Hair or no hair, how much hair, what to do with it, what is read as good or bad hair - it's a never ending story. I cut my hair off a couple of weeks ago. It's great. But it's no big deal. For me, that is.
For other people, my hair seems to be traumatic. I have no other explanation for the e-mail I received from a friend. We went to school together, we're not very close (anymore), but she definitely qualifies as a friend. She informed me that she had noticed my short hair in my fb profile picture and wanted to know why I'd done that. My long hair was so pretty, she said, it had always looked so nice. There was no need to cut it off. I should have just changed the colour, that would have been a new look, but still feminine. Seriously, that's what she said. It was the first time I'd heard from her in months. I really wasn't expecting to be policed in this way by people who have known me for most of my life. Actually, I wasn't expecting be policed in this way by anyone. What she hoped to achieve with that e-mail is also a bit of a mystery to me. Sometimes, I forget how deeply most people seem to have internalised mainstream beauty standards. I'm not sure whether to be amused or annoyed. Might settle for both.
I hear ya.
ReplyDelete(For even more giggles, factor in race. When I last had my hair cut short (from down to the middle of my back), one of my Latin American cousins told me I looked more "European academic". I'm pretty sure he meant "less-feminine White woman".
There's also been a number of stories in the US press about Black women being required to have their hair done a certain way by employers or sacked for wearing their hair in braids, dreads, or natural styles. Notably, the styles the employers were requiring are White-centric: preference was given to weaves or relaxed hair, which makes hair look straighter, but which dries hair and can eventually cause balding.)
--IP
Your new hair kicks arse love
ReplyDeleteKate x
Aw thanks. x
ReplyDeletetotally agree with Kate!
ReplyDelete