Oprah flips and flops her hair for Chris to prove that she has no weave, tracks, or fake hair hidden. Oprah was saying that most black women, especially the last few generations have struggled with their hair. She put up a picture of herself when she was a small child with pigtails and Chris Rock said she was still a slave back then! Hilarious. Her next photo was a little neater and longer ponytails he told her that was when she got her freedom. He continued to give a narrative comment on each of her looks, it was priceless.
Chris discussed how women initially denied and were ashamed of wearing weave. Oprah asked if Chris wanted women to be natural, and he said not at all. He thinks that women should be comfortable and do her hair for herself not what people will say or think.
O also covered Solange cutting off all of her hair. She revealed that she didn’t think she was as pretty with weave or that she didn’t get as much attention without the weave. She wanted to remove herself from the bondage of her hair.
As a black woman I have tested the tenacity of my hair so many times by trying a variety of products, styles, and weaves to alter the texture and/or look of my hair. I permed it for the first half of my life then I colored it and bleached it. I gelled it and hot roller set it. I damaged my hair once with my home kits, colors, and my one year of Cosmetology School and was forced to cut it.
I glued the weave in, had it sown in and I even wrapped it around my ponytail for a stallion-esque appearance. All along hating on the girls who had “good hair”, trying to imitate the baby hair around the hairline, and wondering like Chris Rock’s daughter- why I didn’t have good hair.
If I am honest with myself, the quest for good hair started early. I don’t know one woman who has the more common “kinky” grade of hair that has always loved every moment of it. How do black women dominate an entire industry and don’t own a fraction of it? But, wait I am getting ahead of myself. Somewhere between the 6th grade yearbook picture and senior prom- we became less impressed with what God had given us.
We were totally unappreciative on the tight curl patterns, and nappy kitchens (where the kinks are the tightest, on the nape of the neck). Our mothers were not impressed because they are the ones who first sat us down in the kitchen while they heated up those hot combs on the kitchen stove. Since the 50’s we have reduced the thickness of our hair texture, colored it, lengthen it, and elongated the kink to a wave pattern.
And at one point I believe we thought we were fooling people even when everyone bought the color B2 despite the color of your actual hair. The colors didn’t even match up! As we have evolved, specifically technology, we have moved further away from our heritage. Why are we straightening our hair? Why do we color it? Why do we insist on wearing weave? I want you to think about your hair journey. My question is this- what’s stopping you from wearing your hair in its natural state investing in its restoration?
