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[scullies]

On Jada, Willow and Insecurities Passed Down Through GenerationsJada Pinkett-Smith is aware of the critics that frown up their noses at the way she raises her daughter, Willow. Willow cuts, dyes and styles her hair as she pleases, a fact that bothers many who feel girls shouldn’t have that much control over their appearance at such a young age

Comments

[debbiejeffrey]

Thank you to share

[kitanabychoice]

Every time this comes up, I love it even more. I mean, why shouldn't a young girl have some control over how she looks? Especially when it comes to black girls, who are already under immense pressure to conform to a certain look anyway. When I was growing up, I had such a struggle with my hair -- when I permed it, it was limp and clung to my head and I didn't know how to style it to make it look different. My interests lay elsewhere so I never learned how to use a flat iron/curling rod/etc to make myself look like other girls. But if my hair wasn't perfectly straight, I got called nappy headed and was told that I was ugly. The only time I looked acceptable to my peers and other black adults was when my hair was braided up, which kept it marginally neater

[ameliorate]

-blinks- What the heck is wrong with people?

[spiffynamehere]

AW YISS.

[ameliorate]

Love it. I wasn't aware that people were up in arms about allowing girls to manage their own hair. My father never had anything to say about how we colored, cut, or styled our hair. As he said, "It's your hair, do what you want with it." The only limitations my father placed on his girls bodies were ones he thought would hamper our ability to obtain work (excessive facial piercings and difficult to hide tattoos I suppose), he said, "After you get the job and prove your good at it, do whatever you feel like."

[yeats]

excellent. i tried to post this to _p a couple weeks ago but it got rejected for some reason -- glad it's still making the rounds in the blogosphere.