Black Natural Hair Discrimination

Just last year, I decided to cut my hair and go natural. Considering the fact that I am an African American woman and my hair hasn’t been natural for the past six years, this change was revolutionary for me. It took me a while to feel confident enough to wear my hair out in public; However, once I did, I became a victim of black natural hair discrimination by different races. I underwent daily microaggression about my hair, which I never experience before: “your hair is so big”, “wow your hair is very different”, “can I feel your hair?” “how challenging is it to manage your type of hair?” At first, I considered these comments compliments but once I noticed that black girl with natural hair were the only race that experienced this, I asked myself:

Because many people discriminate black natural hair, women of color tend to change the texture of their hair. This change makes black natural hair rare, which explain why other races are so fascinated when they do see a black women with natural hair. Once other races see more natural black hair in American, it will become more common, which will lead to natural hair being more accepted. Not only will natural hair be more accepted, overtime, black natural hair will be more appreciated. Similar to other hair textures, black natural hair is unique in its own way. One black hair becomes more common, more individual will tend to learn more about the texture of black natural hair. Because black natural hair texture is different from all other textures or hair types, individuals will learn to appreciate black hair various characteristic and unlikeness. Overtime, this will boost black women

For example, other races in America are prone to claiming and renaming different black hairstyles. For example, the Kardashians wore cornrows at one point as a trend. After their hair style went viral, they decided to rename it as the “Bo West” braids. Although this hairstyle was already known among the black society, the entire nation was not familiar with it. Therefore, African americans had to reclaim the hairstyle that was already theirs or apart of their culture. This would have never occured if all black women celebrated their natural hair. To make matters worse, these same races talk down or negatively about African American natural hair. For instance, a new law passed by majority whites where it is now legal for black women to be denied of a particular position because of their black hair. These two examples proves that the same race group that tried to claim black hairstyles are the same race groups that discriminate black hair. Many may argue that black natural hair should not be worn because it is an unprofessional look in the united states. Specifically they argue that black hair texture is more coarse, which visually appears thicker than any other hair texture, making it “unprofessional.” Other may say black hair shouldn’t be worn because hair, like afros, are more likely to cause a distraction. Some may say black natural his is unable to be combed or styled, therefore