Saturday, September 7, 2013

EDITORIAL: Hair and Natural Beauty Words By Danielle Percy


A school sends out a dress code banning afro puffs & twists then rescinds it with a confused apology. A black comedian blasts a white mom of a mixed race child for cherishing her son's "nappy" hair and later issues a heartfelt apology. A little princess named Tiana is harassed to the point that her father feels the need to pull her out of a school whose policy bans dreadlocks & afros, a policy that their black principal (with a twist-out weave) publicly defends. Yet people don't understand why hair issues strike such a deep chord with Black women especially. It's more than just aesthetics. It's about being made to feel like you are somehow wrong or not good enough as a person unless you go to great lengths to alter yourself to fit a beauty standard that is not natural for you. & it's not even to be considered pretty or attractive, it's just to be considered acceptable/tolerable. That's why I constantly beat the drum with my child of how beautiful her hair is because I know that she is bombarded daily with messages both direct & indirect that the more she is able to conform to a European beauty standard the better. & I understand that when she gets older she may decide to wear her hair any given number of ways, I just want to provide a balance for her to be able to make those decisions but it's not easy to do that when we receive so many opposing messages on such a consistent basis.
 
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