are curls the new straight? [article on racialicious.com]
BGLH reader Myss Kay notified me of an article on Racialicious.com about the ‘mainstreaming’ of curly hair even though kinky/coily hair remains firmly OUTSIDE the mainstream.
ARE CURLS THE NEW STRAIGHT HAIR? [THE GERMANY FILES]
by Carolina Asuquo-Brown
Just a few weeks ago I was flipping through the pages of a fashion mag with a friend.
An editorial featuring an obviously biracial black/white model sporting a huge curly ‘fro caught our eye and that I have to say – I just loved the style.
I have been natural most of my life (not necessarily out of conviction but due to the chronic and persisting shortage of German hairstylists who can deal with wild biracial hair more on the afro side-or with any kind of biracial or black hair) save a few relaxed spells every few years after which I desperately longed for my kinks and curls to come back.
Anyway, my style of the moment is natural and the model’s medium-length curls were something I really considered desirable. The hairstyle did strike a chord with me, but my friend Jen, who has two African parents, is many a shade darker than I am and has shiny and fantastically healthy-looking relaxed tresses (which I have never managed to obtain) was a lot less enthusiastic about the model’s look.
“That’s something mixed girls get away with” she said, “They can get their hair to look like that – I couldn’t. I feel that curls are something like the latest fetish – it’s like there are black girls with great curls all around, advertisement, movies, magazines. And lately it has become a bit like what straight hair used to be-you’ve got to have it.”
It had never occurred to me, but speaking to Jen, I realised that she might be right. Over the next weeks everywhere I looked, be it the streets of my city or most of he few female black German TV-presenters – it really seemed that nowadays the fly mixed or black girl hast to have curls. Generous, semi-loose curls that is, tight enough to give you the volume but loose enough to be considered beautiful in a more mainstream way.
***Okay — rant! I was thinking about this article last night and got more and more frustrated. SistaOpinion’s comment just set me off. Here’s my response from the comment box. ***
“SistaOpinion you are SO right. I am beginning to question the motivation or need for articles that highlight a ‘crisis’ regarding natural hair.
Is it going to be something we haven’t heard already? Probably not.
The reality is that natural hair is NOT mainstream. it’s NOT the norm… and what?!?!? Is that supposed to make me sad/insecure/dismayed?!
I think we should all be PROUD that we’re apart of something that has nothing to do with what ‘mainstream society’ deems acceptable. And I think being accepted into ‘mainstream society’ (which is consumerist, hegemonic and tries to boil out any sign of individuality) is overrated.
at the same time i do understand that a mainstream presence plays a role in shaping what people consider ‘normal’. but honestly, i don’t think ‘mainstream natural hair acceptance’ is going to be a top down thing. i firmly believe it’s going to be bottom up. but until that day happens, i’m not going to waste tears on what some morally equivocal system isn’t doing for me.
and on a side note, is mainstream media really critical in shaping our views of what is normal? consider this: the cosby show was a phenomenon. it portrayed a high-income black couple (doctor and lawyer) leading a stable home life.
um… i don’t think that really helped the case of black people in america. at least not according to the stats which say we still have disproportionate amounts of incarceration, heart disease and non-nuclear families.
now consider this… barack obama — a real flesh and blood man, not a TV character — wins the presidency.
who do you think is more critical in shaping what people think of black/bi-racial people?
TV Character huxtable or Real Man obama?”
"Generous, semi-loose curls that is, tight enough to give you the volume but loose enough to be considered beautiful in a more mainstream way."
so telling…
Very true. I find I have a harder time convincing some people to love and appreciate their tight curls because they figure I can't understand where they're coming from. They choose not to believe that I mean it when I saw all black hair is beautiful and it's all about learning to take care of what's growing out of your scalp. Just last week, I had a conversation with my young (10) cousin who is obsessed with curly hair. She has trouble accepting that her hair is beautiful. She has super thick hair that I know many people would envy. I showed her pictures online and she seems to be coming around a bit. She even allowed us to twist her hair instead of pressing it as mom usually does. We all have to do that. Start with the girls when they're young and change their mindsets.
i have noticed this trand in Us media since I was a teenager (I'm now 26). the next time you see a commercial (even on BET and during Africa-American focused programming) pay attention to what type of black people – men, women, and chilren – are casted. Unless it is a hair/skin care ad, the women and children, in particular, will most likely look less African. This is what the media thinks looks better on TV and I would assume this has been going on longer than I have been alive.
I'm starting to think there is a backlash against naturals (more than the usual you need to get your hair did crowd).
Several sites I read have recently featured articles or post accusing naturals of having too much pride, judging others, needing to talk themselves up because no one else thinks they look good ect.
All of this is hilarious to me because 95% of black women still relax their hair so the suggestion that we are somehow ganging up on a group that has 10x as many people seems to be impossible.
I think curly hair is the new straight amongst the Black community, not necessarily the mainstream. I have seen mainstream ads featuring (undeniably) Black women with very tightly coiled hair.
However, with Black people, there are still those underlying self-acceptance issues that come out no matter what. Anything further from Black and closer to White is seen as ideal. This remains whether the hair is natural or relaxed. Probably worse with natural, because there is such a wide range of textures.
People will take their baggage with them no matter where they go.
Zara made a similar post about that point. It is pretty true and interesting to see how me tend to go back to the same idolization of a specific hair type
http://leaveinthekinks.blogspot.com/2009/06/rant-idolizing-spirals-conditioner-only.html
Hmm this brings to mind some 'naturals' for products that loosen the hair's curl pattern. It's no problem, if you do this because you're simply looking for a style change. But if you're doing it because you think coily hair is inherently ugly then what's the sense of going natural in the first place?
http://womanofcolour.blogspot.com
Exactly Patricia!
I wonder when people say that maintaining natural hair is SO difficult is it because they are trying to achieve a texture or style that is not theirs.
Everyone is not meant to have spiral, curly rods.
I had to get over that and learn to love the texture that I have been blessed with.
what a shame… im glad i love my head of hair.. and actually everyone else around me loves it hahaha. –but on a serious tip, my little sister is half german (born, raised, lives there, and its her first languge) when she was here a few weeks ago, she kept asking for me to pay for her to get some curly weave sewed into her head
HECK NO!
i told her "umm you better just stop letting those germans relax your hair just because they cant handle a super curly grade of hair"
yeah so now shes going natural :] we shall see what happens
just today i was playing with my natural hair (i have it in a fro after the twist out faded), and i was tickled by how beautiful my 'kinky coils/tight curls' were. even though i have 4a/4b/4c hair and my curls are hecka tight, i still consider my hair just as beautiful.
Thanks for posting J!
This is so prevelant and it annoys me like crazy. the black community needs to stop giving this stuff energy. God made no mistakes on anybody's hair so let's stop idolizing one type and appreciate it all.
Amen Milan! The longer I do natural hair blogging is the less point I see in identifying what 'media' or 'pop culture' thinks is acceptable. Is it really that important?
i've seen this trend for quite sometime and SweetyDimples hit the nail right on the head. especially within the black community there has never been a hesitation to make "safe" appearances the face of the mainstream and acceptable.
in the end, it's up to the adults closest to young women to instill in them that your hair's curl pattern doesn't make you any less or more beautiful.
very thought provoking…
1) I don't care what's in. Me is me. Thank God I'm in that place now.
2) I hear this same sentiment ALL the time:
“That’s something mixed girls get away with” she said, “They can get their hair to look like that – I couldn’t…" or "You have amazing hair, but I could never do that."
From early childhood to about a year ago, I didn't have "good hair" and now all of a sudden is this precious rarity. It's ridiculous, can we stop the madness???
Nicole said: "I don't care what's in. Me is me. Thank God I'm in that place now."
I couldn't agree more.
I am SO OVER this b.s. And I try to keep my distance from people who want to push their media-created insecurities on me simply because I'm not ashamed of my 4b/CNapp hair.
SistaOpinion you are SO right. I am beginning to question the motivation or need for articles that highlight a 'crisis' regarding natural hair.
Is it going to be something we haven't heard already? Probably not.
The reality is that natural hair is NOT mainstream. it's NOT the norm… and what?!?!? Is that supposed to make me sad/insecure/dismayed?!
I think we should all be PROUD that we're apart of something that has nothing to do with what 'mainstream society' deems acceptable. And I think being accepted into 'mainstream society' (which is consumerist, hegemonic and tries to boil out any sign of individuality) is overrated.
at the same time i do understand that a mainstream presence plays a role in shaping what people consider 'normal'. but honestly, i don't think 'mainstream natural hair acceptance' is going to be a top down thing. i firmly believe it's going to be bottom up. but until that day happens, i'm not going to waste tears on what some morally equivocal system isn't doing for me.
and on a side note, is mainstream media really critical in shaping our views of what is normal? consider this: the cosby show was a phenomenon. it portrayed a high-income black couple (doctor and lawyer) leading a stable home life.
um… i don't think that really helped the case of black people in america. at least not according to the stats which say we still have disproportionate amounts of incarceration, heart disease and non-nuclear families.
now consider this… barack obama — a real flesh and blood man, not a TV character — wins the presidency.
who do you think is more critical in shaping what people think of black/bi-racial people?
mr. huxtable or mr. obama?
Sounds like some of the same old good hair/bad hair nonsense continuing to rear its ugly head. Just die already why don't you.
even though this article seems to have rubbed some people the wrong way, i'm glad it was posted. especially when you consider, even within the natural hair community, all the different techniques/products women use to 'define their curl'. this article and this sort of commenting is a great reminder that we don't need anyone or any product for that matter, to accept our hair/self as we are. sometimes we need that. whether its defining a curl or getting rid of frizz, we need to be reminded that we are fine just the way we are. thanks for all the comments ladies. if real change must come from the bottom up then so be it!
i have noticed this too in uk advertising, there are quite a lot more black/mixed race girls about with natural hair. Like being shown in the forefront or even by themselves not just playing a part in the background. i think this is amazing to see.
You know what, I love my spiral/curly hair and wouldn't trade it for the world. However, I don't think that my hair is superior to kinkier textures and I feel that everyone should love their hair and whatever texture God gave them. I don't think God made any mistakes when placing each hair on top of our heads and I feel that we just need to accept what we have and get on with our lives. Learn how to style and manage your own hair and stop looking at women with curls as the culprit for why you don't love your own hair.
the more my natural hair grows out, the more i enjoy it. my permed hair just has such a different texture, when i blow it out now, i feel like im wearing a wig! no bueno
and acceptance is acceptance, and it comes from US- not the media