A Black Power Solution to a Bluest Eye problem

"Think about it. Barring Rastafarians, the real ones, religious ones, what kind of black girl grows locks? Black girls who go to predominantly white colleges, that's who. Dreadlocks are black white-girl hair. A Black Power solution to a Bluest Eye  problem: the desire to have long, swinging, ponytail hair. The braids take too long after a while, the extensions. But you still need a hairstyle for running in the rain. Forget the secret benefit from affirmative action; this is the white woman's privilege. Wet hair. Not to give a shit about rain on your blowout. . ." excerpt from 'Ghana Must Go' by Taiye Selasi

I think the politics black hair have not been written enough about. Hair means different things to different people.

To some it matters not whether their hair is long or short, kinky or straight, coarse or soft: hair is just one of those things we all have for practical purposes, like hands or a nose. To others, hair is very political, and to them, how you choose to wear it is a reflection of your beliefs about beauty standards and the oppression of black people.

I know black women who find themselves and others ugly with their natural hair unrelaxed with harmful chemicals. For some of them its not about ugliness as much as it is about having to wake up every morning to do battle with a curly afro: it's just easier to have smoothe, relaxed hair that can be managed easily at the start of the day.

I had a friend once who always got braids a week before exams because she found examination periods such a stressful time. The only way to help relieve the stress of waking up after a long night of studying was the assurance that she got to tie her hair in a ponytail and was ready to go.

I know other black women and girls who see their hair as battle grounds where the ideals of black identity are fiercely debated.

Only last year, we saw girls at a number of former model-C (read: former white) schools in South Africa protesting the rules that governed how they could and could not wear their hair. These young women (and many across the country who had and had not gone through similar experiences) felt that the way these rules were written and enforced targeted anyone who did not have silky, smoothe and straight white-girl hair. These rules were seen as oppressive an unaccommodating of black people in a country where close to 80 % of the population is black.

This was a polarising issue, with some people feeling that as school learners, these young women had to abide by the school rules and their protest was seen as them wanting to do as they pleased in a school environment.

No matter your stance on the hair of black people, this much is clear: we still have a long way to go in terms of the identity politics of hair.