The Lincolnian

Issue date: 11/2/09 Section: Opinion

Chris Rock prompts a discussion about Black Hair with his new movie.

The definition of good or bad hair is unclear and all relative depending on who you ask . Good hair is hair you can comb through. It's about how women like to wear their hair and how manageable it is. As long as it looks good, it's all good.

From these general responses, is it safe for me to conclude that black people don't accept or agree with the commonly used adage of "good hair?" Probably not. Women are clearly spending billions worldwide to maintain their hair and alter their natural textures. The question is why? Who made the standards of straight and silky as a good texture and thick and kinky as bad?

"There is no such thing as good or bad hair," says Dee Smith 42, who wears her hair natural. "Good and bad indicates there's an opposite; hair is hair. It all started from slavery."

Maybe Smiths' right. The image of good and bad hair was defined by whites who couldn't then nor now rightly judge our hair . The ruling of what is acceptable was made then and kept by blacks affecting us to this day. The stigma started when black people were oppressed for the colored of their skin and all matters associated with African Americans, including our hair.

Talk show host Wendy Williams recently featured the latest film from comedian Chris Rock's "Good Hair" as her topic for the show and Tyra Banks did so too earlier last week. The PG-13 flick examines and pokes fun at black hair trends such as weaving and chemical hair relaxing. After watching the movie, a woman in Wendy's audience said she just wanted to let women know, "hair doesn't define who you are."

Rock does a good job showing the downfalls of transforming black hair into an unnatural state with chemicals, but in the midst of the laughs viewers are left with no explanation why our "ethnic" hair affects us negatively politically, and socially.

"In corporate America, natural hair is not accepted", says Gabrielle Jones 20 who also wears her hair natural.

Black women wear their hair all different styles and textures---its a privilege we have options. Our differing views on our hair and the self confidence that it gives or takes away will probably always be.

Whites didn't make "good hair" standards, but they have what black people we want," says Naeemah Cooper, who has experimented with perms but opted to keep her hair straight through pressing the hair with heat.

Continued...

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