I am at a loss for words. I don't know where to begin this post but I feel like ranting so just get ready.
There are times when I really want to know why society has screwed us up the way it has. I know that everyone is effected by society-TV, pop culture, music-you name it, but I'm going to focus in on African-Americans. Why? Because I'm a young black female, a demographic that is highly underrepresented and overly stereotyped.
So, I was taking to two friends the other day and we just so happened to end up on the two topics that bother me most; natural vs. relaxed hair and skin tone.
WHY? Why is there a heated debate about hair? Dare I say it as a natural but I honestly don't care if your hair is relaxed or not. What right do I have to preach to you about hair when I barely combed mine this morning?!
I know quite a few people who consider their natural hair to be "nappy" (cringe). That word is so ugly, it has such a negative connotation and it takes away from everything that having natural hair is about; being true to your roots, literally. The only people I hear using the term "nappy" or see turning up their faces at natural hair are African-Americans.
The compliments I got on my natural hair came from the Caucasian people that I went to high school with. Eventually, when I started to wear my hair in cool styles, I got the compliments from black people, followed by the ever-present "I could never go natural". WHY NOT?
I don't understand why people are so bewildered by natural hair, ESPECIALLY if they have not educated themselves on natural hair and hair care. Of course there are things I do to my hair and products that I use on it that relaxed women can't or won't use, does that make it so taboo? Or is it the fact that my hair isn't bone straight and blowing in the wind?
I don't know what the big debate is all about; hair is hair. It comes in different colors, lengths and textures. BUT I would appreciate it if people would know what they were talking about when they start comparing natural and relaxed hair.
Don't get me started on skin tone. Black people come in all shades and I think each one is beautiful. So why is it that darker AND lighter skin people are mocked and made to feel ashamed of their skin color? My mom has very fair skin and I remember being asked if I was mixed or if my mom was Hispanic throughout my childhood and teen years. Why does someone have to be mixed to have fair skin? Why is fair skin associated with beauty?
The perceptions that people have of what's light skin v. what's dark skin is crazy! I got quite a tan over the summer months so its not apparent in current pictures but my skin is a medium tone and my brother, who is darker than me, swears up and down that I'm "light". Yet many people would consider me medium brown.
I'm not sure where the perceptions of light skin and dark skin come from but I just want to know why we can't love ourselves and our fellow black people for who they are and not what they look like.
And that's enough of that....
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