Back to Black!

I am so happy to see women stop using weaves and wigs, and take the ‘journey’ to grow out their natural hair and own who they really are down inside.  For many years, in the past and future to come, women will always feel the need to compete and compare themselves to what’s socially acceptable and pretty.  It’s draining to see women drag themselves through the mud just so they can be accepted by society.  I think these women not buying into weaves, wigs, hair extensions, and hair relaxers are so incredibly strong and are putting their middle finger to social beauty standards.  If we want to get rid of beauty standards, we have to stop buying into them.  There are a plentiful amount of black women who have gorgeous, long, ethnic hair, and rock the shit out of it, but you don’t see those women on the cover of vogue or Marie Claire.  It also infuriates me when white women try and use black women hairstyles and try to make it look cute or as if it’s some new hairstyle.  Black women have fought so long to finally be thought of as pretty and still to this day get ridiculed for the type of hair they have,and then white women have the audacity to try and use the same hair black women don’t want? That’s the biggest idea of appropriation I’ve ever seen.  Having these women retire the weaves & wigs save animals, because a majority of the weaves come from horse hair or even sheep or lambs wool.  They use this hair because it’s soft and long, or soft and curly.  They shave these animals or saw off the horses tail in order to have enough hair to make into a weave.  It’s harmful towards the animal which they have no say in whatsoever.  I can’t applaud these brave women for accepting their natural, black, kinky hair for what it actually is and rocking it.  Not only are they accepting their hair, but they’re accepting their blackness, and with the harsh times we’ve seen recently in this country, it’s most important that these black women own who they are and don’t let anybody feel bad about it, because who you are is amazing and no body or hairstyle can change that about you.  I hope that this trend of going through the natural journey continues with years to come, because then finally people will start to not feed into the beauty standards and feel confident in their own body.