Ida Legesse, an educator in Los Angeles, agrees with this sentiment. "I am rubbed the wrong way when this question is asked repeatedly to me by my looser curl-patterned sisters who are not pressured to report out their hair plans," she said.
3. "You Should Wear Your Hair Natural More"
Up until I was 25, I constantly wore my hair straight, braided, or weaved. At the time I wasn't comfortable wearing my natural hair because it was severely heat-damaged and resulted in multiple lengths and textures. The off times I wore it natural, a few people would say they liked my natural hair more. This was always confusing. I never asked for anyone's opinion but yet they felt so free to give it.
"This is my decision. Not yours. Please don't assume I'm suppressing my culture by straightening it."
Renata Pieterse Schmidt, a corporate relocation consultant, wears her hair straight most of the time and curly on occasion and finds this question equally frustrating: "This is my decision. Not yours. Please don't assume I'm suppressing my culture by straightening it."
As comedian and actor Phoebe Robinson so perfectly put it, "society has never figured out how to have a healthy, functional relationship with Black hair." White European beauty standards have produced the thought that Black hair is unkept and unruly when natural, so Black females will spend money on chemical straightening and braids, just to be told that our natural hair looks better.
