A few weeks ago, I wrote about
"good" hair and how we need to redefine it.
No sooner than that blog came out, now we have to deal with this sort of foolishness about "good hair" by talk show host
Wendy Williams and singer/actress Brandy.
Wendy: "If you have a baby with him, the baby will have good hair."
Brandy: "Yes."
Full disclosure: I didn't see the show last week, but the comments were widely reported on blogs, including
KisforKinky.com. I haven't heard anything from Wendy or Brandy's camps that the comments were inaccurate.
Sigh.
Really, Wendy and Brandy?
Really?
Why Black Folks Know Exactly What "Good" Hair Means
If there's one thing that's tied to being Black in America, it's the term "good" hair. Sure, black people in other areas of the world deal with it too, but I'd say that we are particularly obsessed with it stateside.
Folks gauge their infants' baby hair to see if it will be "good."
I've heard of others giving their 2 and 3 year old daughters perms, presumably, to achieve "good" hair.
Women even make decided to have children based on if the man has "good" hair -- doesn't matter if he's good Daddy material, but he got that good hair!
If you are Black and in the U.S., you likely know what the word means -- either you were teased for not having it or were told you were prettier because you had it. I'm sure white folks in Wendy's audience and around the country were like, "Huh?" Unless they live around people of color, they had no freaking idea what they were talking about.
A Damn Shame
Wendy is too old for that mess. I like her, but I have yet to see her real hair -- though she has said she's got long, "good" hair underneath her stable of wigs. And Brandy? Maybe I'm wrong, but perhaps I can't expect more from woman who, like Wendy, her hair is weaved/braided up on the regular. Brandy and Wendy's real hair could be down to their ankles, but you'd never know it. I don't EVA remember Brandy wearing "her" hair out -- even when she was a young teenager.
Why, oh, why, are our damn insecurities about our hair served on a platter on national TV for the whole damn world to see and pick apart. I'm no psychologist, but this is why everyone and their Momma goes hard on Black women -- because we do it publicly for all to see! White women have insecurities about their hair, too.
But I don't see them on TV talking about that ish!
Get Rid of or Redefine "Good" Hair?
Folks have buried the N-word. Can we please bury the term "good" hair as it relates to hair texture, density and curl pattern? Or at least do it like the N-word and redefine it to mean healthy hair? Yeah, I know that the natural hair community likes to say that good hair is healthy hair.
But it's clear that most of the world outside of hair blogs, YouTube vids and hair forums don't feel that way.
What do you think?
Was it wrong for Wendy and Brandy to discuss "good" hair on national TV? Do you even care?
