Alice Vol. 5 No. 1

The Kink In My Hair
By Christine Thompson
In a world where beauty is seemingly defined by
those with influence, we often see black women left out of
the conversation. In modern-day America, black hair has
been regulated, criticized, and more recently, politicized.
While other non-black women have the luxury of wearing
their natural locks without a second thought, for us,
it is daring to “bare it all” in a public place, let alone a
professional environment. This dynamic has robbed
black girls of their sense of freedom, and the right to exist
in their natural state without fear of criticism.
That said, we have made great strides in the beauty
community regarding representation for natural hair.
Most recently, the current titleholders of three of the
major pageant systems in the country, Miss USA, Miss
America, and Miss Teen USA, are all black women –
making pageant history. Miss USA and Miss Teen USA
won their respective national pageants with their natural
curls.
As I can attest, this was a monumental win for black
women who compete in pageants everywhere. This win,
for us, meant representation in the pageant community
– a community which has maintained strict, European
beauty standards.
Additionally, in the mainstream beauty community,
we have seen major campaigns featuring natural hair
from brands like Ulta, Dove, Covergirl, and Pantene. With
prominent celebrities like Janelle Monae, Zendaya, and
Lupita NYong’o, and other black models and celebrities
sporting their natural hair on multiple international
beauty campaigns, the natural hair movement is taking
the beauty community by storm.
With recent incidents involving young, black school
girls and adult professionals being criticized for their
natural hair in academic and workplace settings, we must
recognize the white majority’s resistance to the natural
hair movement. Though we might be making strides
in the beauty community, we are still fighting an uphill
battle in workplace and educational environments. This
is not to discount the success we have made in achieving
some level of representation in the beauty industry, but
the fight is continuing in other aspects of our lives as well.
“I think a lot of people are
like, ‘Oh, I love that ethnic hair
on a black woman,’ but do they
necessarily think it’s beautiful and
value it? I don’t think so. I don’t think
so at all.”
10 Alice Winter 2020
Alice Winter 2020 11