the first comment is a definite illustration of the conditioning and the mental slavery. Of course Beyonce is voted as the best looking woman. She is as close to white without being white as it gets. Jasmin, you are brave for this. I bet you will get many dissaprovals. But once again, mind controlling. I wish I was brave enough to let go of the perm, I really do. But I'm not, and my corporate job is not ready for it either! Good article

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written by Looki , August 24, 2007

First of all i am not suffering from any forms of mental slavery. You obviously misunderstand the comment. I first agreed that blacks have been affected by a society who has taught us that we were ugly but i further went on to say that society has shown some progress in its ideas of beauty espeacilly since the 1960. We are a minority in this society we have as much of a chance of being the ideal beauty in America as an Asain being the ideal beauty in Ghana. All this to say that beauty is subjective and we all are effected by the images that society puts before us. This exist in all cultures not just America. I realize full well that Blacks have faced more discrimantion than any other group of peoples on Earth espeacily in refrence to beauty, but all we can ask society to do now is to support a diverse view of beauty. While today's view of beauty is not ideally diverse it has shown substantial progress unlike other areas in our society (education/class/wealth). Believing yourself to be beautiful is on of the first step in self realization but so is how you define that beauty. The focus should be on defining beauty on more than just your appearnce. To some extent society's view of beauty will always exclude people we all can't be six foot and women you all can't weigh 115 pounds but as long as we push society to show more diverse views of beauty we will all end up better in the long run.
As a side note if you cant notice the accomplishment of a black women being declared more beautiful then any white women on earth by white men i doubt you will recongnize many accomplishments by our people. I guess Barack Obama is only an acceptable black candidate because he is half white.

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written by stephb , August 24, 2007

I am torn. The article is interesting. So are the above comments. Either way, it is good you got a dialogue opened.

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written by krfskag , August 28, 2007

Hello. Yes I Jasmin the writer's roomate in Spain. I am from Germany. She told me look at this website. I do not know many things about the African American woman but a question then, Why do African American Women straighten thier hair then?

Thank you

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written by zamaih , October 05, 2007

I agree with everything you have said and believe your points are valid, but I must say that I don't necessarily equate wearing your hair natural with being "conscious" or "afrocentric." (I will use the term afrocentric a lot for lack of a better term.) I love being black, and everything about black people. Always have and always will. I was raised to love myself and the idea of blackness. My dad NEVER used to let me straighten my hair, play with white dolls, wear colored contacts (You know when everyone was trying to wear them after lil kim) And i am SO happy he raised me this way. Africa was a place that was like a heaven to me and I just always truly felt lucky to be black. I still do...Now with that being said, eventually I did straighten my hair (my dad lightened up). But I wore braids for the majority of my high school and college career. Now I wear my hair straight and am at the shop every 2 weeks, religiously! Do I feel any differently about being black? NO. Do I want to look white or like a white person? HELL NO. So while i believe that straightening your hair can be damaging to a black women and perpetuate self hate, I don't think that's the case for all women who straighten their hair. Well at least it isn't for me. And conversly I don't think because someone wears their hair natural makes them "down for the cause." What matters are your actions and how you contribute to bettering the black community. And if you do that with a perm or a weave? More power to you, you're still getting the job done.

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