True, but I do agree with others who have said that relaxing is mostly about normalcy for the average black woman nowadays. ...I do believe relaxed hair started out as a way to downplay black features but I think we normalized straight hair in a uniquely black way - so now it's hard for many black women to think seriously of the European aesthetic that originally fostered the relaxing norm.
This is kind of proving the point about the pervasiveness of the yt beauty standard. Over generations it has become normal for bw to severely alter one of their defining characteristics. So now, we're emulating
generations of other BW, who have tried to assimilate yt beauty standards.
IMO, that's the same thing, if not an even worse case.
I relaxed because I had no knowledge of how to care for and maintain natural hair. Frankly, I'm still scared of going natural, even though I am transitioning. I always worry that my hair is going to look stupid due to my non styling skills.
Black haircare is just one aspect of our culture that was lost after the middle passage.
Most women in the world have straight/wavy/loosely curled hair. Long, flowing hair is prized in most cultures around the world. Black women are not immune to the pressure of looking acceptable to the masses.
But masses of black women have not been exposed to
world cultures; they, their mothers and grandmothers and ancestors have been exposed to, and tried to fit into, white-dominated cultures.
This is a point that hasn't been mentioned alot - the MAJORITY of white women don't wear their natural hair color. Who are they trying to be like?
Every culture it seems is trying to be like everyone else. Indians are cutting their noses off trying to make them skinny, brazilians are having lipo & plastic surgery left & right....
They're all trying to achieve a certain Euro ideal. Yt women just don't have to alter themselves
as much as the others. You can throw in Asian eyelid surgeries, Arab nose jobs, African skin lightening, etc. Can you point to a mass of Euros going to
extreme lengths to look Asian or African?
Most people in the world have that type of hair, so it will always be the norm and the standard. .
True, but...
...yes because China alone w/ it's 2/5ths of the entire population on Earth and along w/ the rest of East Asia is somehow "abnormal". Newflash...
most of the people on the planet have "the fold".
(Don't forget many African groups who have "the fold." The "norm" argument cannot explain the dominance of Euro standards)
So,
... why are some differences praised and coveted while others are not?
Because some differences are associated with power.
As do most women. We're no different than anyone else.
Except we're furthest from the "ideal" and we spend
by far the most on cosmetic enhancements. Coincidence? I think not.
I'm amazed that people think that. So when a white person gets booty implants or lip injections are they trying to look black? That just sounds ridiculous no matter how you spin it!
Of
course they are trying to emulate some aspects of a black beauty standard. But 80% of them aren't doing it. And they have not passed this standard down to the children and grandchildren.
am I less of an AA woman because I choose to??? But, I don't want anybody jumping on me--those are just my feelings at the moment.
No, you're
more of an AA woman because you choose to.
Don't 80% of us do this? I do it, I'm just aware of why. *Kanye shrug*
So you're really going to single out black women and relaxers and the only example of the desire to assimilate? Really?
Nope. Jewish people idolizing Aryan looks to the point that as someone said "most of them are blonde" when the holocaust was perpetuated by Aryans is another extreme example. We are just one example of people who were totally dominated by another group and tried to physically assimilate.
ETA - on top of that, when the "blonde-goddess" ideal was created in Hollywood, the movie studios were
owned by Jewish people!