TIME: Why Michelle's Hair Matters

[bridgeback2life]

"...The notion of natural black hair as being subversive or threatening is not new. When the New Yorker set out last summer to satirize Michelle as a militant, country-hating black radical, it was no coincidence that the illustrator portrayed her with an Afro. The cartoon was calling attention to all the ridiculous pre-election fearmongering. But the stereotypes it drew from may be one reason that 56% of respondents to a poll on say the U.S. is not ready for a "First Lady with kinky hair."..."

For the full article:
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1919147,00.html


(I hope I posted this in the right place)

 

[Nubenap22]

America doesn't know what it's ready for till they get it. Many people were against Obama took office and still do disdain him and his family. Look at their girls, their hair ( if I'm not mistaken) are natural. If she wants to wear her hair in 2strand twist then so be it. If the occasion is casual enough.

 

[Bulletproof]

The lines that resonated most to me were:

"Not once when I've seen an image of our First Lady has it been lost on me that she is also a member. I don't see just an easy, bouncy do. I see the fruits of a time-consuming effort to convey a carefully calculated image. In the next-day ponytail, I see a familiar defeat."

That even when we call a hairstyle easy it did still take some effort and how extensive effort is hardly ever rewarded with a long term do.

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

I think we need to get away from this notion that Michelle has to be all things to all people. I'm proud of the fact that we have a Harvard educated Lawyer, classy, elegant regal with a dark chocolate complexion with the title of first lady. She obliterates stereotypes about Black women in America just by being who she is. Would I love it if she went natural and started rockin twists-twist-outs, braid-outs?? I we saw her in the magazines rockin pixie braids or micro twists to vacation? Absolutely but she doesn't have to be all things to me for me to be happy with her.

I'm not gonna lie, I do sometimes look at her hair and wish she were shattering barriers in that respect as well but she doesn't have to. I'm proud and happy to see Malia and Sasha with natural hair but I'm realistic, I'm pretty sure the only reason Malia and Sasha are natural is because their little girls but when they start to want to feel like women, that's probably gonna change because our mothers are our first and most influential examples of beauty.

Who knows what the future holds for her though, alot of women have been inspired by their daughters to go natural maybe we can start a letter writing campaign asking her to consider, just consider transitioning to natural, she can have a straightened transition like I did then one day bust out the twists once in a while bust out a cute neat wavy braid-out. Oprah transitioned without any of us knowing it until recently.

All in all, I'm immensely proud of Michelle Obama and all that she has accomplished in her life, its nothing short of astonishing and as much as it matters to me, and to us in the community, I'm not gonna let hair mire that admiration.

 

[msa]

America doesn't know what it's ready for till they get it. Many people were against Obama took office and still do disdain him and his family. Look at their girls, their hair ( if I'm not mistaken) are natural. If she wants to wear her hair in 2strand twist then so be it. If the occasion is casual enough.

I haven't read the article yet, but your comment in bold stuck out to me. Twists can be worn on any occasion, from casual to the most dressy, elegant event.

It's interesting how we put our own limits on ourselves and our hair, other people don't even have to do it for us.

 

[GreenD]

I don't think Michelle's hair should be an issue, I think who she is as a person and what she does as First Lady should be what we're concerned with. How she wears her hair is just as silly as how short her shorts are. WHO CARES!!! I hate how much emphasis is put on the exterior and not much of anything on the interior of a person. God forbid she ever had cancer and needed to undergo chemo. Would the media and everyone else in the peanut gallery comment on the changes of her hair then? Can she have her own personal reasons for the way she wears her hair? Just like she had her own personal reasons for marrying Barack I'm sure. At the end of the day we should just respect her for who she is, and not who we think she should be.

What I'd like to know is who's really giving out the authority to "yay or nay" some one because of their hair? It's silly...it's just hair!!

 

[ellebelle88]

America doesn't know what it's ready for till they get it. Many people were against Obama took office and still do disdain him and his family. Look at their girls, their hair ( if I'm not mistaken) are natural. If she wants to wear her hair in 2strand twist then so be it. If the occasion is casual enough.

Im sorry but I hated the ending of your comment. Who said that straight hair is the appropriate hairstyle for formal events?

 

[AsianAfricanPrincess]

I think we need to get away from this notion that Michelle has to be all things to all people. I'm proud of the fact that we have a Harvard educated Lawyer, classy, elegant regal with a dark chocolate complexion with the title of first lady. She obliterates stereotypes about Black women in America just by being who she is.

I'm glad that someone else finally said this. It's interesting that when we have a first lady of African descent, educated at Princeton/Harvard Law School, incredibly accomplished in the fields of law and policy, that she is simply reduced to a hairstyle and "toned arms".

 

[nathansgirl1908]

So she's NOT natural after all?


I didn't think she was natural, but then I kept hearing it so I had no idea what to think.