To Hell With Straight Hair

End the Tyranny of the Straight-haired

On most conflicts, aside from political ones, I am able to see both sides of the argument. I may not cop to it, but I can see it. But I confess complete blindness on the hair debate. Straight-haired people will compliment my curls, and say they wish they had them too, but they simply do not understand what it's like to grow up under the tyranny of those girls with long straight locks. It's downright demoralizing. When I was a kid, I couldn't win for losing. When poofy hair was all the rage, I got teased because I didn't have spiral curls. In fourth grade I wanted nothing more than wings, but my hair won't even consider it, despite much straightening and blow-drying. I gave up and decided to accept the mass of obnoxiousness on my head a long time ago. Not only that, but the hair became a political statement. I had relaxed my hair and enjoyed much more attention as a result, in college. This pissed me off, as there was nothing specifically wrong with my curls, and the amount of money and suffering that went into straightening seemed unreasonable, and I thought that people were internalizing stereotypes about people with curly hair, and that perhaps I was falling into that same trap. It got to be more of a "black is beautiful" thing for me, only it was about being proud of being mulatto, which I am (someday I will tell you about it). As I always say, I'm taking the power back. I've since calmed down a bit on the hair issue, but if I were so inclined, I could wear my sentiments emblazoned on my chest: To Hell With Straight Hair