Kicked out of school, banned, criticized, punished, ridiculed, rejected from jobs. These are some of the things black women and men are tired of dealing with. Why, you ask? Hair. A simple thing that grows from our head.
Titles like "inappropriate" "unprofessional" "non-conventional " "untidy" and "ghetto" have been used to label natural hairstyles like afros, braids, cornrows, and dreadlocks that have been banned in many schools and work places.
These hairstyles are usually punished and discriminated against along with turbans, hair scarves, bonnets, hijabs, and durags. This is...until it becomes a trend. Whether it's big lips, dark skin, durags, or box braids, the trends of this world will always be something I hate. The same dark skin beauty that was bullied now has to face the girls who bullied her as they tan their skin.
Can you imagine if straight hair was banned at schools? Hairstyles are being banned at schools while many students are starving or failing because of unknown mental disabilities or bullying. When people say that black girls are "appropriating European culture" when they have blond hair or straight hair wigs, think of the black people with natural hair being banned and also know that black people can have naturally blond hair. Blond hair is genetic not cultural. Changing hair color or wearing a wig of a different color is not cultural appropriation. Some black women wear wigs because it's easier to take care of and others wear it because their natural hair would literally get them fired or banned from schools. (Look at the entertainment industry for example, school hair bans, and work bans.)
At "Boarding schools" in America and Canada Indigenous students had their heads shaved to fit into the white society.
Native man before and after cultural erasure at "boarding school".
Braiding Rice Seeds Into Hair, As Taught By Descendants of West African Slaves, the Maroons
Many curly and coily haired people straightened their hair to fit in better. Of course, straightening your hair isn't always about impressing people or fitting in but you get me, right? I still remember straightening my hair to fit in and not be criticized by my classmates who had a clear, vocal dislike for my natural hair. We "fixed" our hair to conform with society. The same society that tells us to be our self but only if we are the way they want us to be. There is no such thing as good hair. No hair texture is superior to the others.
During the years leading up to the abolition slavery, many black women wanted to straighten their hair, as “good hair” was considered to be straight. They often used dangerous chemicals, such as lye mixed with potato. The notion “good hair” was fortified by house slaves or free blacks, who frequently had straight hair because they were at least partially white. However, the good fortune of these people was not often due to their looks but rather to the help they received from their white relatives. Credit: https://blackthen.com/you-cant-take-our-crowns-the-impact-of-slavery-on-black-womens-hair/
If a black person wearing a durag to protect their hair is "ghetto" one second then a trend with non black people the next then why should we care what popular society says?
Popular society tries to throw stereotypes and hatred together to tell us how we should be or why we're not as good as others. This is why you should just say f society and surround yourself with companies, media, people, and products that support you and your likes. (example: many companies sell skin bleaching products overseas, we can start finding alternatives for those.) We can also start hyping up/ supporting companies with better representation of and products for people of color. (A lot of "natural hair" products for black women are actually really toxic and not made by or for us.)
Slaves used braids to make a map to help them escape.
Because of the cultural and spiritual importance of hair for Africans, the practice of having their heads involuntarily shaved before being sold as slaves was in itself a dehumanizing act.
The hair that we were born with is not a sin yet so many will always hate on it. Take the tignon law as an example. In New Orleans 1786 creole women of color were targeted out of jealously and had to cover up their hair with scarves or a tignon.
Cultural appropriation especially in pop culture magazines, music videos and on runways is also a serious topic for later.
So what I'm trying to say is, Black people's hair is part of our culture and natural hair is beautiful in all lengths and forms. Curly, coily, straight, weave/wig, bald, sew in, long, undefined. No race of people are a monolith. We don't have to look a certain way to fit in with anyone. 4c hair, black people, dark skin people, Indigenous people, and poc representations is important but so rare.
Olympics banned natural hair swim caps
natural hair discrimination in schools and work places
