This truly marks a new day of how media and society
should view black hair. When I watched the video, I was taken a back. It is easy to forget how beautiful and unique yet conceptual we all our as individuals. And it is easier to blame dominant society for the trials and tribulations people go through - especially black women. But to disregard our beauty, and the aspects of ourselves that make us beautiful is only a disservice to ourselves. This thinking of "ugliness" and "never being good enough for a man" stems from images we see in the media. Maybe a series of events that happen in your personal life. It starts when we are young, and still learning about the world.
Sesame Street does an amazing job at addressing a real issue. I have to admit, I wasn't real keen on Sesame Street when they made the Cookie Monster the Veggie Monster, but I can do more than just appreciate this.
Dana Oliver blogs (yes, that is a link) about her hair journey and talks about the strong impact this video had on her as well.
For me, it was a validation of my self-worth as a Black woman, with hair that takes hours to tame. And for that, I am thankful.
kjt.
I think a big part of "desired image" comes from our own curiosity as human beings as well. Yes, media portrays a lot of "ideal" beauty, but I sometimes we are just curious. I have brown eyes and I've always thought that blue eyes, green eyes, hazel eyes were so much more interesting and pretty. But I've also been told by a blue eyed girl that my eyes were pretty. I didn't agree at all. I've also dyed my hair numerous times because I didn't like my black hair because I felt it made me look super Asian. I've also tried to give myself a curly afro because I saw it on tv and thought that it was so cool! At some point in our lives, we all try to be different and experiment with our image and will continue experimenting until we form ourselves into what we really want to look like. I learned to like what I look like because I focused on my own self image and what made me feel good rather judging my own image by comparing myself to celebrities.
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