Posts Tagged hair politics

Some things you might want to know about black hair before you regulate how black women wear it

The United States Army is facing criticism after releasing new appearance standards that essentially ban most of the hairstyles that black women with natural hair wear. The regulations ban twists, locks, and braids thicker than one fourth of an inch. 

The United States Army is facing criticism after releasing new appearance standards that essentially ban most of the hairstyles that black women with natural hair wear. The regulations ban twists, locks, and braids thicker than ...

The unbearable politicizing of black hair

Full Disclosure: I’ve been natural for nearly 12 years. Many years ago, when I was working on a big real estate project as an entry level project manager, a fellow black woman admonished me for wearing a colorful headscarf. At the time, I wore my hair in double strand twists that I would do myself, a tedious,painstaking project that would warrant me wearing a headscarf for a day or two because until I completed it. She told me that she ‘didin’t want people to get the wrong idea about the project.’ Her hair, by contrast, was chemically straightened, permed in the natural parlance of black hair styles. She occassionaly wore hair pieces as well.

Context here is king: we were black ...

Full Disclosure: I’ve been natural for nearly 12 years. Many years ago, when I was working on a big real estate project as an entry level project manager, a fellow black woman admonished me for wearing a ...