December 22,
2015
Inimitable Follicle
I gazed into
the partly steamed mirror. Running my
fingers through the three inch high cold black forest of curls, coils, kinks
and fuzz. I used all the strength in my
10 year old hands to pull and flatten my forest down like I could do just
fifteen minutes ago. I pulled in one
direction. Fail. I pulled in another
direction. I spread my fingers further
apart to grab more hair. I bowed my head
forward and tried to contain all the hair from the back and pull it on top of
my head. I strategically sectioned my
hair. Curls broke loose. Kinks refused
to cooperate. Coils sprung out. Fuzz
brought a rough untamed appearance. I yelled at her, yanked, screamed, and
pulled with aggression and frustration. My eyes began to water, and tears
slowly dropped from my cheeks like the water dripping from my hair. What had I done?
At the tender
age of 10 I unconsciously struggled with the societal conceptual standard of
normality in external appearance.
Physically,
black women have ALWAYS been globally unique.
We come in various shapes, sizes, and shades. We stand out in most crowds, and individually
stand out in crowds of us. This distinct
individuality yet unicity is something we should delight in daily. Unfortunately it has been skewed by a hybrid
of cultural appropriation and assimilation.
The
destruction of our beauty and the creation of self-hate began with the second
definition of appropriation. Society
began to shape beauty around the image of the white woman. Straight hair, fair skin, thin lips, and lack
of curves. Encompassing all of these
features in one black woman is nearly impossible. The effect of this was, the further divide
between shades of Black women (Light vs. Dark, though this originated in times
of slavery), bleaching cream, and chemical relaxers. Prior to, Ethnological Expositions (Human
Zoos) were established across Europe to lust, exploit and degrade the fanatical
physical appearance of the bare Black woman.
How can a woman find beauty in herself when it has been lusted and told
it was not beautiful? By assimilating to
be merely accepted by society.
After years of pursuing, perfecting
and attaining societal acceptance, the second definition of cultural
appropriation shows its face. Now, beauty is full lips, curves (booty), dark
skin, and “wild” hair. This new beauty
is only beautiful on the imitator, and not the originator. The originator is frowned upon by the
imitator and their fellow originators as well.
For example, Kylie Jenner and her “Dred Locks” are considered edgy and
is praised. Meanwhile, I am told I
cannot wear any form of braids if I wanted to work at my minimum wage job as a
16 year old, because it does not “fit the brand”. Growing up in the black community dred locks
were also seen as risky to get if “you want to get a job and be taken seriously”. A sad learned concept stemmed by cultural
appropriation. Another example would be
the booty, hip and thigh injection phenomenon.
Many non-black women are now having procedures to achieve a bigger butt,
and receive praise and attention for it, from men of all races (including our
men). Black women with large butts were
looked upon as aliens and inhumane in the past (Human Zoos) and are not given
any recognition in the present. Teen
Vogue featured a White model to enlightened teens about Senegalese twist, in
which she wore in her hair. 
Black women have experienced centuries
of cultural appropriation of both definitions, in which, has only blinded us of
our beauty, divided us as a unit, and has given us a sense of hopelessness of
achieving our own logic of beauty and owning it. In recent years Black women have begun to
counteract the damage done by the society’s impossible expectations and disrespectful
use of cultural appropriation. How have
we done so? Black women across the globe
who have experienced the Westernized oppression of Black beauty have decided to
take back our most distinct feature, (next to our flawless skin) and that is
with our hair.
The natural hair movement opened the
eyes of self-discovery in Black women.
It has opened up the doors to learning to appreciate and take care of
our hair. All generations have embraced
this movement and are shamelessly wearing the God given hair that grows from
our hair in an array of styles, and are inventing more by the day. Women who wear
Our hair,
whether natural, relaxed, or hidden under weave/extensions; straightens, curls,
waves, stretches, shrinks, ties, twists, reacts to the weather, and can look
natural and beautiful on any shade of Black across the globe. That reality, versatility, and individuality
Those tears
of pain and frustration I cried as a 10 year old who just did a Big Chop, has
turned into tears of joy. Joy in the
revelation of the beauty I innately have as a Black woman through the knowledge
of our hair. Joy in the growth I have seen Black women have in acceptance of
our hair in all of its fabulous states and joy in the destruction of our past
oppressive conceptions of beauty. Not only tears of joy, but also tears of
laughter. Laughter at anyone who dares
to culturally appropriate what is God given and considers their duplication as
truth. They say “Imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery”, the world has been and will always be flattered at
our hair, but imitation is impossible with the inimitable follicle.
-Francina
