Overthe past several years, the natural hair “movement” as some like to call it has gained more and more participants. While this may be cause for exuberance and delight, simultaneously it has also gained more and more scrutiny. It seems as if the quest to diminish and degrade our essential #BlackGirlMagic has been centralized recently on the way in which we choose to wear our hair. In an article written by Jill Nelson, she described her challenges with finding someone who looked like her in mainstream media outlets. She talked about her frustration and inquisitiveness as she continually saw the words “beautiful, healthy, gorgeous, clean” almost always in association with pictures of white women with hair flowing down their back and their wavy locs swaying in the wind. It was in stark contrast with what she saw in the mirror: curly, kinky, hair that decided to grow up instead of down.

A quick internet search on professional hairstyles and unprofessional hairstyles show just how dominant Eurocentric beauty ideals are. What you will find are mostly buns, some low ponytails or chignon lookalikes, and only a handful of black natural hairstyles. However if you search for inappropriate hairstyles the results are vastly different. For most black women, myself included, our hair does not grow down. It grows up and out like flower in a garden. However because it is in blatant contrast to the norms of our society, many women choose to change their natural hair texture entirely through the use of perms or choose to cover it up with the use of hair extensions, weaves and wigs. Is this a ploy to try to emulate whiteness or is this a necessary skill to advance socially? Arguably, it could go both ways. However, when the way your hair grows naturally becomes the source of public ridicule, backlash, and discrimination by being touted as "a distraction," "inappropriate," and “unkempt” both in the workplace and the school system, I would argue the latter and not the former. The pressure to try to fit in with beauty ideals of Eurocentrism often gets so heavy that refusal to do so is often seen as deviant behavior and is sometimes punishable by suspension, expulsion and the outright banning of culturally significant hairstyles.

In 2013, just 4 years ago, a 12-year-old girl from Florida faced the threat of expulsion if she did not cut her natural hair. That same year, an Ohio charter school attempted to ban “afro puffs and small twisted braids.” In 2015, a male student was kicked out of school for wearing dreadlocks. These ideals also found themselves front and center at the 2015 Academy Awards when Disney channel star Zendaya came under fire from a celebrity fashion critic for her choice to wear dreadlocks. The critic made the statement that Zendaya “must smell like patchouli oil or weed." Could it be then, that Eurocentric beauty ideals have been institutionalized and deeply ingrained within the very fiber of our society? Is it so then, that white-washed standards and ideals are the default settings and that anyone who doesn’t conform is seen as a renegade or a deviant? On the micro-scale, these ideals and the affects they have can literally alter the well-being of a person’s life (loss of education, missed job opportunities, etc.)

Overall one might say that these ideals, while seemingly harmless, have the potential to lay the foundation for a misguided self-perception when it comes to black women. They carry biases and beliefs that not only adversely affect the public perception of black women but also the inner perception as well. Because that influence is so vast, it has the ability to negatively alter black women’s self-worth and value. Being torn between living in an environment where you’re told your black is beautiful, all while being exposed to images and subliminal messages that tell you that lighter and brighter is the way to go gives place a psychological phenomenon known as cognitive dissonance. These ideals also give way to a form of dissonance that resonates with the feelings of pride in who you are and where you come from as an African-American, but also feelings of confusion and the longing to be accepted in a society that is systemically setup for your demise. The “problem” with natural hair is that people view it as one. The problem is not the hair itself; it is people’s lack of knowledge and non-embracement of diversity amongst different ethnicities. It’s obvious that African Americans are different from other cultures. One of the things that helps differentiate us is our hair. It stands out sometimes, both figuratively and literally.

Black women who wear their hair the way it naturally grows have chosen not to conform to certain standards of beauty that say blonde and straight are what is most desirable and beautiful. We have along history that didn’t just start with slavery. One of the things that we feel connects us to that history is our natural hair. Since our origins and stories pre-slavery weren’t taught in school, we have to rely on self-education for a sense of validation and knowing. The re-ignition of the embracement and pride of natural hair is something that should be applauded and even commended, especially given the ever growing pressure to not appear “too black” indifferent socioeconomic spaces. While I’m not here to persuade anyone to go natural,I challenge you to see people with natural hair for whom they are and judge them based off the content of their character and not the kinks in their curls.

Shanelle H.

Writing since January 2017 · 4 stories contributed