NY Times Article: Skin Deep

Skin Deep: Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics

By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS
Published: August 26, 2009

SILKY straight hair has long been considered by many black women to be their crowning glory. So what if getting that look meant enduring the itchy burning that’s a hallmark of many chemical straighteners. Or a pricey dependence on “creamy crack,” as relaxers are sometimes jokingly called.

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Sometimes I wear my hair in its natural curly/kinky state, and sometimes I flat iron it until its bone straight. I am one of the Black women that struggles with feeling completely comfortable with both styles. I would prefer to just wear my hair curly all of the time, but often I do feel more attractive when my hair is straightened. When my hair is curly, I do worry that others will think that I gave up on grooming myself for that day. On the flip side, I know it's much healthier for my hair when I wear it naturally, because I'm not using all of the heat and/or chemicals in my hair that straight hair requires.

"“Don’t buy into anyone else’s standard, set your own,” Miss American contestant Shanya Y. Rudd said in the article. But sometimes it's hard to do that when you are living in a world where how you present yourself does play a large role in your success.

What do you think?

-Stacy Davis, sgrahamhunt@gmail.com

Note: Special thanks to Chavaughn Raines for sending this article to me!!