“I am not my hair . . . I am not your expectations.” No one has made that statement any clearer than talented singer-songwriter, India Arie, whose lyrics to her 2005 hit song, by the same title, are paraphrased in that quote. Arie’s words masterfully express the feelings of countless Black women who are fed up with being judged by how they wear their natural hair.
“When I cut my hair short, I did so because I was tired of putting straightening chemicals in my hair. I just wanted a nice, easy to manage, short natural haircut. I was fine with it, until someone told me that only lesbians wear short cuts.” Those were the words of one conscientious Black woman expressing her concern over hearsay. Shame on the people who believe that fallacy or the other tale that the natural hair cut worn by Black women is a show of militancy. When you try to apply everything across the board to everybody you get issues. And Black women have issues on this subject.
Issue number one – Black women are sick and tired of being stereotyped by the way they wear their hair. So let’s debunk the short-hair stereotypes. Do not prejudge or mischaracterize Black women who wear short hair, just because they refuse to conform and adopt the standards of a hair-obsessed society. While some women who wear the so-called butch cut are lesbians all are not.
Issue number two — There are countless Black women who have naturally long and relatively straight hair, while others do not. Some of those who are lacking the flowing tresses will go to extremes to look like what they consider to be acceptable, the American norm. And countless numbers of them will opt for the time consuming, costly process of getting weaves and braids. Unfortunately, many will do so at the expense of losing their natural hair to alopecia.