but why the pretty icons always all white?"
-That's My B Jay Z & Kanye
We all feed into it, myself included. My criticism of blonde beauty is not to say what is right, but instead to ask why is it right. In my own life, i've wrestled with the politics of beauty, particularly as it pertains to hair. My hair, as for many women, plays an important part in the development of my image. As a black woman, the politics of hair have become a cultural rite of passage.
i can remember cowering into myself, sitting in a hot shame because my hair didn't drop down immediately after pulling it from a bun like the white girls. i remember trying to shake jokes from my embarrassment among the girls in the locker room who had never seen such a thing. i can remember worshipping the relaxer and singing the just for me hook as I waited for my kinks to lay straight in my living room, daydreaming up outfits to wear with my fresh perm. i can remember hating my naps, dreading the return of the kink as new growth inevitably emerged.
my natural hair journey is no coincidence.
And while others may scoff at the seeming vapidity of tv personalities like Tyra Banks for her antics, I admire her public campaign against these forces, which can have powerful consequences on our psychological state. I admire her push against convention.
I'm leaving you with my hair inspirations for today.
I'm inspired by others who celebrate themselves and choose to be.
HeyFranHey &
Black Girl with Long Hair
Ciao
i love how you write. i have a question though, and it probably has a simple answer that i'm not open or aware enough to see, but how in the world do you see tyra banks as someone who pushes against convention? (all that comes to mind when i hear her name is her being in a movie where she's a barbie, her incredibly straight hair, the show she produces-antm-where not once has someone "unconventional" won, etc.) please explain because i am always wanting to learn :)
ReplyDeletei would have to say that I agree with you. I know your'e probably like huh? but i do. Her personal image is far from unconventional, and I see this with many public, Black female figures. They are never without their weaves and wigs, many blonde and blonder- and we all know, Black people typically don't grow no blonde hairs (: and I'm not knocking them for this, they are under pressures I could only begin to understand, pressures that have existed long before I or even they came into the picture, so I'll let that one be- for now...
ReplyDeleteBut, Tyra's campaign, Beauty Inside and Out (BIO), is specifically what I was talking about; I probably should have specified. The campaign's mission is to celebrate beauty by embracing "nontraditional" beauty. And, I'd argue in terms of the fashion industry, which is most certainly the toughest to change the way we portray beauty, her show ANTM, has begun a conversation that is doing this. While the winners do not always resemble anything new or different, the show's contestants have broadened our concept of what a model can be. Toccora Jones, one of the first plus-sized contestants, although didn't win, now works as a model and host for many tv programs. Whitney Thomson, another plus-sized chica, was the first to win the show during cycle 10! and she actually works, booking catalogue spreads and I also saw her in an add for Smile Starters. And let's not forget Nicole Fox, the winner of the 5'7 and Under cycle, who earned a career in the industry despite her atypical size for a high fashion model.
I guess it is an outlandish statement to make because Tyra is so publicly frenetic, sporting her wigs (she did start wearing her real hair in later shows; it wasn't unrelaxed though), and carrying on, but I admire her campaign's push against convention. And although the steps toward opening our definition of beauty are seemingly minuscule , she's making them.
I wrote a book- but I get excited when people read my blog. I love you camille!
ahhhh! that makes a lot more sense now!
ReplyDelete