Before this project I was sure on my stance when it comes to natural hair. I believed that anyone could become part of this movement. Anyone who was embracing natural hair could become part of this movement and claim it. There is controversy surrounding this. Some believe you cannot become part of this movement unless you are black and have Afro texture hair. I once opposed this but after studying I wonder if light skin girls and looser curl patterns are indeed hijacking the movement. Upon searching the Internet for pictures of natural hair you will find light skinned girls with longer natural curly hair. Afro textures are severely underrepresented. A community where the once found acceptance is now casting them aside. Youtube channels that show girls with looser curl patterns are much more popular and have more views then hair tutorials of girls with Afro textured hair. One argument was that there are simply more women with loose Curls embracing the natural hair movement then there are afro-textured women embracing this movement. I don’t think that is true. Youtube seems to be divided all the women with the loose Curls believe there is no discrimination and women with kinky hair are vocal that there is a discrimination. I do believe and colorism and texture discrimination after doing my research. This movement created by black Afro haired women is now pushing them aside. This is not to say that natural hair women that do not have Afro textured hair should not claim this movement but how do we represent each other equally when there still seems to be bias and preferred hair types? This is called texture discrimination. I believe that light skinned and curly hair more closely resembles the European standard of beauty and therefore discrimination within a community meant to support natural hair still holds some kind of discrimination.
Oct 162016