PROGRAM SUCCESS – MAY 2009
PAGE 39
Get Real!
Enough with the Weave and Wigs
It has been said that “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” We all want
to be beautiful even if only to ourselves, and because of that we do many
things to enhance our appearance from adding color to the cheeks, eyes
and lips; dressing in the latest designs and fashions; and styling our hair,
which is the topic at hand – our hair.
I don’t know how it all started, just taking a stab in the dark, it was probably someone’s continued efforts to make us more inferior by stating
something like “she got good hair and she got bad hair.” Of course she
with “good hair”, hair was straight and curly and she with “bad hair”,
hair was thick and coarse. Thus begun the era of frying, dying and laying our hair to the side.
As a child I remember watching the popular television series The Planet
of the Apes. On this show the White man journeyed in space and mistakenly landed on a planet inhabited by apes that were somewhat
intelligent with the ability to exercise human function. Needless to say,
the White man subdued the apes, brought them back to planet earth,
and used them as servants in their labor force.
What astonished me even as a child was how the apes would dress-up
with white-female-style wigs as they went along doing their daily chores.
When I saw the female ape stand next to the White woman, they both had
long flowing hair but the ape with the wig was still an ape.
Beauty can’t be bought for $29.95, and self-esteem comes at even a
greater cost. Let’s Get Real and Be Real! We can grow our own hair. It’s
Over the years there have been many hair styles we have had as a peoa Discipline that takes time and effort. The Weave and Wig era defines
ple and each of them defined where we were at that time as a people.
us as a people without Discipline. We want beauty but don’t want to
There was the Afro that defined us as a strong people fighting the effect
pay the price therefore we portray a cheapen version of beauty. This
of white supremacy. Then the Curl that showed our ingenuity in applymentality stems over in other facets of our life… the
ing chemical and sprays to the
lacking of Discipline to acquire wealth, educate our
Afro. Then there were the
We must use our positions of Husbands, children, start businesses, maintain homes, and even
Braids that alien us with our
African roots. Then came the
Pastors, Teachers, and Friends to give keep jobs, just to name a few.
Perm, that style we feel made us
our Black Women - our Symbol of Is Beauty really Beauty if it isn’t real? Just about
more acceptable to the White
Beauty, the assurance of our love and everybody has a trained eye to spot a wig or weave.
race. With the Perm, Black
Can you imagine the delight a White woman feel
women like White women
appreciation of them just as they are, just