Long Hair Don't Care? Melanie Fiona's Recent Comments Spark the Old "Good Hair" Debate Again

As MC Lyte rapped years ago, "Hot damn..here we go again!". Here we go with another conversation about the topic of "good hair". Hair has long been a touchy issue amongst womyn in the black community, a topic that is locked and loaded and carries plenty of pain and emotion at the mere mention of it. The weight of this issue leans on the feeling that to indicate "good hair" is more than just the physical look but involves the undertone that it brings with it - an immediate association with beauty, skin color and acceptance. The essential idea of being "better" than...

Melanie recently set fire to this already flaming issue when she was asked about her hair and attributed its length to her mixed race heritage. In an interview with Sophisticate's Black Hair Styles and Care Guide, Melanie was asked what the secret to her gorgeous long hair is. In response, Melanie claimed:

I was born with a full head of hair, and my mom wouldn’t let me cut it until I was 12! I’m mixed – my mom is Black and Portuguese and my dad is Indian so I have a good mix for growth.

With these simple words, the internet was abuzz as bloggers and readers drew their line in the sand in the discussion of whether or not black womyn should be offended by the idea that beautiful, long hair is attributed with being mixed. I personally don't think that you have to be mixed to have "good hair" or a head of thick, long hair that grows healthily. I see black womyn with beautiful hair of ALL textures and lengths everyday.

Melanie's comments and people's reactions to it just play into the age old belief in the community that if you are black, you are born into a life of hair struggle as it is difficult to grow it past a specific length, and that if you are mixed your genes give you a "pass" to fewer struggles with your hair. This is an issue that is not helped by the media, as the majority of black womyn that are represented on television are either of mixed race or wear weaves or wigs that don't show off their naturally beautiful hair. There aren't too many images that show black womyn's hair in all of it's long and flowy, short and cropped, permed, natural and kinky glory. I think that there is less of an issue with Melanie's comments and more of a problem with what we continually see of black womyn's hair. Because we see these same images repeatedly, it is easy to carry on the dated belief that long hair = beautiful, bonus points if you are mixed.

So,what side of the debate are you on when it comes to Melanie's comments? Is she speaking the unfortunate truth or are her comments completely out of line? Speak on it below.

Hampton University Bans Cornrows and Dreads

It's not the first time we've seen an institution of some type try to place boundaries on what people can and cannot do with their hair.

Remember the post I did a few weeks ago about the flight attendant who was forced to hide his dread under a terrible wig in order to keep his job because his natural hairstyle was harming the company's image?  

http://thetruthaccordingtotrey.blogspot.ca/2012/07/would-you-hide-your-hair-to-keep-your.html

Well, this time its Hampton University.  They have created a rule for its male business students:  No dreads or cornrows.

The mandate was put in place in 2001 and only applies to a specific group of students enrolled in a leadership course within Hampton's five-year M.B.A. program.  The Dean of the Business School believes that the hairstyles will prevent students from securing corporate jobs.

Maybe he's right?? Maybe in corporate America the 'old boys network' frowns upon those hairstyles...SO WHAT!  What ever happened to freedom of choice?  

I wonder if people think that this natural hair movement is some kind of political stance as it was also viewed in the 70s?  Are people afraid of our afros, dreads and cornrows and somehow disguise it as something that 'for your own good?'

I see what the Hamptons University is trying to do: make their students employable once they leave the walls of academia, BUT banning a hairstyle is not the way to achieve that! 

The question I have is this:  Was this ban justifiable? Are cornrows and dreadlocks truly unprofessional?  How much does (or should) your hair be a factor when applying for a job? 

I would love to hear from the professional men with dread out there!

Share your thoughts and comments with me.  Join the discussion!

Would You Hide Your Hair To Keep Your Job?

Would you hide your hair to save your job?  That's a decision that a French flight attendant had to make.  Aboubakar Traoré, a Frenchman of Ivorian decent, was forced to hide his hair under a terrible toupee in order to remain employed.

Traoré was hired by Air France in 1999, and has been wearing dreads for quite a few years.  It's only recently that his hair has caused a stir claiming that his harm was 'harming the company's image' and that he would have to wear a wig or risk losing his job.  (This limitation was only placed on the men, because female flight attendants are permitted to wear braids and dreads.)

As a result, a petition was started to get the company to review and update it's policies to reflect the ethnic diversity of it's employees, and demonstrators have gathered and protested Air France's policies.

It's time to WAKE UP folks!  We're living in a time were more and more people are embracing their natural hair, however, certain hairstyles are still deemed 'unprofessional' by certain companies.  It's disheartening that we sometimes still have to fight for the basics.


I would love to hear your thoughts....would you ever consider altering your image to save your job?  Has anyone ever done that before?  What were the results of your change?  

If you knew it could kill you would you still use it?

This is very interesting!  I came across this yesterday and had to share it with you.  There has always been a part of me that wonders what the effects that hair relaxers or 'perms' have on the body.

Researchers at Boston University have recently completed a study that suggests a link between hair relaxers and uterine fibroid tumors in women early puberty in young girls.

They followed "more than 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women from 1997 to 2009 and found that the two- to three-times higher rate of fibroids among black women may be linked to chemical exposure through scalp lesions and burns resulting from relaxers."

Those stats are astounding!  To think that fibroids may be linked to something we put in our hair to relax it doesn't make me feel very relaxed.  To me that's a huge price to pay to have straight hair.  

Whether you choose to keep your hair relaxed, natural or dread....the thing to remember is to know what you are getting into.  Know what these products are doing to your not only your hair but to your body as well.  For the most part relaxers are not FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved so who knows what fillers or cheaper ingredients companies are using to inexpensively make the 'creamy crack'.

While these studies can only provide us with a suggested link between the use of relaxers and ailments like early puberty and fibroids, it's important for us to know that these risks exist and are very real. Studies of this caliber take years to complete and there haven't been too many studies of this kind (in comparison to other ailments). 

How many of you have watched Chris Rock's documentary 'Good Hair'?   He raises some good points and does some simple experiments with the ingredients found in relaxers.

Question for the relaxed ladies: Do you know what's in your relaxer?  Does that have an effect on your choice to relax your hair?

Question for natural ladies: Why did you go natural? Do the possible effects of the contents of a relaxer deter you from relaxing your hair?

Remember: this is not about relaxed vs natural it's about making informed decisions! 

read more here: http://madamenoire.com/139486/relaxers-linked-to-uterine-fibroid-tumors-and-early-puberty/#