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It has been the intent of this paper to highlight how hair is an Achilles’ heal for many black
women, and ultimately, why it does not (and should not) have to be. No matter what position is
taken on the matter – there are always going to be people who believe that hair is just hair –
Ruth’s concluding comments solidify the crux of the matter. She states, “When you can look in
the mirror and you can see your natural kinky Afro or locs and it’s yours and you can say, ‘you
know what, I like that’ and you know why you have to like it, because that’s what it is; when you
get to the point, that’s when you start to see your true beauty.” Black hair is not just about hair; it
is about identity. It is about the juxtaposition of hegemonic norms and black subjectivity; as
Judith Butler (1990) reminds us, “the body gains meaning within discourse only in the context of
power relations” (p. 117). Black women have the right to wear their hair however they please;
but given the damaging effects of hair alteration, tight braids, and wigs, it is incumbent that hair
choices be critically examined within the context of hegemonically defined beauty standards.
The challenge for black women, as Shirley Tate (2007) sullenly notes, is realizing “the ways in
which we are inextricably immersed within ... essentialism’s identity, and to acknowledge that
this bind is one that is not merely prohibitive, but also enabling” (p. 317; also see Kirby, 1997).
Hair alteration should be viewed as unequivocally damaging to an individual (and collective)
physical, psychological and cultural well-being, or it will continue to be predicated on the belief
that nappy, kinky, Afro hair is wrong, and long, straight, (i.e. White and Asian) hair is right.
Author’s Essay Bibliography Available:
Black Women and Identity: What's Hair Got to Do With It?
Cheryl Thompson
Publication Info| Issue title: Politics and Performativity
Fall 2008-2009 | vol. 22, no. 1, Fall 2008-2009
Ann Arbor, MI: MPublishing, University of Michigan Library
This work is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission.
View Author Bibligraphy | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.ark5583.0022.105

Image Credit: myblackisbeatuiful.com