READERS REACT-GOOD HAIR, BAD HAIR: ARE WE SENDING THE WRONG MESSAGES ABOUT HAIR TO OUR CHILDREN?
-Pictured: Different celebrity kids with their natural mane-
Though the concept of “Good Hair, Bad Hair” did not originate in the African-American community(Source), it would seem that it is being perpetuated by members of the African-American community.
For the most part, a lot of celeb kids have natural hair as opposed to relaxed hair. Although many readers on this site are advocates for natural hair care for children, still it seems that readers are not comfortable with kids wearing their natural hair(Source). Interestingly, celeb kids who do not get negative comments about their natural mane are thought to have “Good Hair.” In this POST, for example, readers reacted to Jaden Smith’s natural mane:
Juicee: “I swear people kill me, to be asking what color are Will and Jada, because of his hair, so two black people cannot make good hair children? or one parent has to be mixed, yeah right, well let me explain this to you , then you can analyze it and let the world know, my dad is black, nappy black hair, and my mom is black, nappy black hair, permed , hot combs, etc, my hair is Indian like, long silky and pretty, everyone said to my dad, get a blood test, that kid ain’t yours, he did it, and it turned out i am 100 percent his black child!!!!! i took after his grand mom, who was Indian, and had long good hair, somehow her genes came down on me, and dig this, my dad is dark skin, and my mom is dark skin, i am light skinned, with hazel eyes, and neither one has hazel eyes, but great grandmom does, so explain that? damn idiots!!!”
Unknown: “What is this good hair nonsense? I have been hearing that all my life in the black community and I am sick of it! So if a persons hair is as you say “nappy” they don’t have “good hair?” The closer your hair is to White/Native American makes your hair “good?” Just another thing to separate us all in the black community.”
Sheshness: “I see what everyone means about us Africans and our hair hang ups. Every time a child on this website has hair that’s doing it own thing we’re gonna hear about it. It sad what slavery has done to us. What is the fear of having big beautiful (well-kept)African hair and letting it do its own thing.
Not that we should be judging ourselves by the standards of white folks, being that we’ve been forced to do so for our entire existence in this country (US), but they let their hair do its own thing. Why shouldn’t we take back the right to allow ourselves to do the same?”
Facts/Opinions:
-This idea of “Good Hair/Bad Hair” seems to be so prevalent in our culture today, so much so that father of two, actor Chris Rock, has made a documentary film titled “Good Hair”, which is about the African American hair culture:
-Studies show that Black women spend thousands of dollars a year to get their hair chemically straightened and thousands more on weaves. Straightened hair and weaves are thought to be “Good Hair”.
-This is how Urban Dictionary defines Good Hair: “A popular term in the African-American community, used to describe an black person’s hair that closely resembles the hair of a typical white person (i.e. soft, manageable, long, as opposed to “nappy” or “bad” hair). The closer your hair is to a white person’s, the “better” your hair is.
- A writer named Reese blames the media partly for our conceptions about Good vs bad hair: “The media, and the corporations and people in charge of the media do not help either. Have you ever seen a TV show for kids in which the lead person was black and had natural kinky hair (not loose curls as some characters have, e.g. Sister Sister’s Tia and Tamera Mowry, although they are beautiful too). On Tyra’s show “Good Hair Vs. Bad Hair,” the little girl with the bubbles in her hair made me cry because she hated her hair and wanted to wear the blonde wig from Hannah Montana. That was all she saw on TV and so she felt that she herself was ugly. (Source)
ARE WE SENDING OUT THE WRONG MESSAGES ABOUT “GOOD HAIR/BAD HAIR” TO OUR CHILDREN OR IS SOCIETY(THE MEDIA ETC…) RESPONSIBLE?
59 Comments to “READERS REACT-GOOD HAIR, BAD HAIR: ARE WE SENDING THE WRONG MESSAGES ABOUT HAIR TO OUR CHILDREN?”
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just work with what you got jeezus, i think WE make it an issue, if we stopped taking it so serious then it wouldn’t be an issue…
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i have natural hair and i love it. im not one to care about what people think. if i like it thats all that matters. my problem with the kids in the pictures is just the way the parents keep it. i mean if your hair is natural theres so much to do to it to make it look nice. cornrows, twists just to name a few. Jadyn Smith’s hair seems to be always well kept but other kids with afros (nappy hair)should really do something. Natural hair is pretty but it has to be well kept.
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I don’t think it is so much that readers are saying this or that kid should get a perm or relaxer because of hair texture. What they are saying that the child’s hair could look more presentable. In actuality the majority of children that people refer to with bad hair have a white parent. I have neva come across anyone asking what race is Jaden because of his hair, so that one confused me,lol. Ex: Malia and Sasha’s hair, I luv their hair anyway they wear it, natural or blown out. Reason is because their hair always look presentable. I look at Halle’s baby hair and wish she would do more with her hair, such as barretts and ponytails, she is such a cutie. As we know alot of black people think they have indian in them,lmao and are the only ones that be on that good or bad hair crap. You have to be honest with yourself, what Mel did to that baby’s hair is just insane, nothing wrong with that beautiful baby girl hair.
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you said: “…What they are saying that the child’s hair could look more presentable…”
who decides what is ‘presentable’?? to say a child’s hair isn’t ‘presentable’ because it’s not hung full with baubles or barrettes is like saying that someone isn’t dressed well because they are (or are not) wearing this or that style.
black americans (emphasis on ‘americans’, because it’s different with other groups of blacks) seem to have a very rigid view of what they consider ‘presentable’ and are the first to holler when someone doesn’t conform to that mold. most often, black people with ‘natural’ hair, for example, are chastised/ridiculed by whites or other races, but by other black (american) people.
‘good hair’ is any natural hair on your head that is clean and groomed. period.
anything else is subject taste.
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i dont think people are saying it has to ribbons and beretts but i knew mixed kids with white parents and on my worst hair day it looked better than theirs. her hair was always matted on the top of her head. they never combed her hair out. they ended up having to cut almost all of her hair. because they didnt take care of it. i think its funny that whites always admire black hair and the different textures and styles but when they have a mixed child they put little or no effort into it.
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There’s a difference. Ice Cube’s son’s hair was obviously groomed. It just wasn’t tied back or straightened or braided. But you could tell it was groomed. It looked cut and even. It stood up evenly. Naturally curly hair usually has different variations of curls, so un-groomed hair would have an unevenness to it. Even then, so what!!!! Free yourselves from the brainwashing people! Experience life outside of white beauty ideals! It hurts everybody, not just blacks.
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you said: “…What they are saying that the child’s hair could look more presentable…”
who decides what is ‘presentable’?? to say a child’s hair isn’t ‘presentable’ because it’s not hung full with baubles or barrettes is like saying that someone isn’t dressed well because they are (or are not) wearing this particular style or that. to me that’s just as silly as saying someone isn’t cool because they are not rocking this or that brand. it’s not your head (or your pocketbook), so you don’t really have anything to say about what someone feels comfortable with wearing – be it on their person or on their head.
black americans (emphasis on ‘americans’, because it’s different within other groups of blacks) seem to have a very rigid view of what they consider ‘presentable’ and are the first to holler when someone doesn’t conform to that mold. most often, black americans with ‘natural’ hair, for example, are NOT chastised/ridiculed by whites or other races, but by other black (american) people.
‘good hair’, imho, is any natural hair on your head that is clean and groomed. period.
anything else is subject to personal opinion. and you know what they say about opinions….
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LOL I think that it’s absolutly ridiculous how consumed we are as “BLACK AMERICA” about hair. For me personally I think all these kids hair looks fine there is nothing wrong with it. I can’t stand to see little girls with “little” hair on their heads and these tight a@# rubberbands, clips, ponytails etc. in their hair. Why because their mother is concerned that the childs hair is looking a hotmess and don’t want anyone to comment on it. So you would rather see your child bald for the sake of “others”. As long as your childs hair is moisturized and combed daily your childs hair will grow. Here is a tip parents…braid or plat(west indian term) but very loosely your childs hair at nite and take it out in the morning. And don’t let your kids go to bed with damn ponytails in their hair it pulls on it and thats what prevents a childs hair from growing. Try this for at least a month or so and see what happens.
I personally for my own hair do perm it but unlike most black people I get it done every 6-8 months which means I really only perm my hair once a year maybe two if I have an important event to attend. So for the most part I just have it washed and set every 2-3 weeks and have my ends trimmed at that time as well. As black people we need to retrain our minds our way of thinking on what’s considered “good / bad” hair. It’s just ridiculous. This is just one more stigma that WE put upon ourselves…not the WHITE MAN….BUT US. Of all the things in this world that is destroying our children this is the best that we can come up with to debate about. That is just sad and selfish. And we wonder why we as a whole can NEVER get any where in society and blame everybody else instead of LOOKING IN THE MIRROR.
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Sometimes I think it’s more difficult for white mothers do take care of there biracial childs hair and just leave it’s natural where as black mothers probally can better care for there childs hair and when they were it natural it can be tamed better .
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I went natural and was very into to the *natural hair scene* but now I couldn’t care less about my hair.
ITS JUST HAIR
I don’t want my life to be consumed with how pretty my hair is, I just want it to look decent while I move along in life…
WE SPEND TO MUCH TIME ON CARING ABOUT OUR HAIR
Life is SOOOO much more than about hair… lets comb it and move it along folks!
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Amen ! People are so consumed with this issue. Chill out! Pop in some india arie and listen to I AM NOT MY HAIR!!
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I think there are far more important issues concerning children and ourselves as a people than who has ‘good’ hair, or whose ‘nappy’ hair needs to be greased. Unless you’re the parent or hairdresser, it’s none of your business.
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Ain’t it the truth. If the hair is healthy, IT’S GOOD HAIR.
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Why when black folks wear natural hair is it considered bad hair? They’re just wearing there hair the way it should be worn naturally. Black people are obsessed with hair.
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im not obsessed with hair thank you very much
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Let me tell you this is not only an American thing, it is something that happenes all over the world, and yes it is a white thing. Chucky,(white people) have brain washed the world to make them think they need to look and act like them.
I lived in a few countries overseas. I used to teach ESL classes. I dont care if I was in the Middle East, Africa, or Jamaica they all had the same issues. Black women all over the world think straight hair = good hair and kinky hair = bad hair. I have seen women in the Middle East spend hours in the salon getting their hair done on the day of their wedding trying to get their hair straight so their husband will not leave them on their wedding night. The men there never see the women uncovered before they are married so they have no idea what their hair looks like.
I have seen women in Africa getting perms and telling people that done, they need to do something with their hair. I have also seen the weaves, wigs and and everything else you see in the States. Trust me not everyone in Africa has natural hair.
So it is not only us here that have these issues. Its all over. We Black people need to learn to accept our beauty and accept it is different than white peoples. We need to have a different standard to judge our beauty. We have women like Queen Latifah, Iman, Tyra, Patty Labelle, To beyonce, halie berry, and Grace Jones….All women that have been Models in Magaizines and look VERY different. From their size to their color; from their hair style to the to the grade of hair; they are different but beautiful all the same.
we come in all colors, sizes, shapes, and hair colors and grades. From the sista that can sport a natural dew..twist, locks, braids……whatevre to the sista that gets a bump and curl, perm, weave, or a hot comb………we are all beautiful!!!!
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— “Let me tell you this is not only an American thing, it is something that happenes all over the world, and yes it is a white thing. Chucky,(white people) have brain washed the world to make them think they need to look and act like them.” —
You can’t be serious, can you? Your so-called “white” people don’t care about good/bad hair or your hair at all, it’s only in your imagination! Lol, they often wear the same “boring” hair styles for months or years… they are not obsessed with hair at all!
They admire my beautiful big fro and all my natural hair styles, well here in Europe… and many “Europeans” have naturally some type of curly hair too, it goes from very soft (wavy) to extreme curly (afro like). Some of them wear a cold perm (!) to get curls, but very rare in these days…
Personally, I will never relax my hair or wear a wig! I love my hair how it is and many “Europeans” love it too… men/women… especially the men, lol.
So please, don’t blame it on others… some people are their own worst enemy, especially then it comes to hair texture, hair styles and skin colour!
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It is no one’s business if the child’s hair is “well-kept” or not as far as presentation. If the child’s parents keep it washed and free of lice of other hair-inhabiting bugs, then it’s fine. No one has to wear their hair a certain way to appease other people. I bet these children have very high self-confidence simply because they don’t let their hair serve as an insecurity or something they’re always concerned about. People on this site sometimes act as if they’re at home with the celeb’s children and know what’s being done to the kids’ heads. Hygiene is the only thing that should be of concern when it comes to hair, and frankly the few seconds that we are afforded to glimpse at these kids’ lives through pictures do not provide the hygienic practices of their homes. Period.
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Can some just please explain to me what good hair or bad hair is? Hair is hair that God blessed us with in diffrent textures, lengths, colors, and types. There is no such thing as anyones hair being bad hair or good hair. I am black and my hair is not the straightest at times but that don’t mean I have bad hair. Its not the longest but that don’t mean I have bad hair. Hair is hair done or not done there is no such thing as bad or good hair. I thank God for the hair I got and regardless if its short and curly which many want to call “nappy” I love it and embrace it. And never wished it look like anyone else.
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at the end of the day you never know whats floating around in your gene pool its a surprise with every child. people need to stop. as long as your hair is healthy and not breaking and falling out its good hair.
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OMG for crying out loud hair is hair!Who cares goodness good hair bad hair aint nothing called good hair!
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I once taught t-shirt design to middle school kids living in the now destroyed Cabrini Green projects in Chicago. I wore afro puffs and one of the girls in class asked my why my hair was not permed. I replied, “Because this is the hair God gave me.” I smiled at her and she looked perplexed, as if she expected another response. I mean, what does anyone say to that? I love my ‘nappiness’, whether it’s in puffs or blown out.
I love how Malia Obama wears her hair.
I love when the hair is conditioned and cared for in its natural state.
I got my first perm at age 12. I had to wait until college to cut it all off and start from scratch. Since then I haven’t looked back and on occasion I am recruited to ‘tame’ some child’s natural head of hair because the parent or family member can’t.
Are we sending bad messages to our children? YES WE ARE! I don’t care if it’s straight, curly, kinky, mohawk’d, or nearly bald. I don’t judge and I think subjective opinion deems whether or not it’s presentable or not.
I don’t think black people realize just how conditioned our children (or we ourselves) are when it comes to European-derived standards. That’s sad.
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It is sad how caught up we are on beauty. I mean, at the end of the day it’s just hair. I can’t stand to see somebody with weave in their head and two different hair colors. We gotta learn 2 be natural. Plus, there’s alot of things that influence people to do these things. For example, Lil Wayne’s song Every Girl. I like a LONG HAIRED, THICK, RED BONE. Long hair: That’s wear the weave comes in. Thick: Spending hundreds of dollars to get a good body. Red Bone: Bleaching products.
America… EARTH, GET A GRIP AND SOME SENSE!
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Well if you want to appeal to LiL Wayne, you already got more problems than your hair. LOL
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I pretty much agree with the majority of the posts above. One thing that I don’t understand though is the negativity towards weaves and wigs (in general).
My mom was diagnosed with ovarian and colon cancer last year and has since undergone numerous chemo treatemtns. She has lost all of her hair (including her eyebrows and eyelashes) and now wears a wig. She loved her natural hair (no relaxers ever buit a jerry curl back in the day lol) when she had it but feels comfortable wearing her wig. I can’t stand when I see people downing wig wearers when they have no idea why someone wears one (not this site but in general). My best friend also wears a wig but only on occasion to give her real hair a break from all the tugging and pulling.
I also know several weave wearers who wear them to help nuture their hair back to health due to damage from relaxers. Believe it or not, wearing a weave CAN help promote hair growth and healthiness if properly taken care of.
Check out this link: http://www.reniece.com/HealthyHairMakeovers.html
Next time you see someone wearing a weave or a wig don’t assume that they are trying to look “white” or that they are ashamed of their napturally beautiful hair
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I’m glad you put this issue up, many people don’t even realize they are unconciously continuing this method of self hate. I had this discusion with my mother and aunt when I cut my hair and decided to go natural, they told me they didn’t even realize they were thinking that way, that it’s always kinda been that nappy hair, or in baltimore they say knotty hair is bad, they thanked me for letting them know and they have been watching wat they say more often. That’s why i love em
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I guess I can’t really elaborate on what has already been said about the ridiculousness of the “good hair, bad hair” debate. Unfortunately it still permeates in our community, and until we get deprogrammed after decades of conditioning, it will remain. There are so many other issues at hand in our world/community, i.e. HIV/AIDS, homelessness, crime, and other social ills. If we put as much effort into these things, the world might just get a little bit better.
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You are so right. It seems we can never get pass this skin color, hair texture thing. It’s really stupid to see and compare the texture of hair as good or bad. It the hair is healthy, it’s good hair. We need to move on to things that can better our community and hair is certainly not the cure to the many problems facing us now. Thank you for your statement. Well said.
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Thank you!
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BLACK HAIR IS BEAUTIFUL NO MATTER WHAT THE TEXTURE IS WE HAVE THE MOST VERSITILE HAIR WE CAN WEAR BRAIDS,DREDS,WEAVE,AFROS,FLAT IRONED WHY DO BLACK PEOPLE BUY INTO THAT WHOLE GOOD HAIR BAD HAIR THING ITS LIKE WE’RE ASHAMED OF OUR HERITAGE ANYTHING CLOSER TO WHITE IS BETTER AND ANYTHING THATS BLACK ITS BAD SOME PEOPLE ARE BRAINWASHED FROM ALL THE NEGITIVE IMAGES OF WHAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE SUPOSSED TO LOOK LIKE… BE PROUD OF YOUR THICK HEALTHY HAIR IT BEAUTIFUL
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Caratime2 u nor ur statements matters to me, so poof be gone…..Nisaa what you said was nothing but the truth. Your statements were beautifully stated,period……………I have seen programs where Jamaican/African women lighten their skin with bleached products. Their faces light, yet their bodies still brown or dark. Like u said it’s all the white men doing. I have had so many people question me about the things I say when it comes to complexions. EX: why would u say that and ur light complexioned also? Because it’s the dayum truth, alot of light complexion women and men think they are better than the next brotha or sistah because of their complexion.
I have a friend that thinks her man is the best thing that walked this earth,lmao, his lazy azz don’t even work. She been supporting him off and on for 15 years. Anyway she always makes comments about people asking him is he biracial? I ask her why would they ask that? he’s looks 100% black to me. I guess because he have greenish/brown eyes. The man is the complexion of T.I. with regular hair. I will neva forget how I met this friend, she came up to me one day in bingo and said I was so pretty. She said don’t get me wrong, I’m not gay at all, but ur really beautiful. As I got to know her, I learned how fascinated this girl was with light complexion/biracial people. Yet she and both of her kids are dark and she wonder why her daughter treat her terrible. You don’t express ur feelings like that around your children,regardless if your light or not.
Now getting to the point, I know exactly how people think, every since I was a little girl I have known. Certain family members on my father side loved to show me off and certain ones hated me for how I looked. That’s why I have said that Halle’s daughter could be by a black man and look the exact same way she looks now. I am Halle’s complexion with big natural curls. I luv to wear my hair natural in the spring/summer and let it grow in the winter. Now my father and 2 of my brothers are Seal’s complexion and my mom and other 3 brothers are anywhere between Denzel’s to Kanye’s complexions. We have similar features and one or two have nice hair, but not like mines. On my mother side her father is light with curly hair and some of my aunts and my uncle are light. My daughter hair is just like mines, her hair was to the middle of her back when she was growing up. Now she wears her hair naturally curly and it’s beautiful and she’s beautiful. She’s a beautiful brown complexion. Let me end this now with this final note…….I have always known since being a small child that complexion and hair matters a great deal to black people. That’s why so many darker complexion black people do not love themselves and it’s sad. I hate the way they think, what can I do, I’m not in their shoes and I don’t know how it feel? but I do know that we as a people have alot of obstacles to overcome. To me, if the parents can wear their hair nice and presentable, the kids hair should be the same way, period………
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To me “good hair” is hair that is take GOOD care of!!!
You can have that bi-racial so called “good hair” but it still be jacked up and a mess! Same goes for any race for that matter, you can have beautiful hair (no matter the grade/ texture) if it is well taken care of!
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Some peoples genes just shows through in one generation and maybe not again for another 20 or 30 yrs.My 2 yr old son has what I call good hair because he has two full african american parents and has very manageable natural curly hair my 9yr old niece has the same but her 12yr sister doesn’t and neither does her 2 yr old brother nor my brother or either one of their mothers neither one has the same mother.until I was 14 a relaxer would not keep my hair straight and I thought I had nappy hair because I couldn’t straighten it from that age until this year relaxers worked on me but now once again they won’t .now that I am older and my hair is curly again I feel like I have a better grade of hair than I used too but not good hair because it is short and still hard to manage sometimes. Most days all I have to do to my hair is put mouse on it and go about my day. My grandmother on my fathers side had curly hair she had no daughters to worry about good or bad hair 5 boys no girls came along until me.My mother didn’t have curly hair until she cut it all off and started over hair is a funny thing i am 32 yrs old now hair changes it does what it wants to do.if we stop putting chemicals in our hair we can all have what is steriotyped as being good hair when our hair goes back to its natural state we were born with and we take care of it.Some children in some of those pictures do look like they have hard to manage hair .some people just don’t know what to do with all that hair.Dont blame it on being biracial for some it is the parents fault it looks the way it looks Look at Zahara being adopted she has 2 white parents and she don’t look like Brad and Angelina have trouble doing or finding someone to do her hair she always looks as what folks would want to call presentableThose who you want to call unpresentable their hair could probably look just like Jadens if it was well managed and not just get up and go Get some Carols Daughters products they have some good stuff for the natural Will and Jada,Brad and Angelina use it
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I totally agree.
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I CONCUR NISSA
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From the comments that I make and read, I take the problem as unkempt hair, regardless of texture. For me, it has NOTHING to do with the hair texture. Matted, dried-out hair is unattrative regardless of texture.
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I totally agree. It’s not even about the style of the hair, it’s about it being cared for and healthy.
I have naturally curly, “silky” hair and I often wish it was more coarse so I could do more with it. It’s very difficult for my hair to hold a style.
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I totally agree with you. If you keep your have combed, brushed and conditioned it is all good.
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One of my concerns is when will Black women ever get enough hair. Boy, I have never seen so many Black women with so much hair. You can look at many of the facial features and tell that their hair didn’t grow that long. I’m waiting for the day that we can be happy and work with what we were given. Like Simbad said some years ago, so much weave has made the head so heavy some can necks can hardly stand the strain of holding up the head. LOL
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i don’t just think its a dark skin “oh they hate their selves” thing. Most of us love our self, u (in general) just don’t.
A lot of lite skin girls do “hate them selves”, some try to go whiter, hence “passing” and some are fighting this internal conflict, tryna prove their black, there down for the cause.
If u b u and love what god gave u, ya’ll be happier
If u b u and change ya self to what u like, ya be happier
basically do u, cuz u can’t b nobody else but u, if u get what im saying
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good hair is hair that is cared for… anybody can have good hair and anybody can have bad hair, just stop looking after it and u’ll soon see…
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So what if it was not just your mother calling your friend bad … what if everyone called your friend bad? Would that make her a bad person? Would it make her feel bad? It may not make her a bad person but it would make her feel bad because how can you “teach children to love themselves” when you are calling them bad? Does it make you feel good, superior even, to say that you have good hair?
Your comment about what white people call good hair is just silly. Did you do a survey of all white people to come up with that answer?
People need to understand that ideas expressed in words have a way of creating the reality that they describe.
And what if a parent chooses to let their childs hair grow in its natural state? Isn’t that how his hair grows out if his head? Or should he have a super slipper S-curl like Jermaine Jackon is that more appealing? Better yet, he should cover it up with a scarf like the slave masters would make the slaves due so that the black, nappy, dry, uncontrollable, bristol brush hair would not offend the slave owners eyes. Are all the readers her the new slave owners?
Everyone should have a right to wear his or her hair the way he or she feels comfortable and no one should have a write to DICTATE how a persons hair that grows out if HIS or HER head should be. We have got to do better people!
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Zogie,
Thank you for stating the obvious–there is no such thing as “pure” african american or pure black people. If you are of light-complexion and consider yourself black then you better believe somewhere in the past, a white person or some other group contributed to your gene pool. Black people need to realize that it is because of this mixture that most of us have so many different shades of complexions and hair textures and that is why 2 dark-skinned people can have a light skin child with a different texture of hair..
I am from Jamaica and trust, the complexion and hair comparisons are just as bad. Here, we have black people mixed with Indian (from India)and Chinese, as well as ethnic groups of white. In one family, you will have brother and sisters ranging from dark to light, and from curly/kinky hair to loose and wavy–and when they have kids, who knows how the children will look…but the ones that come out dark with curly/kinky are the ones society will want to label as “pure black”…but the Indian or Chinese gene does not go away..they are still racially mixed. In my own family, my brothers came out with the loose curls that look straight when the hair is cut low…I got the curly/kinky hair that spirals with alot of gel. My mother is light and I am dark like my father.
The sad truth is, the less kinkier or curly the hair looks, the more society praises the hair..I don’t think this train of thought will ever disappear until mothers stop complaining about how difficult it is to comb naturally kinky and curly hair and when black men stop wanting our hair to swing and blow in the breeze.
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Everyone worries about this sh*t to much anyways.. Non-black people really don’t care about the difference, because in society all of these kids in the picture are considered black.. Good hair, Bad hair, bla, bla, bla.. Get Lost
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Thank you, Judd. If you look black, people will consider you black unless you have a sign around your neck saying your are racially mixed. Who cares?
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It is what it is… We as “black women” have issues with our hair. I got my first perm at 12. And that is old by today’s standards. Bottom line all people want what is “hot” in the media. White women, latina women are getting weaves too. My hope is one day black women will be able to wear whatever hair style we want. Nappy or Permed it will all be good. Our hair isn’t what makes us black. But I think we will always have an issue with hair.
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For me, it has nothing to do with texture and everything to do with just basic grooming. For example, Angelina doesn’t seem to know how to put a brush to either of her little girls’ heads. Shiloh looks as lost in the woods as Zahara, LOL. Mel B is apparently too lazy to care for the hair of either one of her girls too and now the poor baby is running around looking like Mr. T. But look at Connor Cruise – a biracial kid with a smooth, close cut who is more handsome than any other 14 year old I’ve ever seen.
Brush the hair, make it neat. That’s all I ask. The same is expected of us as adults. I can’t just roll into work looking like Chewbaca like a do when I wake up and call it being “proud”. I have to groom myself. Groom the kids.
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NOBODY HAS “BAD HAIR” LESS THEY JUST DON’T HAVE ANY HAIR PERIOD!
MINE IS A SOFT NAPPY. AND NO I AM NOT “NAPPY HAPPY”!
YES I WOULD PREFER NATURALLY CURLY OR WAVY BLACK COLORED HAIR. I
AIN’T GONNA LIE! MOST WOMEN (WHITE AND BLACK) WOULD PREFER THEIR
OWN HAIR TO BE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT IS…EITHER STRAIGHTER,
THICKER, BLONDER, CURLIER…WE ARE NEVER HAPPY! MY HUSBAND IS ASIAN
AND OUR KIDS HAIR VARIES FROM STRAIGHT TO WAVY. NOT ONE OF THEM
HAVE ISSUES (INFERIOR OR SUPERIOR) ABOUT THEIR HAIR BECAUSE WE NEVER
TALK ABOUT IT. IF ANYTHING THEY THINK THEY ARE MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN
THEIR WHITE PEERS BECAUSE WE INSTILL PRIDE IN THE FACT THAT THEY ARE
NATURALLY TAN AND HAVE THE HAIR MOST RACES WANT.
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I think the reason why some “nappy” hair is perceived as “bad hair” is (in some cases) people try to wear their unrelaxed hair STRAIGHT. If you don’t relax your hair, why not just wear it natural? (Unless it’s been pressed really well with a hot comb or flat iron and good products!)
I feel ashamed for little black girls that I see whose mothers just brush their hair straight back, it’s unhealthy, it’s only 4 or 5 inches long, it hasn’t been trimmed, it’s sticking straight up in the air, since they have no relaxer and yet they are trying to wear it straight! Why not use your natural texture to your hair’s advantage? There’s nothing wrong with it and it looks a heck of a lot better than sticking up on top of your head.
I’d take cute Afro puffs over the stick-up do anyday!
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There is no such thing as good hair or bad hair PEOPLE! I can’t believe that some of you are trying to justify why you use these terms. This is part of the reason why we as a people are in the shape that we are in; we’re to overly concerned with how we look, spinning rims, fancy cars & designer clothes (we can’t afford) when education should be our main priority and judging from some of the posts a lot of you skipped English class.
The first teacher(s) in your life are your parent(s) and if they use these terms and think this way you are more than likely going to pick it up and that is how it is passed from generation to generation; it is a learned behavior, children are not born thinking this way. As it was stated by “Dree” when she brought this topic to the attention of her mother and aunt they did not realize that they were thinking in this way and the effect that it had on her, similarly some of you don’t realize the effect it has on others and see nothing wrong with the use of these terms, it is so ingrained in your psyche you feel it is normal and the sad part is your don’t realize how ignorant you sound. The slave mentality is alive and well in 2009.
Do you think President Obama would be in the the White House today if he thought and spoke this way? Some of you need to read his books “Dreams of My Father” & The Audacity of Hope.
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Excellent post.
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My daughter has a black father and I am Mexican/Caucasian. I keep her hair fairly short because I feel that at 2 1/2 she (and I) both have better things to be doing than struggling to get her hair combed and styled. Some moisturizer and a headband are usually all it takes. However, I have been known to take her out running errands with her hair flowing wild.
We live in a small, rural town with a heavily white population. I cannot tell you the number of times we get stopped by complete strangers who tell us they love her hair. White mothers with bald babies are jealous of the head of hair on her head. The only time I ever heard a negative comment about her hair was from an elderly black woman.
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At the rate brothers are hooking up with white girls topics like these won’t even get a response because there won’t be anyone to respond to it. lol!
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I feel that everyone of you need to stop all of this monotonous chatter, go to sleep and wake up again with a clear mind. I would not invest a dime in nonsense. That is one of the reasons that America can not elevate because individual’s minds are so full of clutter like this topic you are all discussing. Until people overcome nonsensical brain washing assinine anything, this country, USA will never prosper as it should.
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heres the thing.People keep saying that jaden smith is not mixed.But the truth is HE IS MIXED!!!!!!!! Jaden is part creole part native american part portugese-jewish and black,and that’s just on jada’s side of the family.Like all black people Will is mixed two we just don’t know with what.So ya see Jaden’s mixed that’s why his hair is so cool and nice.If you don’t belive me you can Wikipedia him or Jada and you can see what I mean.
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Khrish Hill, well said. Good hair is healthy well groomed hair.
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I miss Khrish commenting! Where is she!?
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*This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
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Hello everyone! This website is fantastic and I’m sure that I will be back here.
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