I'm a happily nappy African American mom of two biracial children. Glad to see you here. Come on in, have a seat, and I’ll fix you a tall glass of iced tea. Let’s talk about this thing called a nappy kitchen.Barack Obama or Hair Weave?
I went into a local Black beauty supply store. The clerk and I were in deep conversation about current events. A beautiful Black acquaintance came in wearing a blondish wig or hair weave. I could not tell which because she had a kerchief on her head. She talked with the clerk about getting the straighter and blonder weave or wiggy thing she usually buys.
The clerk went to check the stock room even though I could tell by her facial expression and body language that they were out of stock. I asked my acquaintance if she was registered to vote. She said ‘Yes, but there was a mistake and she needed to correct her voting location’. The clerk came back and together, we tried to offer my acquaintance suggestions to correct the polling place error.
I asked her who she was voting for (Yes, I just HAD to ask! You know you would have, too). She said she was voting for Barack Obama. (I usually misspell it as Barak Obama. I guess we all must progress 
One thing I noticed though, was that she was very distracted … but not by the 2008 Presidential Election or current events. SHE was distracted by the fact that she would have to walk out of that store less blond and less straight than she wanted. The clerk and I tried to keep her focused on current events, but it was no use. The dread and disappointment was plastered to her beautiful face, her body movement fidgety … unsure …
Why, oh, why would a beautiful Black woman become frustrated, worried, and insecure because she can not find the right kind of (perhaps) dead person’s hair to hide her own God-kissed hair?
October 25th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
During my twenty years of life, Black hair has not been beautiful, I cut my permed hair off and started from scratch in 2006 and up until that point, as long as I could remember I’d always wanted long, straight, and light hair. This is because what I’d seen and what was considered beautiful was not the curly, unruly, wavy and soft hair that I’d been born with it was the straight, blonde/red, “human” hair that many of my counterparts had began to wear. It’s frustrating, yes, but until we can explain, thorougly and effectively, to our black women that what God gave them is beautiful, they’ll continue to be unsure of what ‘true beauty’ means and will continue to wear the blonde weaves until they’re sure.
October 26th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Thanks for dropping by, Lina. Well said.
November 13th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Well that kind of thinking could be put to any other grooming and primping females do. God gave us hair on our legs and we shave it off. God gave us beautiful eyes and we get colored contacts to change them. I don’t think black women dye their hair light or get long/straight weave to look like their white conterparts, I believe it is just a preference.
November 14th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Hi, Michelle. Good to hear from you!
So what do the rest of you guys think? Do the mommys of Black and Biracial daughters attempt to ‘kill the kink’ simply because it is ‘just a preference’?