I'm Not Black But My Hair Is

A Sorta-Ode to All Those Blogs About Fashion, Tenderloin Style
All about my fashionable? hair...


"Nice hair," is what I hear most often when I walk down the street. I've been thinking I should get it trimmed again, but I've had a lot of positive feedback lately with my hair at this length. Interestingly enough, mostly from Black men. In the Tenderloin, some Black men stand in front of their apartments for a good portion of the day. What they're really doing there, I can't say for sure, but they tend to talk to, and jeer at the people walking by. I'm one of those people, and most often, they tell me, they like my hair.

Usually, when a woman wants to look for a new style for her hair, she peruses magazines, fashion and the like, there are even ones specifically for hairstyles, or a quick scan of images online will suffice. Celebrities can be a good go to. But, it's difficult for me to find examples of hairstyles that I can relate to. Unfortunately, there are not many women in magazines that have crazy curly locks like mine. All the models have straight hair, and if it does have volume, it's usually artificial and worked over like the rest of the ad. What these magazines seem to suggest: is the hair that I possess is not, en vogue. I'm not Black, but each time I want a new style, it's the magazines for Black women I turn to. And, amazingly enough, a lot of the women in these magazines are shown with their hair straightened.

When I was younger, my sister would iron my hair to straighten it for me, but it turned out fluffy and weird. We had not yet discovered the magical world of products for our hair. My mom was a hippie, and never cared to try and tame our trusses. The "straight" hair never lasted long because, as soon as I washed it, the curls would emerge. I'll never, ever straighten my hair with chemicals, I love it the way it is. It does what it wants, and has a mind of its own! So now, it's all curly, all the time.

For so many decades curly hair has been marginalized. Every time I flip through a fashion magazine that does not choose to represent the women with hair I can relate to, I know this country has a lot of work to do as far as Equality goes.

I'm not sure if Anne Hathaway actually has curly hair, but in the movie, Princess Diaries, she has curly hair, and by the time Mary Poppins gets her hands on her, she's a princess, with straight hair. That's a messed up hair message.

This is a call to women with hair like mine: Wear your hair out and proud, like Angela Davis did/does.

It's a bea-u-ti-ful thing to be different, celebrate it! The men of the Tenderloin will appreciate you for it!