sunday retrospective: i follow BGLH because...

The majority of people who follow BGLH are young, black women. But I think that our beautiful hair (and the quest for it to be recognized as such) can be shared with everyone. So I'm starting a new series called 'I follow BGLH because...' BGLH readers who are neither young, black nor female tell why they follow the blog.

Beth is 37 and lives in Massachusetts.



Beth with her family (when her hair was long)


BGLH: How did you find "Black Girl with Long Hair?"
Beth: I think I was doing a search on the internet for photos of curly mohawks and one of Natural-belle's blog photos came up... I started looking at her postings and thought it was cool that it was dedicated to naturally kinky/curly hair. I found your blog in her blog list.

I like reading about other women's feelings and thoughts about their own hair and the political and social issues surrounding naturally curly/kinky hair. I feel less alone with my struggles with my hair. I feel inspired by other women who embrace the curl/kink/frizz/volume of their hair. I am starting to be less afraid of the voluminous power of my own curls ; ) I have always tried so hard to control the curl and frizz and make my hair lay down and be quiet. Now I'm trying to make it stand up and get noticed thanks to yours and other natural hair blogs I have been following.

I also love kinky hair! I have always loved the texture and styles from afros to braids to dreads, etc. I love all the photos of different curly/kinky hairstyles.

BGLH: Tell us about your hair.
Beth: I like being natural in my appearance, especially my hair. My hair is naturally curly. I relate to some of the issues that other women with kinky/curly hair are dealing with. My hair has been a source of stress my whole life. I got my curly hair from my Dad and my mom has stick straight hair. My mother had no clue how to care for it when I was growing up. She would make me wear curlers to bed (the old school ones that had pointy metal things in them, OUCH!) to try to control my hair.



I would spend an hour every weekend crying while my stepmother yanked the dreads out of my hair that had formed from my mom not taking good care of my hair during the week. She finally just cut it off.

There are tons of hair straightening styling tools and hair products on the market that are aimed at white women. There are all these commercials that show white women with frizzy "unmanageable" hair and how some product or tool can give you smooth, frizz free, straight hair. "Healthy" hair is straight hair according to these commercials... Straight hair is very "in" with white women right now : ( I see a lot more white women with straightened hair than curly hair. Most of the hairstyle tips and spreads in magazines show white women with straight hair or wavy hair... The one white celebrity that pops into my head that has really curly hair naturally that started wearing it straight when she became famous is Nicole Kidman.

BGLH: This blog contains several issues unique to Black women, is this the first time you're hearing them?
Beth: Yes and no. I have had black female friends with all different types of hair. We never discussed their hair, they just made choices about how to wear their hair and I accepted them as they were. I had a few black female friends in college. I helped one do a relaxer in her hair. I did a big chop (didn't realize that is what it was called back then, lol) on one friend who had been relaxing her hair and wanted to go natural. I only realize now that I have been reading natural hair blogs, what a big deal it was for her to go natural. I had another friend that had natural hair the whole time I knew her. After college I had a biracial friend that got weaves and learned all about weaves :)

I am definitely seeing the world differently since I started reading about the political and social issues surrounding being a black woman with natural hair. I notice natural hair everywhere now! I also notice all the relaxed hair, wigs and weaves more and wish they would all go natural : )

BGLH: Has any particular discussion stuck with you?
Beth: The one that is still ongoing about natural hair in the Dominican Republic.

You can see more of Beth at her blog http://queenbuv3.blogspot.com/
If you would like to do an 'i follow BGLH because' feature, please email me at contro_versial@hotmail.com