This coming week's episode of Yeah, What She Said holds a lot of significance for me personally. We will be discussing black women and their hair, a subject of great intrigue for some and much devastation for others. I won't get into it too much here because I'd like to save all of my thoughts for the show, but there are tons of fascinating, sad and triumphant stories to be told about the complex relationships between black women and their hair (I've been chatting about it with some girlfriends over the last few days). In the past, Jennie and I have posted videos and links to articles regarding this subject on the blog; I've always thought that we should one day use this topic for an episode of the show and that it would be nice to have black women gather 'round and share their thoughts on this particular area of interest.
It looks like the show has been timed perfectly as it has been brought to my attention by a couple of friends that Chris Rock's new comedy/documentary film, Good Hair, is coming out shortly. The trailer tells all and I have posted it below, along with previous posts and clips on black hair from us here on the Yeah, What She Said blog.
Films About Black Women: Kiri Davis' A Girl Like Me
New Black Barbie Dolls: Fab or Flop?
Solange Knowles Chops It: Is She Insane?
Chris Rock's Good Hair (Trailer)
Tune in to CJSW 90.9 FM at 8:30 PM (MST) this coming Monday to catch the show live.
I'm not black, but I have really curly hair, which I never embraced until I was in university. I finally realized that I was fighting a losing battle trying to tame it straight all the time.
ReplyDeleteI fought back against friends and family who told me that they thought it looked better straight. It was insulting for someone to tell me that the way that my hair naturally grows out of my head was something I should change.
However, upon graduating from university and entering work in the corporate world, I started straightening it all the time. I just thought it looked more professional. Having big hair was not professional.
Then one day, I tried to leave it curly and it didn't work. I think I damaged the curl pattern after two years of constant straightening. I was horrified that I had lost it, because I actually liked it a lot. I realized that I had been pandering to exactly what I fought against for so long, by trying to make my hair look like everyone else's. I decided to cut it all off so that it could grow back curly. It was very liberating. It takes half as long to get ready in the morning!
I thought I'd post my story to demonstrate how if this is how I felt about making my curly hair straight, I can only imagine how black women feel even more pressured to relax their nappy hair - especially when the vast majority of other black women in the media and in their communities have straight hair.
I'm looking forward to hearing the show on Monday. Great topic.
Thanks for the comment! We will be sure to share your story on Monday night.
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