Mukeye

But it is also about how we as Blacks perceive the ideal body. Though not focussing on the genetalia but something as visible as the hair, what messages are being sent about the Black woman’s hair, about the idealised hair, about how some briliant Black women are not hired for certain positions because they do not have the so-called “professional look” of weaves and starightened hair?

This issue has material negative consequences too in terms of lack of professional advances (akin to professional death) if one chooses not to subscribe to this concept of beauty, something many of us African Blacks have accepted without questioning what informs it.

This is not to trivialise the real physical deaths that ******* people face once they come out, but that it happens on many levels and is not just White conceptions but also our own conceptions about who we are and consequently the legacy we are passing to our chidren

thato

mukeye…i am a man and i think my AFRICAN sisters do look beautiful with their weaves but i still think that you’ve raised a very sensitive subject especially about beauty. i really think my sisters are not questioning or rather don’t have an idea of what beauty is. we man don’t look at what they think we’re looking for but we go even deeper>>>as the saying goes : BEAUTY IS BUT SKIN DEEP!!!

Zen

You raise an important point Mukeye.

I have often found that when you ask women with weaves what informs their choice of hair-style, they get defensive and say it is just hair, that they like it that way.

But when you ask the ones with dreads, afros and those who have shaved – they say they made a delibarate choice. Chances are the ones with weaves haven’t interrogated what informs this choice.

Anna

I, as a black woman who is always in weaves nowadays, will tell you why I have the weaves. VARIETY. That’s all. I don’t hate my black hair, I love my black body, and I am proud of it. Just like we plaited our hair, shaved our heads, decorated our hair with beads as we were growing up, I now put weaves simply because I love my black self and love to decorate my hair. I have shaved my hair to different styles over the years, have straightened it, have let it grow natural, have plaited it, have braided it too. And all these were simply because I love variety. And I have my curves, African curves – thick thighs and all – and guess what, I have received great compliments on my looks from both white and black people around me. Love your African beauty, be confident about your African woman body, and don’t wait for the world to define beauty for you. The world will or will not appreciate your beauty. It is up to the world.