It's Just Hair!

Hair- the threadlike strands that grow from skin. It’s one of the defining characteristics of mammals. It can be used for warmth, protection and aesthetics.

So why is it that among the Black community hair has almost become a political statement? Black Hair and beauty entrepreneur Debrose Searchwell claims that Black women are too artificial citing weaves and relaxers as the reason for this. She along with many other women claim that chemically straightening your hair and wearing weaves (of any style or texture) is a denial of your roots and a shunning of your so-called “Blackness”.

Many women across America and the UK are embracing their “natural hair”, as in leaving the hair to grow in its natural state with no chemical enhancements; you only need look at the many YouTube videos that show women performing a big chop on their previously relaxed hair. These sisters are often commended and applauded for their “bravery” of going against society’s Euro-centric view of beauty. “Going natural” is seen as a sign of accepting one’s “Black beauty”.

Business woman Debrose Searchwell: "Many Black women look artificial!"

I am one of the sisters that applaud those who go natural but I am also one of the women that will compliment a girl when she has a nice weave. Why? Because I would like to believe that Black women are more than just their hair. In this world where looks are HIGHLY regarded Black women are their own worst enemy. Not because they choose to chemically change their hair texture, or because they choose to add length through extensions but because it is almost as if we have used hair to divide a community that should stand united. Let’s face it with psychologists who claim that Black women are the least attractive, music videos filled with every other race BUT Black women, and even Black men who won’t date Black women (yes I’m talking to you Kanye West) it seems foolish to join the rest of the world in berating ourselves.

If Black women are seen as “artificial” because they chemically enhance their hair what about the White, Asian and Latinos who perm or dye their hair are they also denying their race because they are changing the natural state of their hair? Do people not just regard this as personal preference? So why does it have to be any different for Black women?

Clockwise- Janelle Monae, Solange Knowles, Meagan  Good, Gabrielle Union.
Are any of these women more "Black" than the other?

There is more to a Black woman than her hair. Why are we reducing are value to what the state of our hair is, when women of other races don’t even bat an eyelid? If you want wear your Afro than go for it. If you want to wear a long, bum-length, blonde weave than be my guest. As India Arie so rightly sang “I am not my hair, I am not this skin.”