Michelle Mabson,
Ann Arbor, MI.
Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan
I wear my hair the way it grows out of my head…no chemical enhancements. BUT for some reason…a reason I suppose I know all too well, the act of wearing my ‘natural’ hair is seen as larger than life. Maybe it’s the fact that it grows up and out instead of down…or the fact that it adds inches to my height. Or that it bounces with every step I take. To many people, it’s a political statement. I’m going against the grain. Because MY ‘natural’ hair is not the conventional form of Western beauty. It’s ‘softer’ than it appears (or so I’ve been told..and EACH time against my will). For whatever reason (and again, I suppose I KNOW the reason), people feel they can ask me to touch it. Or touch it without even asking. And then feel as though they are entitled to touch it without my consent. And then make comments on it. And because I wear my hair up and down and curly and straight, I am told I wear it ‘too many’ ways. I suppose it’s the same reason people are up and arms when the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, cut her hair into bangs. Trust me. I’m sure the last thing she considered were the politics of her hair. BUT THAT’S JUST IT. MY hair IS political. If you don’t believe me, just look up ‘the politics of Black hair’. It’s a gift and a sad curse. It’s a movement. It’s an identity. It’s going against the norm. And at the end of it all, it’s taking back what has always been my own. My God given gift. A part of me no chemical will ever get a chance to change.
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