Sadia Hamidu
Saturday, September 21, 2024
The US Army's new regulations on acceptable female hairstyles has me in shock. Forget the rule on twists, dreadlocks and large cornrows, as you could argue that you make a choice to wear these hairstyles. Barring, of course, if you wear locks or other styles for religious reasons, or that your tiny cornrows leave you without a hairline.
The regulation that struck me the most was "the bulk of hair exceeds 2" from the scalp" which completely ignores the fact that afro hair grows out and not down. Anyone who has afro hair or has dealt with it knows that volume comes naturally. It is not by choice. Even if I were to pull my hair back into the tightest of ponytails my hair would not lie completely flat. At some point the bulk of my hair would need some place to go.
The lack of real consultation of black women is apparent and the monumentual ignorance is simply outstanding. However, does the black community have a role to play in this? Can you understand something you rarely see and know very little about?
Natural afro hair is still scarce in countries where black people are in a minority. Even with the ever-increasing natural hair movement, more than 80% of black women still have straight hair. This number seems too high, doesn't it? With the plethora of blogs, YouTube channels, and Tumblr accounts, you would think that natural hair had taken over as the style of choice. And yet, many people remain unaware of facts such as how quickly does black hair grow, which contributes to the misunderstanding surrounding its care and styling.
There is no doubt that it's one of the most visible groups online but, take an inventory of women in your life, and see how many have uncovered natural hair? As in natural hair that is worn outside of the home for strangers to see as opposed to being under a weave or in braids?
The group of people who wrote the US regulations had very little knowledge about black hair. This does not excuse their farcical attempt at bringing professionalism and uniformity to their ranks. They could have sought advice from black hairdressers and specialists who would have saved them the embarrassment of applying the baseline of what is acceptable for white women directly to black women.
However, these regulations point to a deeper problem and it's that white people so rarely see black hair in their day to day life and they have no idea how it behaves. The black community does have some responsibility for this because we continually emulate hairstyles that lean towards looking more Caucasian.
If the majority of us change our curls and coils to look like straight hair then is it acceptable that someone who has no contact with black hair believes that is just like white hair? If you've been socialised to believe that afros are a hair choice from the 60's and that weaves and relaxed hair are what black hair looks like in 2014 then wouldn't natural hair seem unusual?
When I went natural 6 years ago I had one friend with natural hair and I saw her twice a year. When my Korean friend saw my natural hair for the first time she laughed and asked; "what is this new hairstyle?" She had never seen my natural hair before because I had always had a relaxer, worn a weave or braids. Since I rarely saw natural hair on women in my everyday life, how could I expect her to know what my hair really looked like? How can we expect other ethnic groups to understand and accept what is misunderstood and is a minority within the black community?
The not so secret fact is that natural afro hair is still not accepted or understood by many black women. Sure it's a growing movement; a return to your hair's original state. However, I hear misconceptions every day from black women: that afro hair can never grow longer than shoulder length or that moisture equals oil and not water. The best misconceptions are the reasons why a person cannot 'go natural' - because their hair is too tough; it's not sexy; their skin is too dark; it's not professional, and a host of other reasons.
If the black community does not understand and demonstrate our respect for our hair, how can we ask other communities to respect something that we hold in disregard? Because ultimately this is about respect. Respect for the fact the afro hair inherently behaves differently from white hair. Respect for the fact that this is not a passing fad and that black women are born with afro hair in a variety of textures.
We do not make the choice to have afro hair and asking us to change our hair is tantamount to asking someone to change their eye colour because they can wear coloured contacts. There are hairstyles that will ensure the professionalism of black female soldiers but, the powers that be will have to accept that curly does not equal 'unkempt'. Straight is not professional.
If the US Army did not know about x, they would bring in a consultant. Bring in a specialist who can tell you what is and is not discriminatory. Bring in five specialists who work with different types of black hair. The fact that the Army's consultancy group was led by a black woman demonstrates that either these were women who do not know enough about natural afro hair or that their recommendations were disregarded. It is simply and wholly unreasonable to ignore the fact that we are different. You may not have know this then but you do now.
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Sadia Hamidu is a freelance Editorial Contributor with MNI Alive Media
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