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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