Soooo Facebook is giving me EVERYTHING I need today. I'm scrolling, and come across an article that is using the face of Solange Knowles, I love Solange, so naturally, I click. The title reads, Study: Women with Natural Hair have Low Self-Esteem...Wait! What? Apparently via TheNewsNerd.com, BlackHair.com and Bountiful Hair have uncovered this;"The most common natural hairstyle is an afro, which many black women consider an undesirable look. The hair is many times matted and coarse, and is not considered appropriate for a business environment. Many employers consider the look untidy, and ban individuals from wearing this style.
According to the study by Bountiful Hair, natural hair being viewed as a messy look is causing many women, who wear their hair in that manner, to feel inadequate and less desirable as their counterparts. Those feelings of inadequacy causes women with natural hair to lash out at women with treated or straightened hair, and in turn lowers their self-esteem.
Of the 3,000 women who participated in the study, 2,500 said they did not feel as pretty as women with straightened hair. Pilar Ciara Jones, who says she participated in the study, stated, “some days I just don’t know what to do with these naps — and on those days I just avoid the mirror altogether.”
So 3,000 women out of more than 10 billion world wide hate their look for whatever reason and that means that black women and women with 'natural' hairstyles hate themselves? Allow me to offer you SEVERAL seats! First of all, if I were opening a business and I had my marketer go out and hit the pavement with surveys and they wanted me to base my decisions on the opinions of only 3,000 people, I'd FIRE them!
Pilar Jones goes on to say;
“I try to tell myself that wearing my hair natural is all about empowerment and expressing natural beauty, but there were times when I just did not feel pretty,” Jones continued. “When you continuously break combs because your hair is so nappy, and you use everything in your refrigerator to try to tame that mane, and you still have hair so rough you could polish rocks, you begin to reevaluate your choices.”
“At one point I was using a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs on my hair every day to try to soften it. That’s when I knew it was time to make a change. I got a relaxer and a Brazilian weave down to my butt, and I have never felt prettier,” Jones stated.
Let me get Miss Pilar Jones, and let me start off by saying I have never met any sister named Pilar, right on together. Sweetie, YOU my dear do not know how to manage your OWN hair. It's cool, a lot of us don't. But your image of yourself that you have with the Brazilian weave is FALSE. You know why? Because when Miss Pilar takes off her Brazilian hair, she is just left with herself. Thinking you are pretty or not cannot be something that starts with your hair. Get you a Dominican girlfriend or an African friend and they can teach you how to do it. If main stream media said that wide noses, full lips, and kinky hair was gorgeous and everything else unacceptable, guess what? You would feel like top model! Why is black features only acceptable when they can be watered down to look like something else. Our features only acceptable when plastic surgery enables someone not of African (let's not start to argue semantics, you know EXACTLY what I'm saying) descent. Is Rachel Dolezal the ONLY woman in the WORLD that wants to be black? NO! Hell NO! I love my black skin, my nappy hair, and my full lips. I am also acutely aware that not all of us feels this way. I am also aware that while the media sheds light on everything we do to soften our blackness, they shy away from our racial opposites who do the exact same thing. I am SO sure that where Bo Derek is from there aren't many people walking around with braids. Old pictures of Kim Kardashian shows her with not so full lips, wide hips, and not much booty grip.
I look for this BlackHair.com and could not find the site, I have to start digging because this article just seemed to be a little irresponsible, even for blogging. I also could not find Bountiful Hair. What surveys were provided that uncovered this information? Then I felt a little bamboozled since the previous article is about Black men starting a KKK chapter, and the next one is a study that reveals Homosexuality is extremely contagious.
Be that as it may, this sheds light on a huge problem within our culture. What is pretty? Who is pretty? Teach your daughters that pretty comes in many sizes, shapes, and colors. My Black Is BEAUTIFUL, you know what? So is YOURS, no matter what shade that may be.
