My Hair Is Resistance: Politics of Keeping It Kinky

• In Event: Developing Carefree Black Girls in a Restrictive World

Abstract

Black girls are able to access a community of naturals (Black women with unprocessed hair) embracing and loving their hair on social media platforms. The natural hair movement has encouraged Black women/girls to embrace their kinks despite opposition to Black hair and discriminatory policies that ban it. Hair politics for Black girls lie at the intersection of gender, race, and violence in today’s society. When Black hair is against the rules and viewed as unacceptable in the workplace, the military, and even within schools, conversations in the Black community have emerged across numerous media outlets. One such outlet exists in the form of YouTube, a modern, interactive, and popular medium many have access to and seek out for entertainment, education, opinions, and advice on a variety of topics and issues. Vlogging is a creative practice that offers women an opportunity to engage in the proverbial “talking back” (hooks, 1989) narratives and rhetoric that respond to the serious subject of Black hair and the discriminatory practices that reflect the “symbolic violence” (Bourdieu, 1997) and racism against Black bodies. It is imperative that identity politics are discussed in the discourse on the development of Black girls for scholars to truly understand policing of Black hair in relation to policing Black bodies and the implications it has on their identity. Embracing their kinks has been at the forefront of resisting Eurocentric beauty standards and affirming the beauty of Black women. To ban Black hair is to deny Black girls their right to express self-love.

Author

• Crystal T. Laura, Chicago State University