Ask the Administrator:
From: Ingww
Posted: February 15, 1999
Donna, when I was at Big Life, one of the producers did an item on black hair. You may want to get in touch with her to get a copy.
Her name is Lisa Gabriele and she can be reached at 416-205-3064. As for me, I often wonders why Asian women want curly hair (which usually results in hair being fried into a Ronald Macdonald's poodle perm) and why black women want straight hair
(resulting in breakage and oddly shaped bobs). Is it that women of colour are being encouraged to strive for a Caucasian ideal of beauty? I suspect so. No hair on this Chinese head has been permed or blonded once!
Replies
[1 of 2]
tojane February 17, 1999
I was impressed with the website. There always seems to be a good reason for processed hair (it's supposedly easier to take care of; it's more accepted in the
workplace; it goes on and on). Until we start seeing positive images of BLACK women in mainstream popular culture, we will continue to aspire/pain ourselves to that white ideal that has been affecting us for centuries. Now-a-days, it's in to be not too black, to have "good" hair, and figures that fit within this society's ideal of who we are. Black women have yet to appear in positive ways on TV, in our magazines and on the fashion runways (if they exist at all). When they do show up, their skin tone and hair texture are used as props in themselves to push the exotic image that we tend to fall into sometimes--hyper sexualized and hard. Either that, or we are chocolate images of our white counterparts. Aside from this there is a virtual absence of positive Black female images. This could be said of all women of color. We tend to remain silent or remain sex objects for male spectators.
Personally, the relaxing thing was too much to handle. Plus, it didn't feel right. I've worm my hair naturally for quite some time now, and the work I put into dealing with it everyday is actually fun, a part of who I am. There are so many things to do with natural hair. We just need to be willing to turn our heads away from what's thrown at us/shoved down our throats.
I'll write more lately.
[2 of 2]
SErickson6 February 19, 1999
Speaking from my current state of consciousness, I love black hair. By black hair, I refer to hair belonging to people of color - of African descent. I prefer it in its natural glory, with all its "kinkiness," curls, "naps," bends and loops.
I must admit however, I haven't always felt this way about black hair. At one time I was swayed and influenced by all those straight hair, blond blue eyed, pale-skinned commercials. I wanted my hair to move when the wind blew just like my TV. favourites.
Black entertainers also upheld the image of whiteness by frying, and dying, and relaxing hair that was meant to stand firm, stand tall.
After much reading, and studying, and soul-searching, I discovered that being black wasn't so bad after all. My heroes became those who were not afraid to be natural. I'm proud that I dress and conduct myself with pride; not wanting to be likes another culture. God has given each one of us a certain uniqueness. And there's nothing wrong with experimenting with fashions and styles, but to alter ones looks to appear more acceptable to another culture is a denial of ones spiritual essence. Some would even say that it is a form of self-hatred.
I whole-heartedly endorse freedom of choice. However, you need to check out motivations behind choices to ensure a healthy acceptance and appreciation of
yourself.
I'm a black man, and I applaud and adore black hair. I love my sisters and all the colors, styles, shapes and sizes they come in. Keep black hair alive, let's all dread in 2000 - just kidding! Stay strong, love your project Donna. Peace - Out.......
From: _DivineMiss
Posted: March 23, 1999
Hi all -
First things first - kudos to Donna for doing such a fine-looking job on looking at hair.
I was wondering if anyone saw the New Yorker that came out this week - (Mar. 22)? There is an article that made me think about Donna's page and the ideas her project engages with. The piece is about the politics of coloured hair - blond hair mostly - and I think methodologically (ugh, gross boring word)and thematically it speaks directly to Salon Utopia.
In short, the author argues connotations of women coloring their hair is constantly being revised. What it meant to color your hair was different depending on countless things - the rhetoric of advertising, the allusions to notions of beauty, how notions of female virtue collided or collaborated with popular images, and how
these images were assigned or appropriated by the tropes of motherhood, liberated woman, sexpot, etc.
I liked the way there was an impermanence of what it means when women color their hair. Can we see a similar impermanence in the meaning of black hair? I'm wondering how much it is about resistance - or more accurately, how the political nature of black hair changes? The article in the New Yorker really seemed to think that the political (read: volatile, subversive, revolutionary) nature of coloured hair has been defused. Hmmm...I would argue that there is ALWAYS intent in representation, but agree with the author that the efficacy/power/social relevance is forever shifting. The question is - who decides what is important? Oh wait, and one more - why, in the tussle between the issues of race and gender, is race so unproblematically fore grounded here? I think notions of femininity
deserve to be seriously interrogated.
Enuf said - thanks again Donna...my last two cents? Thumbs up to Lauryn's hair. Oh yah,....and the album are pretty cool.
Replies
Comments
Post a Comment