Over time, black women, who wear their natural hair, have been looked down upon. Through social media platforms, a black woman’s natural hair as a distraction and not as appealing as straightened or relaxed hair. According to the National Public Radio, there was a “good hair study” at the Perception Institute on what women think of textured hair. Their study concluded that “white women demonstrate the strongest bias against natural hair” since they rated it as “less beautiful” and “less sexy/attractive”. This study portrays the hate towards black natural hair.

In 2013, according to MSNBC, a Florida school threatened to expel Vanessa VanDyke because her natural hair was “a violation of the school’s dress code”. The Florida school proclaimed it was “distracting to the other students and prohibited them from learning”.  Those same kids teased Vanessa for wearing her natural hair. This story is a prime example of why young girls feel their natural hair is not beautiful because the possible repercussions lead to them not loving their hair to the fullest extent.

Young women, such as myself, grow up believing that their natural hair, which is curly, is not as appealing as others, so they aim to change their hairs’ physical appearance. These young girls have their parents buy relaxers to rid their hair of its natural state and apply excessive amounts of heat. They do not want their peers to label them as unappealing or be outcasts, so they don’t embrace their natural. After these changes, they are labeled as “normal” and fit in.

Having kinky, curly, and coiled hair should not be considered bad. Recently, styles that black women do to their natural hair have become beauty trends. For example, Bantu knots are becoming very trendy, but there was a time when people did not like the way they looked. With this style, you twist your hair down to the roots and then wrap the twist around itself to create a Bantu knot. This particular style is now more mainstream, so lots of different people are wearing them.

Although this issue does not affect everyone, it is important to shine a light on the little things that our society ridicules black women people for. All races and ethnicities have natural hair types; therefore, no woman should ever be ridiculed for her natural hair’s appearance. More people should appreciate natural hair because natural hair is beautiful hair.

– Mahogany Miles