Retrospective: The “Long Hair” in “Black Girl with Long Hair”
BelleMuse is a BGLH alum.
So we’re about two weeks into the newly designed site (PSA: if you’re still following the old site please switch over!!!) and while Shari was working on it, we were inundated with the phrase “Long Hair”. It came up everywhere… when we were figuring out the logo, the header, the twitter page, the email address. It constantly came up.
I didn’t really think about it much at the old blog. But applying it to an official logo and header made me feel like, “Whoa. I am officially taking a stance on long hair.” Which is interesting for a few reasons, a.) I don’t have long hair… yet; and b.) I profile a lot of chicks who don’t have long hair.
When I first explained my blog to my dad, who is Haitian, he seemed slightly perturbed at the emphasis, albeit moderate, on long hair. “That’s a western thing,” he told me. Cue the INTENSE soul searching…
Was I just trying to carry on a Western ideal wrapped in brown packaging? Was I making people feel insecure about their length of hair?
After several months of reflection, I still love this blog’s title. Because while “Black Girl with Short Hair” and “Black Girl with Medium Hair” are concepts that we are all familiar with. “Black Girl with Long natural Hair” is still an anomaly. Many people noticed that in his movie, Good Hair, Chris Rock seemed to insinuate that the only alternative to relaxers and weaves was SHORT natural hair. And that is a common sentiment.
We all know that short can be chic, beautiful, and fly. But we don’t know that we have a CHOICE. Many of us have never experienced versatility in our hair length. We don’t know the products to use (or not use) the regimen to try or the styles to do to get to various lengths.
One BGLH follower once questioned the blog’s title, insinuating that it revealed a lack of self-esteem or acceptance (cue Leila’s second wave of soul searching.) But I have had short hair all my life. I’ve flat ironed, put in extensions, colored it, shaved it all off, rocked a short afro.
And now I want something new.
I’ll end by quoting one of my favorite BGLH alum, Chicoro, a natural hair author (check her out here) that I interviewed back in September 2008 (Click here for the full interview.)
“On the surface, focusing on hair seems like a very superficial endeavor. It really is not. So often, when women learn to be successful in their hair care, it creates a feeling of empowerment. You have set a goal and accomplished it. That same process you used to reach your hair goal can now be transferred to generate success in other areas of your life. Success in one area of your life begets success in other areas of your life. It can be a never ending cycle of success. You begin to feel empowered to improve how you eat, your body, your relationships, your career, your finances and etc. In my mind, the book is not just about hair, it’s about knowing yourself, identifying what’s important to you and how to achieve the great things in life which we are all capable of doing. It sounds rather ambitious for a hair care book, but hair, or the lack of it, always makes a powerful impactful statement.”
***
BGLH now has a forum! Check it out HERE.
I actually found the blog by typing in the search terms in google (black girl long hair).
I think the blog has evolved far beyond its name. I actually think in some senses the blog has surpassed its name but why rebrand? I think the initial goal was to say that you can have long hair, IF you want it. The blog in my opinion has evolved to caring for hair, styling it beautifully, debating issues about hair and so much more.
I think short hair for black women is often not seen as a choice. It is usually seen as you said as the default length. There is ofcourse another debate on what constitutes long hair. Is shoulder length long or does it have to be waist length. I prefer to talk about my hair in terms of volume. The bigger the better. Black Girl with Big Hair is not very catchy!
Ha! That comment reminds me of the girl you profiled who makes ant-shirt that says “Big Hair Don’t Care.” I plan to order one.
I actually like ” Black Girl with BIG Hair ”. Without the length you will never have big hair anyway but it gives us a goal that we can actually attain and it brings us back to our standard of beauty. This girl on Youtube has bra strap length but unless she pull the hair you will never guess: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xVqqIleiUM . The only way for her to show the full length of her hair is to straighten it ( even if it is temporarily). So are we not encouraging European standard of beauty by using the same word over and over (long instead of big). What is the purpose of insisting on length if it does not show much? And also, for those who have very long hair, it seems like they always have to be defending the length of their hair like in the video. It seems like we always have to prove that we also have the ”white thing” witch is ”hanging long hair”. Just my thoughts. I’ve always loved the name of your blog but this post makes me think there might be a problem with the name …or not?
I agree with Chicoro’s comment. After learning about my hair and over the last few years acquiring knowledge about hair that amounts to more than what the average person knows about hair; I have become more confident that I can learn about anything and any topic. It’s a great feeling
I like the name and I also like the fact that “long” is an option for us. The reason I decided to BC and go natural in the first place was because of the length of my hair at the time I had taken out my braids after about 6 months of wearing them. I was really impressed and figured if my hair can get this long with the two combined how long can they get just plain natural. I do stretch my hair to check my length, with my fingers, in private. Just that satisfies me and I am pleased.
Trust me honey if there is a problem with a single word that was used by the blogs creator for the simple purpose of her own aspirations then we have some soul searching to do ourselves. Who are we to take that from her? I hope she achieves it the same way I hope I get to BSL. I will be a “Black Girl with Long Hair”
That sounded a little more soapboxy than intended but I hope you get my point.
I always say I have big hair :] thats cooler then being JUST long haired lol
I understand both ends of the stick.. but me personally, I really dont ever say that my hair is long persay (even when I’m stretching it and it touches my chest) it’s just not a topic.
I love the name of this blog and agree with JC when she said that the blog has long surpassed its name. Why change your brand? I actually love the look of the new logo and rock it proudly on my myspace page. I love that “long hair” is an option that we can explore and we are getting the word out that black women are not doomed to short, unmanageable, or damaged hair. Thanks to the information provided through this site, myself and other women know that we can be black women with long hair!
I do think “long” is subjective though. My hair is very thick and shoulder length, but many of my friends and other black people will say I have long hair. They haven’t seen some of the bra-strap length and waist-length heads of hair on this site though!
Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?
Yes, because words are just words. A word does not change the characteristics or substance of what something/someone is. It’s merely a word. One of our problems today is getting caught up in the words we use (n**** being an example of that, but I digress), without looking beyond the word at what’s really being said or done.
Black Girl with Long Hair. What about the word “girl?” I am surely not a girl, but a 26 year old woman; do I come here expecting tips strictly for children? No, I come here to see beautiful women with beautiful hair, gather information, and get inspiration. I have been reading BGLH for over a year now, and the name has never been anything that I’ve questioned. Not to mention the men (who aren’t girls) who read your blog…I’m sure they don’t come here to be Black Girls with Long Hair, lol!
Long hair, big hair, fluffy or robust hair… Its up to you how to describe your hair. You know that the structural make-up of your hair (springy, coily, curly) does not allow much room for length unless it is straightened, so stressing the word “long” is not worth the bouts of mental anguish! You have created a beautiful community full of women, girls, men, and boys from all over the GLOBE! You have taken on a staff! You have made this blog so much more than its title, and if you can’t look beyond the words to appreciate what the blog is all about, then…
I think the current name is cool and the content of the blog goes above and beyond the title and it’s not limited to just ppl with long hair. But on the other hand I get where ur coming from… if i had to choose another name, it would be “Black Girl Lovely Hair”. That would encompass all types of hair – long, short, curly, kinky, wavy, black, red, brown, purple etc. It gives the impression that all hair is good and that this blog truly believes in that.
When i twisted my hair today, it made me think that length matters when we twist our hair depending of the look we want to achieve. My thoughts in my previous comment was incomplete i guess.
By the way, is there a reason why we can not subscribe to the posts comments anymore ?
I agree with The Notorious Z.A.G. The name put me off at first but I’m realising that Black Women with Long Hair just doesn’t sound the same. Unfortunately.