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Sierra Sistrunk
Professor Brown
English 1102
April 18, 2013
Black is Beautiful A beautiful black girl with a long eighteen inch natural hair is complimented daily. Her hair hangs low, almost waist length as it bounces and flows in the wind. The compliments are so encouraging because people are highly impressed with the state of her hair, but discouraging at the same time, because she hears comments such as “I wish my hair was like that but I don’t have good hair,” “She has white people hair that’s why her hair so long,” or even “That’s probably not even her real hair.” This is where African American girls and women fall victim to the ignorance of their natural beauty. This girl was me. I had long hair my entire life hair the length of what people pay hundreds of dollars to get in a weave. Although I have what is considered in today’s world as “good hair,” I at one point decided to go the route to get a relaxer in my hair. Yes, it may straighten out the kinks and curls, but it damages the hair also. After three years, I decided to go back natural, no relaxers, after seeing the harm it can cause to someone’s hair. As the years went by, I got older, and people paid closer attention to everyone’s personal appearance. It became clear that my hair was critical and eye catching in my everyday appearance. After a while, just being known by ‘the girl with the really long hair’ was becoming unacceptable. When people started connecting to me because of a feature that I have or started disliking me because of something you have and they don’t, it becomes startling. That’s when I made the big step. I had already accomplished the natural and relaxed hair beauty, but since people had come accustomed to ‘long straight hair’ as beauty, why not try to beat the odds? I went from having long straight eighteen inches of hair natural hair to having approximately one inch of a naturally curly afro. Who is someone to say what is ‘good hair’ and what is bad? It is a mentality and
Professor Brown
English 1102
April 18, 2013
Black is Beautiful A beautiful black girl with a long eighteen inch natural hair is complimented daily. Her hair hangs low, almost waist length as it bounces and flows in the wind. The compliments are so encouraging because people are highly impressed with the state of her hair, but discouraging at the same time, because she hears comments such as “I wish my hair was like that but I don’t have good hair,” “She has white people hair that’s why her hair so long,” or even “That’s probably not even her real hair.” This is where African American girls and women fall victim to the ignorance of their natural beauty. This girl was me. I had long hair my entire life hair the length of what people pay hundreds of dollars to get in a weave. Although I have what is considered in today’s world as “good hair,” I at one point decided to go the route to get a relaxer in my hair. Yes, it may straighten out the kinks and curls, but it damages the hair also. After three years, I decided to go back natural, no relaxers, after seeing the harm it can cause to someone’s hair. As the years went by, I got older, and people paid closer attention to everyone’s personal appearance. It became clear that my hair was critical and eye catching in my everyday appearance. After a while, just being known by ‘the girl with the really long hair’ was becoming unacceptable. When people started connecting to me because of a feature that I have or started disliking me because of something you have and they don’t, it becomes startling. That’s when I made the big step. I had already accomplished the natural and relaxed hair beauty, but since people had come accustomed to ‘long straight hair’ as beauty, why not try to beat the odds? I went from having long straight eighteen inches of hair natural hair to having approximately one inch of a naturally curly afro. Who is someone to say what is ‘good hair’ and what is bad? It is a mentality and