Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
A prickly cringe blanket covers me sometimes when I talk about hair.
The difference is this: There’salwaysan explanation when it comes to Black women and our hair.
There’s always a method or reason to be explainedwe can never justbe.
Recently, for the first time in years, I was able to justbewith my hair.
My beloved NuMe flat iron sat somewhere collecting dust and my hair?
Stocksy
Well, she was free for the first time in a minute.
Months in a bun was my uniform and a silk scrunchie was the most pizzazz my strands received.
My hair simply was what it was.
I felt great in my carefree bubble of doing absolutely nothing with my hair.
Stocksy
On social media, there was more chatter surrounding Black women and our beauty choices.
Monique sparked an intense debate on Instagram afterposting a photo of a womanin a bonnet at the airport.
Design by Tiana Crispino / Stocksy
“However, if this is not your BEST then do BETTER!”
Still, I put the same pressure on myself to constantly look mybesteven thoughbestis subjective out in the world.
“Mindset change and representation are equally important and can shift policyandperception as a whole.”
Still, I can’t pinpoint the moment that feeling began to dissipate.
As my strands grew more in their natural form, things slowly began to return to “normal.”
I got frustrated, however, when that was not the consistent result.
“Braids can be worn any day of the year,” one Instagram user said.
“People have a problem with hair that’s not even their own?
What is this?”
“Bias is prejudice.
Legislation like the CROWN Act looks at policy.
There’s power in conversation.
There was so much more at risk, which is why policy change is important.”
Mindset change and representation are equally important and can shift policyandperception as a whole.
“The way we shift culture is by exhausting every opportunity,” Blanchard says.
We have to reprogram ourselves as Black people in America.
Part of that normalizing starts with affording Black people autonomy over their appearance.
It begins with championing each other versus being hypercritical.
After all, we’re already so hard on ourselves as individuals.
Normalize letting Black womenbewithout qualms.
