Jess a.k.a Mahogany Curls responds to Curlynikki drama

[EnExitStageLeft]

Serenity_Peace

Mom mother said the something similar a couple weeks ago while we were being attended at one of the counters in Bloomingdales. We saw a ww chewing a counter attendant out. The attendant was Latino. The poor woman had to just sit there and pretty much take it. My mom looked me square in the eye and said, "I'm not rascist, I promise you I'm not. But there is a certain amount of disdain I have for priviledged ww whom look down on the common man whom make their lives easier."

It wasn't until then that the manager stepped in. She definitely overheard us. Because the lady was asked to leave. She was irrate claiming the attendant was being "Juvenile and Dim-witted" hence why she was acting so irrational.....a.k.a "SHE" was the victim. Not the harmless attendant whom simply didn't understand what she was asking for, but her the overbearing customer with a attitude the size of Texas.

SMH....I..just..can't

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM4Xe6Dlp0Y&feature=youtu.be....White privilege is real. This lady gets it.

 

[oneastrocurlie]

I don't think her relationship with Shea Moisture triggered her to respond. I'm probably in the minority but they don't need her. Heck I think they are doing her the bigger favor. White women have been buying their hair and body products. I'd be surprised if they were like "Jess we need you to put out a statement to please the white buyers". Maybe I'm wrong.

Her response didn't add anything of substance anyway. Got her a few side eyes though.

 

[DoDo]

I for one am glad the truth is coming out about some of our bloggers and vloggers.

I have long suspected that something was amiss

,

and here we see it all coming to light now, don't we. Slowly but surely this has been going from being our movement dedicated to self acceptance and self love which almost always results in better hair care and length retention to a movement that we have been struggling to keep on topic as it moved towards other things like curl definition and how many products we buy from TextureMedia or through links on related blogs.

Manageability, curl definition, and my favorite 'shine' on just about every product geared to natural hair in the drugstore aisle. A collective voice that says " I know you want to be natural but don't you want your hair, you know, a little bit straighter? A little less kinky and a little more curly?

Meanwhile products that are not focused on natural hair get to focus their advertising on things that actually matter to hair health like strength and moisture. Some of us have noticed. The commercialization of the NHM is coming to light y'all, it is all coming out of the dark.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

@Serenity_Peace

Mom mother said the something similar a couple weeks ago while we were being attended at one of the counters in Bloomingdales. We saw a ww chewing a counter attendant out. The attendant was Latino. The poor woman had to just sit there and pretty much take it. My mom looked me square in the eye and said, "I'm not rascist, I promise you I'm not. But there is a certain amount of disdain I have for priviledged ww whom look down on the common man whom make their lives easier."

It wasn't until then that the manager stepped in. She definitely overheard us. Because the lady was asked to leave. She was irrate claiming the attendant was being "Juvenile and Dim-witted" hence why she was acting so irrational.....a.k.a "SHE" was the victim. Not the harmless attendant whom simply didn't understand what she was asking for, but her the overbearing customer with a attitude the size of Texas.

SMH....I..just..can't

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM4Xe6Dlp0Y&feature=youtu.be....White privilege is real. This lady gets it.

@EnExitStageLeft

Thank you! I love Cameron Russell, but check out Tim Wise if you get a chance. Tim Wise is one white man who gets it, I mean REALLY gets it! Love him!

It's this self entitlement that really irks me. I won't dwell on it.

I just want to say that more of us are attempting to embrace our natural beauty. Embarking on this journey is difficult, as we face many societal obstacles, much of it coming from our own people. You and I have discussed this. And there's still so much resistance, too.

So finally there's a few platforms available--this forum, Curly Nikki's and others--in which we can share valuable information, but more important, see ourselves in a more positive, beautiful light.

We as a people have always been taught to include others, to forgive others, to be accepting of others. That has never been an issue for us, especially since we are in the minority. Now all we're asking is to have this format to ourselves because this is one area that is unique to us where our experiences are uniquely different from others. And because those experiences are unlike those of any other segment of the population, let us work through them independently. That's all we want.

While we admittedly understand that there may some non-black sisters and brothers who can relate and have hair textures and/or skin tones that resemble ours and have therefore experienced similar things, their situations can never be exactly the same, and they are not!

Let us have this platform to ourselves; they have plenty of their own in which they can utilize to their advantage.

Just my opinion.

 

[nlamr2013]

I second this - naptural85 - please stay quiet - if you are reading this
what did you guys think of my natural sisters response?

I jus tty went to watch after reading your comment. I've only watched 3 minutes so far but she clearly seems against all inclusion as I would have expected her to be. Lol like someone said you can get that from their personality.
I personally don't see Whitney responding or responding in favor of 'inclusion' could be wrong though.

 

[NaturallyATLPCH]

I jus tty went to watch after reading your comment. I've only watched 3 minutes so far but she clearly seems against all inclusion as I would have expected her to be. Lol like someone said you can get that from their personality.
I personally don't see Whitney responding or responding in favor of 'inclusion' could be wrong though.

I think Whitney will lay low. She just seems too humble to get in this mess.

But these "others"? I could see it. Doesn't surprise me one bit, that's why I never subbed to their channels.

 

[LdyKamz]

Just out of curosity...................for all those who have mentioned it, who said anything about white women becoming the face of the natural hair movement? How does featuring one (1) white women turn that one white women into anything more than one feature? If CN or MC has had 1000 features, how does one (1) white woman suddenly make her (or any other vlogger/blogger) suddenly "whitewashed"? I guess I'm just having a hard time figuring out why all the backlash over one feature. If it became a regular thing, then I'd have a problem. But come on....................it's ONE (1) article.

It only takes one. What is expected of us? To stay quiet and just wait until they add more white women and then speak up? That doesn't make any sense. You stay quiet and it is assumed you are ok with it.

Furthermore the backlash has since exploded because of the responses to black women's disappointment at the white woman feature. No one even tried to understand when people first started to express their upset over this. And then it turned into "what is wrong with black women? Why won't they share this" including black women bloggers/vloggers. It's disrespectful to us and just sad all around.

 

[curlytwirly06]

@EnExitStageLeft Thank you! I love Cameron Russell, but check out Tim Wise if you get a chance. Tim Wise is one white man who gets it, I mean REALLY gets it! Love him! It's this self entitlement that really irks me. I won't dwell on it. I just want to say that more of us are attempting to embrace our natural beauty. Embarking on this journey is difficult, as we face many societal obstacles, much of it coming from our own people. You and I have discussed this. And there's still so much resistance, too. So finally there's a few platforms available--this forum, Curly Nikki's and others--in which we can share valuable information, but more important, see ourselves in a more positive, beautiful light. We as a people have always been taught to include others, to forgive others, to be accepting of others. That has never been an issue for us, especially since we are in the minority. Now all we're asking is to have this format to ourselves because this is one area that is unique to us where our experiences are uniquely different from others. And because those experiences are unlike those of any other segment of the population, let us work through them independently. That's all we want. While we admittedly understand that there may some non-black sisters and brothers who can relate and have hair textures and/or skin tones that resemble ours and have therefore experienced similar things, their situations can never be exactly the same, and they are not! Let us have this platform to ourselves; they have plenty of their own in which they can utilize to their advantage. Just my opinion.

Great response What kills me the most is that Sarah is somewhere laughing at all the "angry black women" and constantly getting validated on her privilege and victim status. She will move on about this afterwards with the sense of security in her delusion and that anyone who told her anything other than congratulatory words is just a mean old white hating black woman. No felicity that's not it. She still has her privilege at the end of the day, the majority of popular black and white bloggers on her side, and the publicity this has brought her. It's frustrating because nobody hears us. Us who deals with the stigma of being black and not fitting in with popular light skinned or loose wavy hair ideal of the black woman. Us who is constantly invalidated by society for out genetic blackness. Us ( me especially) who have been bullied since day one by blacks and others alike for our natural hair, "weird" hair. No this is not just about hair. It is about acceptance of black woman by black woman and loving ourselves in a world that says we don't have much to love about us in the first place.


I had to grow to a place where I accepted and loved my beautiful , dark "nappy" headed self. joining the natural movement, and learning to take care of my hair and see its beauty was the beginning of that.

 

[DoDo]

Deleted post

 

[EnExitStageLeft]

@KammyGirl

Exactly! It takes one article to turn something that embodies US to something that glorifies THEM.

 

[curlicarib]

It only takes one. What is expected of us? To stay quiet and just wait until they add more white women and then speak up? That doesn't make any sense. You stay quiet and it is assumed you are ok with it.

Furthermore the backlash has since exploded because of the responses to black women's disappointment at the white woman feature. No one even tried to understand when people first started to express their upset over this. And then it turned into "what is wrong with black women? Why won't they share this" including black women bloggers/vloggers. It's disrespectful to us and just sad all around.

Except that no one has made this white woman the face of anything that represents black women. I'm all for protesting what you believe is wrong, but the basic truth is this one person does not and cannot represent anything for black women and I don't understand the repeated comments that she (or any other white woman) is some how becoming the "face of the natural hair movement". That's just not possible.

 

[Mz.MoMo5235]

Except that no one has made this white woman the face of anything that represents black women. I'm all for protesting what you believe is wrong, but the basic truth is this one person does not and cannot represent anything for black women and I don't understand the repeated comments that she (or any other white woman) is some how becoming the "face of the natural hair movement". That's just not possible.

Vanilla ice didnt represent black folk. We let him make a fool of his self. Fast forward 20 yrs and who brings in more awards in what was supposed to be black genres?

EVERY THING we have created that has been stolen started with just one.


Ok, now I'mma shut my face like I said i would 5 pages ago

 

[Subscribe]

Is Shea Moisture a black owned product?

 

[DoDo]

Is Shea Moisture a black owned product?

Yes it is.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

Except that no one has made this white woman the face of anything that represents black women. I'm all for protesting what you believe is wrong, but the basic truth is this one person does not and cannot represent anything for black women and I don't understand the repeated comments that she (or any other white woman) is some how becoming the "face of the natural hair movement". That's just not possible.

But what KammyGirl is saying isn't that farfetched, as we've seen attempts to target products to black people or naturals from mainstream companies, and often what do we see? Women with Type 3 only or Type 1 and 2 or multiracial-looking women with a looser curl pattern representing ALL kinky-haired women of color. We do not see enough brown to dark-skinned and/or Type 3c/4 and beyond representing the natural hair community. That is what is troublesome. That is what could become an issue.

Let me be clear: It's not we want one person to represent ALL; I don't think that's what is meant. What I think is meant--at least from my point of view--is that we want MORE images of the standard African phenotype and less of the European standards of beauty. In other words, I'd like to see more brown-skinned to darker-skinned women with Types 3 and 4 kinky-curly-nappy hair and beyond. I'd even like to see a phlethora of women of color--of all women of color, so long as they are women of color with kinky-curly-nappy hair in all forms and shapes.

I'd like a platform that caters to us and is for us and only us. As I stated before, there are plenty of forums for non-black women, even those with kinky-curly hair. We should have one for us that highlights our experiences as black women. A place that reaffirms our beauty and explains that yes, not only is our hair gorgeous, but that we can learn to grow very healthy, luxurious kinky-curly-nappy hair with proper care and healthy lifestyles.

Honestly, I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[LdyKamz]

Except that no one has made this white woman the face of anything that represents black women. I'm all for protesting what you believe is wrong, but the basic truth is this one person does not and cannot represent anything for black women and I don't understand the repeated comments that she (or any other white woman) is some how becoming the "face of the natural hair movement". That's just not possible.

She nor any white woman has become the face...YET! But shall we wait until that happens? By then it will be too late. You have to see the signs and react before it gets to that.

You don't think it's possible for a white face to become the face of the natural hair movement? No? When all the white women are now saying the natural hair movement isn't JUST for black women? They are actually saying/typing those words. Meaning eventually we'll fade into the background just like we did with everything else in this country.

They are saying that natural hair includes any and everyone with hair on their heads basically. LOL And if that's the case what reason will there be to keep black faces at the front of this? There won't be. We need to stake our claim. This was created for us by us no matter what these other people are talking about.

 

[curlicarib]

But what @KammyGirl is saying isn't that farfetched, as we've seen attempts to target products to black people or naturals from mainstream companies, and often what do we see? Women with Type 3 only or Type 1 and 2 or multiracial-looking women with a looser curl pattern representing ALL kinky-haired women of color. We do not see enough brown to dark-skinned and/or Type 3c/4 and beyond representing the natural hair community. That is what is troublesome. That is what could become an issue.

Let me be clear: It's not we want one person to represent ALL; I don't think that's what is meant. What I think is meant--at least from my point of view--is that we want MORE images of the standard African phenotype and less of the European standards of beauty. In other words, I'd like to see more brown-skinned to darker-skinned women with Types 3 and 4 kinky-curly-nappy hair and beyond. I'd even like to see a phlethora of women of color--of all women of color, so long as they are women of color with kinky-curly-nappy hair in all forms and shapes.

I'd like a platform that caters to us and is for us and only us. As I stated before, there are plenty of forums for non-black women, even those with kinky-curly hair. We should have one for us that highlights our experiences as black women. A place that reaffirms our beauty and explains that yes, not only is our hair gorgeous, but that we can learn to grow very healthy, luxurious kinky-curly-nappy hair with proper care and healthy lifestyles.

Honestly, I see nothing wrong with that.

I agree that we need a better representation of ALL black women and our many and varied hair types. But I also think that we have made a place for ourselves in the blogosphere and on youtube. And I refuse (naive?) to believe that one article on one blog can stop the movement that we've created. In my mind, we should just pat that WW on her head, smile indulgently at her, and KIM. It was a nice try, but no way can this movement be stopped. We keep rolling, she gets crushed under our wheels. Why give in to her (the WW) need to cause trouble amongst us? What's going on now is exactly what she intended to happen - everyone is talking about her and her curls. Bump that! Stop giving this fallacy any more airtime.

I've been natural my whole life. I waited more than 30 years, let me repeat - 30 YEARS, for the rest of the black women on this planet to catch on that natural hair was the way to go. And I'm not the only one. Occassionally, over the years, I'd glimpse another natural in the far off distance and we'd acknowledge each other with the nod of our heads or the looks in our eyes as we passed by. Now that this movement is here and gaining speed, do you think anyone can derail it? Especially, one trouble starting WW?

No.

And we shouldn't allow her to start so much trouble in our community either. She has already gained too much of our energies as it is. You know she's sitting back laughing at this whole debacle. Right?

 

[LdyKamz]

I agree that we need a better representation of ALL black women and our many and varied hair types. But I also think that we have made a place for ourselves in the blogosphere and on youtube. And I refuse (naive?) to believe that one article on one blog can stop the movement that we've created. In my mind, we should just pat that WW on her head, smile indulgently at her, and KIM. It was a nice try, but no way can this movement be stopped. We keep rolling, she gets crushed under our wheels. Why give in to her (the WW) need to cause trouble amongst us? What's going on now is exactly what she intended to happen - everyone is talking about her and her curls. Bump that! Stop giving this fallacy any more airtime.

I've been natural my whole life. I waited more than 30 years, let me repeat - 30 YEARS, for the rest of the black women on this planet to catch on that natural hair was the way to go. And I'm not the only one. Occassionally, over the years, I'd glimpse another natural in the far off distance and we'd acknowledge each other with the nod of our heads or the looks in our eyes as we passed by. Now that this movement is here and gaining speed, do you think anyone can derail it? Especially, one trouble starting WW?

No.

And we shouldn't allow her to start so much trouble in our community either. She has already gained too much of our energies as it is. You know she's sitting back laughing at this whole debacle. Right?

I agree with most of this. However, you do know that it's not just her right. There are other white women who feel the way she does. She will gain momentum if we just smile and do nothing. Not to mention there are black women on her side too. I do realize we shouldn't give her anymore power. But I think the way to do that would be to let everyone know "No dear, we were here before you and this is ours" Not, say nothing.

Like someone else mentioned before the rap/hip hop genre. We had made a place for ourselves then too. When it was considered "black music". But look now, any and every white person who can imitate a black sound will gladly be accepted and they got white people at the BLACK entertainment television awards. Ludicrous. I do not want to see this go the way of that.

 

[curlicarib]

She nor any white woman has become the face...YET! But shall we wait until that happens? By then it will be too late. You have to see the signs and react before it gets to that.

You don't think it's possible for a white face to become the face of the natural hair movement? No? When all the white women are now saying the natural hair movement isn't JUST for black women? They are actually saying/typing those words. Meaning eventually we'll fade into the background just like we did with everything else in this country.

They are saying that natural hair includes any and everyone with hair on their heads basically. LOL And if that's the case what reason will there be to keep black faces at the front of this? There won't be. We need to stake our claim. This was created for us by us no matter what these other people are talking about.

This is my point exactly. This is our movement. We've made our space. It's ours. Why stress? A white woman cannot make a youtube video on how to care for/comb our hair, because she does not have our hair. And if she did, how successful will it be? Who's going to watch? Who's going to sponser her if sponsership is based on views? WW attempting to takeover this movement is a joke and receipe for failure. So let them fail. In fact, just ignore them and let them fall into obscurity and quietly die away.

All of this back and forth is just giving her airtime, and we should not be doing that.

 

[Subscribe]

I agree. Y'all know for WW this about the dolla dolla bill

When we fist started combing our hair online Using coochie cream and horse shampoo to grow our hair long they :roll eyes: at us and kept on moving Now that main stream media is taking at look at us and companies are paying BW to represent their products or services, they want in.

They don't care if this is a deeply rooted issue in our community They want you to keep that but they want the money They expect and demand that we play nice. i'm waiting on them to throw out diversity, discrimination, slavery an a host of other words to guilt us into submission.

White girls flipped there hair at us for years because she too thought (we did too) that was one thing BW could never achieve. They now know that the black line is soooo diluted with biracial girls and women that they would have a voice from within the community telling us why we should include them, why we should play nice (I keep telling y'all to have black babies) and why WE are wrong for wanting exclusivity.

MC sys she learned about the CG method from a white woman. I wonder if that white woman went to black forums and advertised and posted information or did MC find her? Why do we feel the need to say that a WW started the CG method? Do I need to pull out my black inventors book cause I never hear WW people say oh it's ok to include them cause a black person invented blah, blah blah

Random: When white girls have a biracial baby they don't change their view at all about how they feel about black culture They don't join black groups or try to include black in their lives whatsoever. There are still a white family with a black child, period. When some of us get accepted by the main steam we all of a sudden wanna preach "Can't we just all get along"

There are a lot of Tiger Woods types who like to scream what they are mixed with when asked if they are black. How many white people scream out their percentages of negroid when we all know they have it?????

Y'all gon raise my pressure.

I agree with most of this. However, you do know that it's not just her right. There are other white women who feel the way she does. She will gain momentum if we just smile and do nothing. Not to mention there are black women on her side too. I do realize we shouldn't give her anymore power. But I think the way to do that would be to let everyone know "No dear, we were here before you and this is ours" Not, say nothing.

Like someone else mentioned before the rap/hip hop genre. We had made a place for ourselves then too. When it was considered "black music". But look now, any and every white person who can imitate a black sound will gladly be accepted and they got white people at the BLACK entertainment television awards. Ludicrous. I do not want to see this go the way of that.

 

[Mz.MoMo5235]

This is my point exactly. This is our movement. We've made our space. It's ours. Why stress? A white woman cannot make a youtube video on how to care for/comb our hair, because she does not have our hair. And if she did, how successful will it be? Who's going to watch? Who's going to sponser her if sponsership is based on views? WW attempting to takeover this movement is a joke and receipe for failure. So let them fail. In fact, just ignore them and let them fall into obscurity and quietly die away.

All of this back and forth is just giving her airtime, and we should not be doing that.

Agreed. We take away her shine by not giving her or her supporters our clicks. But we must unify on our grounds (i.e. here) that this will not be tolerated. We band together in unity to become stronger and keep or foot hold.

 

[curlicarib]

I agree with most of this. However, you do know that it's not just her right. There are other white women who feel the way she does. She will gain momentum if we just smile and do nothing. Not to mention there are black women on her side too. I do realize we shouldn't give her anymore power. But I think the way to do that would be to let everyone know "No dear, we were here before you and this is ours" Not, say nothing.

Like someone else mentioned before the rap/hip hop genre. We had made a place for ourselves then too. When it was considered "black music". But look now, any and every white person who can imitate a black sound will gladly be accepted and they got white people at the BLACK entertainment television awards. Ludicrous. I do not want to see this go the way of that.

But music can be made by anyone who has that gift, regardless of genre. 3 - 4 hair, with minor exceptions, can only be grown by a certain gene pool - US.

 

[Mz.MoMo5235]

But music can be made by anyone who has that gift, regardless of genre. 3 - 4 hair, with minor exceptions, can only be grown by a certain gene pool - US.

So was our curves? Now they have implants. Our full lips? Injections? Or skin? All the Jersey shore orange umpa loompas running around!

THEY HAVE NO BOUNDRIES! If it makes money they will find a way in!

 

[LdyKamz]

But music can be made by anyone who has that gift, regardless of genre. 3 - 4 hair, with minor exceptions, can only be grown by a certain gene pool - US.

Gift? It's called imitation

Did you ever see that thread a few years back about the Asian people rocking afros.

Then white girls started too. Look at this struggle afro video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TnZZoE_6gXM

If they can get a white girl to mimick us just enough then they can push us out and their job is done.

 

[curlytwirly06]

My natural sisters (guru) posted a video addressing curlynikki and had me cheering

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QlYCcKcffc

 

[prettybyrd]

I think there is confusion around the NATURAL hair movement and CURLY hair movement. The Natural Hair Movement was started by and for Black women who opted to wear their hair natural in either willful defiance of Euro beauty standards, for the sake of their health, or simply for a new style. Black women have built a community and movement around all of our natural hair types, not just curly ones. The Curly Hair Movement was started by White women with curly hair (specifically) who have felt curly haired people were being alienated by the media and society.

My first brush with the term "go natural" was in 1996 after a symposium on beauty at the Black Cultural Center on my school's campus. I was one of several women in that group who were discussing going natural because we were tired of relaxers and were uncomfortable with the idea that we had to live up to a certain standard of beauty that did not fit with how we defined our beauty. I do not say to this as though were were at the epicenter of the movement, momentum was building all over, and from the amount of young women I knew who had mature locs, it had been for a while. A few years after that conversation, I did the BC.

In 1998, when I first started viewing the site Naturally Curly, it was apparent that it was designed for curly haired people to come together and discuss the woes of being in a society that does not prize their hair type, and to lift up one another as they got the strength to buck the system and be themselves (wear their hair curly). I remember there being a lot of rhetoric around shaming companies, stylists, movies, etc., who frowned on curly hair. They seemed especially incensed about the movie "Princess Diaries" in the early 2000s.

Because I was wearing my hair curly, I found NC a nice resource, but my friend who was not as much curly as she was kinky, couldn't find much good information there and we soon moved on to sites like Nappturality, Motowngirl, the natural hair threads on Everythingblack.com, and Roshini.net. We recognized the need for information and space that pertained to natural Black hair specifically: grooming curls and kinks, dealing with pressures to conform, how to style kinky textures, and a space to feel appreciated and accepted, and we found it.

The problems and confusion arise when people try to make our natural hair movement about curly hair. All Black people don't have curly hair, and that really isn't what going natural is about anyway. Going natural was to be an attempt to appreciate and embrace oneself wholly, even if only wearing natural hair for a style.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with the curly hair movement, but I think that if Black people embrace it over the natural hair movement, and call it a natural hair movement, then the true movement that we are still shaping and nurturing will begin to alienate a large segment of the natural hair community - Black women who do not have curly hair. Natural hair is not synonymous with curly hair.

There is a curly hair community and there is a natural hair community. The designation needs to be made for the sake of our non-curly friends and loved ones (Black and multi-ethnic). I do not hate white people, I don't want to alienate them just because, but I will always believe that the movement of more Black women wearing natural hair has done nothing but good for the self esteem of Black and multi-ethnic women and girls who had long lived in shame of their kinky hair. I won't side with the PC folks on this because non-curly Black women stand to lose out if too many of us do.

 

[Subscribe]

The natural hair moment to black women is wrapped in emotions. For white women its wrapped in power and money.

We shouldn't have to put a disclaimer that we don't hate white people, we love everybody,etc. They did not and do not gives us excuses on why they want things they way they do.

Not wanting them to be apart of this DOES NOT mean we hate white people By the way, they don't care if we do or don't.

 

[DoDo]

I think there is confusion around the NATURAL hair movement and CURLY hair movement. The Natural Hair Movement was started by and for Black women who opted to wear their hair natural in either willful defiance of Euro beauty standards, for the sake of their health, or simply for a new style. Black women have built a community and movement around all of our natural hair types, not just curly ones. The Curly Hair Movement was started by White women with curly hair (specifically) who have felt curly haired people were being alienated by the media and society.

My first brush with the term "go natural" was in 1996 after a symposium on beauty at the Black Cultural Center on my school's campus. I was one of several women in that group who were discussing going natural because we were tired of relaxers and were uncomfortable with the idea that we had to live up to a certain standard of beauty that did not fit with how we defined our beauty. I do not say to this as though were were at the epicenter of the movement, momentum was building all over, and from the amount of young women I knew who had mature locs, it had been for a while. A few years after that conversation, I did the BC.

In 1998, when I first started viewing the site Naturally Curly, it was apparent that it was designed for curly haired people to come together and discuss the woes of being in a society that does not prize their hair type, and to lift up one another as they got the strength to buck the system and be themselves (wear their hair curly). I remember there being a lot of rhetoric around shaming companies, stylists, movies, etc., who frowned on curly hair. They seemed especially incensed about the movie "Princess Diaries" in the early 2000s.

Because I was wearing my hair curly, I found NC a nice resource, but my friend who was not as much curly as she was kinky, couldn't find much good information there and we soon moved on to sites like Nappturality, Motowngirl, the natural hair threads on Everythingblack.com, and Roshini.net. We recognized the need for information and space that pertained to natural Black hair specifically: grooming curls and kinks, dealing with pressures to conform, how to style kinky textures, and a space to feel appreciated and accepted, and we found it.

The problems and confusion arise when people try to make our natural hair movement about curly hair. All Black people don't have curly hair, and that really isn't what going natural is about anyway. Going natural was to be an attempt to appreciate and embrace oneself wholly, even if only wearing natural hair for a style.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with the curly hair movement, but I think that if Black people embrace it over the natural hair movement, and call it a natural hair movement, then the true movement that we are still shaping and nurturing will begin to alienate a large segment of the natural hair community - Black women who do not have curly hair. Natural hair is not synonymous with curly hair.

There is a curly hair community and there is a natural hair community. The designation needs to be made for the sake of our non-curly friends and loved ones (Black and multi-ethnic). I do not hate white people, I don't want to alienate them just because, but I will always believe that the movement of more Black women wearing natural hair has done nothing but good for the self esteem of Black and multi-ethnic women and girls who had long lived in shame of their kinky hair. I won't side with the PC folks on this because non-curly Black women stand to lose out if too many of us do.

 

[koolkittychick]

But music can be made by anyone who has that gift, regardless of genre. 3 - 4 hair, with minor exceptions, can only be grown by a certain gene pool - US.

@curlicarib, that is where you are mistaken; type 3 hair (even 3b) can be grown by everyone. Given that, if you think about it, you can see where the problem with inclusion can go hand in hand with (and make worse) texture discrimination. If you (the hair companies/media outlets/product purveyors) are trying to appeal to the widest audience out there, you are going to use spokespeople who appeal to that target audience. Now say you want get a market share in the "natural hair" movement. Now that "natural hair" includes "all women who don't have type 1 hair," why would you ever narrow your target audience by using someone with type 4 hair? You want that white/latino/mixed girl's money, because there are many more of them than there are type 4 girls. And sadly, those type 4 girls are more likely to want to try to emulate type 3 girls anyway, so you'll have them anyway without dealing with the hassle of trying to style type 4 girls for your campaigns/ads/commercials. Soon, we are back (even more) to the days where any depiction of "Black hair" is type 3, and every "natural hair" product is geared towards type 3 hair, or trying to make type 4 hair look like type 3--even more so than now. If you think this is far fetched, I will repeat something I posted in the CN thread:

1. Face of Rock & Roll: Elvis Presley
2. Face of Corn Rows: Bo Derek (past) Kylie Jenner (now)
3. Face of Twerking: Miley Cyrus
4. Face of popular ($$$) Rap: Eminem, Macklemore, Iggy Azaelea
5. and soon (if we let it), the Face of the Natural Hair Movement: Sara

Don't say you weren't warned.

 

[koolkittychick]

Oh, and about MC...damn. I thought for sure she would just stay out of all this. I'm off to go unsubscribe from her channel.