This Is Why Hair Is Important

This picture was taken by a photographer after a little boy named Jimmy asked President Obama if his hair felt the same as the president. After President Obama let him feel his hair the little boy said: “Yes, it does feel the same,” Jacob said.

While some might argue that hair representations in the media are trivial and only reflect the current demographic of lacking curly cues - I, among many others, disagree. Just like Jimmy, their are children around this nation who feel the need to compare themselves to the media they consume. Black women compare themselves to white women, over weight girls compared themselves to thin girls, and so on. The media builds expectations on people. Had Jimmy never seen black President Obama, maybe he would have never thought that people that look like he does could become president.

With that idea, maybe women who have curly/kinky hair would never consider themselves normal, beautiful or accepted if all the images they consume reflect tall, white, straight haired females.

With my blog, Curly Heroines, I delve into the topic of not only natural hair but also who the makers of our media are. The core reason behind my blog isn't natural vs. synthetic or curly vs straight - it's REAL/REALISTIC beauty over forced beauty. 

In an age like today, it is in my opinion that women are taking two steps back. How are we allowing ourselves to consume images of women who don't represent our diverse, American demographic? Where do diverse women stand in high positions of producing media? Why aren't their more? Are we letting the images we consume become the expectations placed on us as minorities?

After listening to a speech made by actress, singer, and activist, Audra McDonald, it became clear that media is confusing the generation of tomorrow. With so many mixed races in this country, little girls and little boys who don't look like what they see in a magazine are now going through issues of self-acceptance - something that my blog advocates.

 I don't have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I'd become. I'm me, and I'm like nobody else. 

 Lena Horne 

Hair has become a way of bringing up race in a nice way. Most magazines place together race and hair to fill up their diversity quota - and call it a day. Since the early 1900s, hair has been a conflicting issue for many black women. In the 60s afros were seen as revolutionary, just like this picture of Michelle Obama on the cover of "The New Yorker".

Then in the 80s and 90s relaxed hair became a trend, causing girls to sit in chairs for hours on end, damaging their hair and altering the definition of beauty to what popular culture had labeled it to be.

If women were to become more self-accepting, we'd go much further in this male-dominated world. If the diverse women in America realized their potential as leaders and not followers, as Sheryl Sandberg would put it, a lot more of the media today could reflect a better America for future generations.