Discussions on Hair 

2012-2013

Discussions on hair among women in the black community, more often than not, results in a very critical dialogue fused with the negative stereotypes and baggage that black hair has accumulated over the ages in western society.

Black hair, and the perceptions projected upon it socially, politically, historically, and contemporarily play a heavy roll in the lives and self-image of black women across America. The struggle that black women face from childhood to womanhood is the European standard of beauty that tells them their hair is wrong. I would be thoroughly shocked if I ever meet a black woman who tells me she never felt any type of ethnic insecurity or moment of self-hate due to her hair texture or skin tone.

Environmental climates often influence self-image, self-hate, or the choices people make in self-portrayal. My hair has turned out time and time again to be the conversation starter, the recipient of compliments and testimonies, and the target for harsh and ethnically charged criticisms. These pieces are how I feel I fit into the environment around me right now, and how I interact with members of my own ethnicity.

I render the hair in materials that relate to my personal narrative, materials that relate to my ethnicity historically, and materials I have actually heard my hair texture described as. Each serves to echo the encounters I have experienced, positive and negative, with all different types of people and racial backgrounds.

Although this is my experience in natural hair, I believe these speak to the constant plight all women in this world face. We should never forget that self-hate, and the struggle with self-image does not discriminate. It is one of the most relatable topics of the human condition. It will perpetuate and evolve due to unachievable standards of beauty that will always exist, and the fact that large proportions of society will never be compatible with those standards. In a different climate, these women may be rendered with joy and happiness in mind. We will never know until we make that change.