A couple of days ago I went to watch Star Trek Into Darkness and while I’m in no danger of learning to speak klingon I love the films to death. I was pleasantly surprised/impressed to see no less than two natural heads in the film.
Zoe Saldana kept her hair pulled back into a smooth straight ponytail but a couple of African American women in the cast proudly wore their manes natural.
Natural unadorned hair appearing on mainstream tv or magazines is something that we are starting to see more and more these days and there is even a blog created specifically for spotting natural hair in the media.
On the other end of the scale, some of us don’t want to accept the fact that natural hair in it’s natural state may just not be suitable to wear in certain situations, particularly for work.
I’m all for changing the European standard of beauty to be more inclusive of us au naturel. Having mainstream media accept that there is nothing wrong with the way black hair grows naturally would be wonderful for many of us.
But picture this: You are a graduate law student, finished at the top of your class and barely a year out of college, you have just landed an interview with the biggest law firm in town. They only interview 2 graduates a year. You love your natural hair but you don’t want to scare off the middle class white men who will probably be interviewing you. Do you:
A. Straighten it.
B. Keep it natural but pull it into a bun.
C. Wear it big and wild, they are there to interview you not your hair.
It’s easy to say that we should all be brave enough to go for option C, be proud of how your hair grows and to hell with anyone who doesn’t agree. But here’s the kicker. It’s much more difficult to change the establishment from the outside.
For the same reason that the FBI use undercover agents to bring down crime rings from the inside, it would be much easier to change opinion if you actually got the job first!
Further, I don’t think many of us would be willing to gamble (and it would be a gamble) your once in a lifetime opportunity for the sake of your hair.
Even though I think most natural women would opt for option A or B, frankly I don’t think there is a wrong or right answer to this, it all depends on you the person and the job that you are applying for. Today I saw a fabulous ‘fro on a man who works at my local supermarket. He works as a porter, clearly not a high powered position but he was working it!
I know this graphic has been shared, re-shared, tweeted, +1 and pinned like a hundred times but some of us just learn visually. For those of you wondering how on earth to wear your short natural hair, these are 30 updo hairstyles shared by the lovely Aisha. She also shows how she created each one of these styles on her youtube channel. Enjoy and check out her blog too at MyfroandI.com.
Dont have Neuf…….yet!
Kimmy Kay Monika Powell