A Hairy Situation

A Hairy Situation
The room clouds with steam as the machine whirrs continuously. The smell of burning hair oil fills the air. Blow drying someone’s kinky head of hair for a full hour is not the most enjoyable thing to do but it sure did get me thinking about some things. Before I get to the root of my experience, let me just explain my motives behind doing such a random thing. Well, I stay in a res full of girls. Girls never seem to stop worrying about their hair and one of my res mates has been complaining about how it’s such a hassle to blow out her African hair so I thought I’d play the considerate housemate and step in to tackle this tedious task. And it was tedious, believe me. Straightening out those knots and curls made my arm feel stiff, and the sound of a hairdryer in action was stuck in my head for hours. I’m not blowing things out of proportion.
Now for the root of my experience – as I was tugging at my resmates hair, dandruff and all, I began to wonder why it was so important for her hair to be straighter than her eyelashes. Apart from the fact that smooth, straight hair is easier to comb, I started to think about Western ideas of beauty. I believed she wanted to conform to Western images of what good hair looks like. Many of us, especially women, feel pressure to be accepted within a “normal” society, and for some this is having light skin and straight hair. To many of us, an attractive head of hair is the only way to attract attention. But why does it have to be straight to be attractive? Many ladies out there are displaying their ethnicity by making waves with their natural hair and this is nothing extraordinary. So here’s a tip from me – don’t straighten your hair for all the wrong reasons – flaunt whatever is growing on your head! There’s no need to blow society away with false images of beauty.