A hair-raising experience

I have natural hair. For me, that means braids – cornrows with extensions – until the hair is long enough to be twisted and pulled back in a bun. Apparently, this look is considered unprofessional by some standards. My question is how come?

As a woman of color, I have a multiplicity of choices regarding my hair. There’s the ‘perm’ or straightener as we call it at home; there’s the old fashioned press & curl; there’s the weave and of course there are wigs. There are also various texturizers that can be applied if one is so inclined. Then, there are the natural looks: full natural (which some refer to as ‘nappy’ and is not meant to be complimentary) and there are dread locks. I could also cut it very low in a low ‘fro (afro). As I said, there are choices aplenty.

For me, the choice I make is the braids. They work, they show off my bones (yes I said that) and I find them neat and convenient in the extreme. Added to that, my hair loves them and grows like wildfire. Imagine my chagrin then, when I’m told that braids are not appropriate for a formal function I was considering attending. EH? What dat mean? That would be like someone telling me that they could only take me seriously as a professional when my hair is straight. Oh, I forgot, someone did tell me that once, but I digress.

It seems like a million years ago that Robert Nestor Marley sang, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds”. We still sing that line with great gusto and nod in agreement and yet, in 2009, I’m hearing this kind of craziness from another woman of color. As the conversation with my friend progressed, she suggested various options that I might consider for dealing with my hair – a weave, a wig, a perm. All I could hear was the underlying notion that anything was better than the hair God put on my head. WOW!

You are entitled to think that my braids are unprofessional, I certainly can’t stop you. You are entitled to think that I would look better with a perm, it’s a free country. You are entitled, in fact, to any opinion you wish to espouse but what you are NOT entitled to do is to tell me that the quality of my hair in its natural state is somehow intrinsically inappropriate or unsuited for any venue, outing or situation. Can we not see how that could be construed as being discriminatory? You’re telling me that the way I am by nature needs to be somehow ‘fixed’. This is the kind of thinking on which the old brown paper bag tests of the past got started. And that was black folk doing unto black folk.

As far as I see it, my professionalism emanates from what is INSIDE my head, not what is ON it. Would that we would all be guided by that simple maxim. Isn’t it time we did Bob proud?