Good Hair and self Identity

Several weeks ago, My family and I watched Chris Rock's documentary called "Good Hair"  (http://www.goodhairdvd.com/).  It was fairly well done in that it attempted to look at the "hair" industry and the roots of the understanding of what is "good" hair and what is "bad".

WEB Dubois wrote in his classic book "The Souls of Black Folk" that African-Americans are unusual in that they define themselves through the eyes of another.  He understood at the turn of the 20th century what we continue to experience in the 21st, that European perceptions of health, wealth, and beauty continue to shape and inform our self identity. 

My goal is not to review the movie in its entirety, but to briefly point out some of the issues that arose in the movie to help stinulate conversation regarding these difficult issues.

1. African American Women often judge their own beauty by European standards, despite the fact that Eurpopean American women continue to adopt African-American traits as symbols of beauty (lip injections, hip injections, tanning beds, etc).  What is  missing is the link between African American women's self-identity and African-American men's perception of beauty.  Do African-American women also frame and reinforce the European model of beauty with its long straight hair and thin lips?

2. African American women spend an exorbitant amount on hair and hair products, particularly weaves.  Chris Rock documents that many women will pay upwards to $5000 for a good weave.  Some even put their hair on "lay away" while they sacrificed and saved.  This may be a circular arguement where many AA women can maintain that a certain level of sophistication is required vocationally, and that means processed hair or extensions.  It is difficult to know which came first!

3. The hair industry that is specifically for AA people is controlled exclusively by non AA people.  Al Sharpton (who has his own hair famously processed) is interviewed in the documentary and calls the exploitation "Financial retardation".  This is a multi-billion dollar industry where AA people are strictly consumers, but not producers or distributors.  The source of the hair is equally disturbing, but that's a different blog.

Is it time that we arrest the acceptance of European based beauty?  Maybe, as some have argued, the light-skinned model with long hair, thinner hips and light eyes represents the American ideal of beauty.  Maybe we have moved past the Afro-centrism of the 1960's and 70"s and adopted a generic American ideal.  My question for you is whether this is healthy?  Is this disturbing or simply acculturalization of a people to the American ideal.

Please leave your comments,


Pastor M Traylor