Relax.

With the White House teaching white America a thing or two about being black, the topic of "good hair" has garnered its fair share of press recently. When the First Lady took Sasha and Malia on a trip to Rome this summer, a conservative backlash brewed strong over the fact that Malia wore her hair in natural twists rather than having it straightened. A New York Times article followed detailing the struggle black women face over decisions on how to wear their hair. Being a particular fan of the artist Lorna Simpson (that's her work entitled Wigs (portfolio) 1994. above) who has explored black hair as a topic in her career as an artist, I'm more familiar with the struggle than I would guess most white chicks are, but there's still so much to learn. Enter Chris Rock. When the comedian's young daughter came to him in tears one day asking why she didn't have good hair, Rock set to work to discover where the hell she got that idea. The result is an enlightening, eagerly anticipated, and of course funny, documentary entitled Good Hair.



There are so many ways in which women of all backgrounds are expected to torture themselves for beauty. If they can figure out how to sell us something for it, then they can figure out how to make us hate ourselves for it. Makes me think about a lot of things: makeup, skin care, hair removal, lip plumpers, plastic surgery, hair dye...

I can't wait to go to the salon and India with Rock. I'm also strangely intrigued to hear what Maya Angelou has to say about all of this.