Friday, February 13, 2009
Curls of All Cultures
One of the first things I learned about being natural is that society seems to go to war with women who have textured hair -- no matter what their ethnicity.
I observed this mostly by reading the boards at NaturallyCurly.com. Black, white, or Latina, many women have stories of friends, family members, even boyfriends and husbands outright rejecting their curly, coily, or kinky hair. (Don't get them started on makeover shows that straighten every wave within in sight. Those ladies will go off. Lol.)
The realization was only cemented while I was browsing threw Latina magazine's website a few months back. (Sidebar: THE. BEST. mag for twenty- and thirty-something women. And I'm not Latina. But more on that later.) I saw a picture of twins, one with this amazing, glossy, sky-high hair. (I mean, look at her. She's fly, right?)And then I read...
Ugh! The nerve, right? But reading experiences like this make me remember that many battles are common; many struggles are the same. Which makes it all the more important for us to keep affirming women of all walks and races and their textured hair.
Sure, our curls come in difference shapes, colors and sizes. But the truth is... we're all in this together.
:o)
I observed this mostly by reading the boards at NaturallyCurly.com. Black, white, or Latina, many women have stories of friends, family members, even boyfriends and husbands outright rejecting their curly, coily, or kinky hair. (Don't get them started on makeover shows that straighten every wave within in sight. Those ladies will go off. Lol.)
The realization was only cemented while I was browsing threw Latina magazine's website a few months back. (Sidebar: THE. BEST. mag for twenty- and thirty-something women. And I'm not Latina. But more on that later.) I saw a picture of twins, one with this amazing, glossy, sky-high hair. (I mean, look at her. She's fly, right?)And then I read...To look extra fly for her cousin's wedding, Mariel Concepcion decided to put a little oomph in her hairdo. The gorgeous, 28-year-old associate editor of Dominican descent normally wears it naturally curly with tight ringlets, but she decided to kick it up a notch and put a hot curling iron to it to further define the look. "I thought, 'I look fabulous,'" she says, "but as soon as I walked in, the first thing one of my cousins told me was that he had a bottle of gel in his car to lend me if i needed it!"
Ugh! The nerve, right? But reading experiences like this make me remember that many battles are common; many struggles are the same. Which makes it all the more important for us to keep affirming women of all walks and races and their textured hair.
Sure, our curls come in difference shapes, colors and sizes. But the truth is... we're all in this together.
:o)
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3 comments:
Its really strange...this dislike for curls. When you look at someone with really curly hair its just amazing that nature could produce something with such an intricate natural pattern. I love the way the hair looks so full and bouncy, and never flat and boring. But in the past I don't think I paid much attention to curls and I thought only really long, straight hair was beautiful.
But atleast in the past women would get perms to curl their hair, like in the 80s and 90s. But now its like everyone, even non-Black women with curly hair want to have straight hair. Asian women, Latina women, Black women, White women are all straightening their hair. I think part of it is because the beauty industry makes money off it. THey want to sell their services and products.
I'm hoping that with this whole environmental, natural product movement that being natural will become more accepted.
I hope so too. And it's encouraging reading these blogs and seeing companies pop up, all focused on naturally caring for your hair. I'm waiting for the right moment to do a story on it -- although journalism colleague Dionne Walker already kinda beat me to it with her story for the AP: http://www.ajc.com/living/content/business/stories/2008/03/09/blackhair0309.html ... but there can never be too many stories, right? :o)
great post, would like to get in touch
marie
marie@naturallycurly.com
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