So a friend of mine tipped me off about an article on Zimbo Jam entitled Weaves or 'Naturalles'- What is Good Hair?. I read a lot of articles on natural hair on the web but I rarely respond to them and it's even rarer for me to share them on Facebook or Twitter, but this one is so special it made me type up a blog entry.
The article, and I use that word loosely, is about whether natural hair is better than weaves. While it's great to see people here in Zimbabwe talking about natural hair this article was an extreme let down. Aside from the awful punctuation and poor grammar, the article is seriously lacking on content. It's almost like the author just pulled random thoughts out of their head when they couldn't come up with any thing to write. The article is neither inspired or informed and here's what ticked me off.
For starters, what is natural hair? There are two pictures with the article, one with two women with obvious weaves and another with a woman with an afro and the other with what looks like locks. I have natural hair, and to me, it means I don't straighten my hair with chemicals. If I put a weave on top of my non-chemical treated hair does that mean I'n not natural any more? That I've lost my naturalness? Where in this weaves vs. natural hair dichotomy do women who relax/texturize their hair fall?
Then there is the following sweeping statement:
On the plus side, it's nice to see the author mentioned the fact that there is an ongoing debate about the merits of natural hair and it's affect on identity. There is so much that could be written on the topic of natural hair. While I don't think it's fair to expect the guys a Zimbo Jam to exhaust the topic of what good hair is and I know this was probably just a fluff piece and not meant to be a in depth journalistic analysis of the topic, it could have been written much better.
End of Rant!! (",)
The article, and I use that word loosely, is about whether natural hair is better than weaves. While it's great to see people here in Zimbabwe talking about natural hair this article was an extreme let down. Aside from the awful punctuation and poor grammar, the article is seriously lacking on content. It's almost like the author just pulled random thoughts out of their head when they couldn't come up with any thing to write. The article is neither inspired or informed and here's what ticked me off.
For starters, what is natural hair? There are two pictures with the article, one with two women with obvious weaves and another with a woman with an afro and the other with what looks like locks. I have natural hair, and to me, it means I don't straighten my hair with chemicals. If I put a weave on top of my non-chemical treated hair does that mean I'n not natural any more? That I've lost my naturalness? Where in this weaves vs. natural hair dichotomy do women who relax/texturize their hair fall?
Then there is the following sweeping statement:
"Yes we know what the men are thinking, its only hair"Does the writer really know? If any research had been done even asking random men in the street, the author would have found out that most Zimbabwean men actually have a preference for long flowing hair. Hair that doesn't grow out of the scalps of black women, but can be achieved through chemical straightening or purchased in the form of weaves.
On the plus side, it's nice to see the author mentioned the fact that there is an ongoing debate about the merits of natural hair and it's affect on identity. There is so much that could be written on the topic of natural hair. While I don't think it's fair to expect the guys a Zimbo Jam to exhaust the topic of what good hair is and I know this was probably just a fluff piece and not meant to be a in depth journalistic analysis of the topic, it could have been written much better.
End of Rant!! (",)
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