There is one guest that talks about how she perms her little girls hair. I hope not to offend any one, but I think perming a kids hair when they don't even know what its all about, is wrong. It really should be an informed decision based on the reality of what chemicals do to your hair; and the issue of changing who you are to please others. But I could go on for days about that... I am gonna check out the show on Tuesday and write about what happens. It's a topic that has been around forever and probably continue to plague our community. I think everyone in the world has good hair... lol. Not just certain races. If any one watches this episode on Tuesday, come tell us what you thought of the show.
I saw the preview for this episode as well. Im interested to see how far Tyra goes into this natural/relaxed hair discussion. And kudos to Tyra for putting in those cornrows for the show when she usually does whatever she can to hide that forehead. lol.
ReplyDeleteI'll be tuned it to see where it goes...
peace.
Wonderful Janine. Comment back after you watch the show and let me know your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI believe everyone has good hair but we make it bad. I always thought I had bad hair but after going natural, my locks have shown that all that perming, straightening, tight braids etc were the reason my hair looked worn out. With my lock I love my hair, it's beautiful, it has body, gloss and volume.....Let's love our hair and stop mistreating it.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said Cee. Thank you for the comment. I agree wholeheartedly!
ReplyDeleteI agree that perming a child's hair is completely outrageous. Two days after my niece's 5th birthday my sister and aunt had her hair permed. Needless to say, I was furious and told my sister and aunt that they would live to regret perming my niece's hair. I didn't say it that nicely though! I was so so upset. Anyway to this day...(my niece will be 7 in August) her hair has never been the same and is broken off really badly. And finally, my sister admitted that she wished she'd never permed her hair.
ReplyDeleteI can remember the first time I got my hair permed. I was probably five or six and I remember my mom warning me not to scratch my scalp before the "procedure". As a kid, I didn't truly understand what scratching the scalp would do or how it would affect the perm. I sat in the chair as the woman permed my scalp and I remember crying silently as it burned. I can remember having sores in my scalp and even having it washed a week or two later and still feeling the sting on my scalp....
As a loc wearer for going on 6 years I have to say that if I'm ever blessed with children I'll never perm their hair and the choice will be theirs once they've reached 18! LOL.
I could go on and on.
Thanks for sharing, Karen.
Christy
I am new to your blog and have fallen completely in love. Can you please add the following application in blogger so I will never miss a post again.
ReplyDeleteI plan to read each post when I get home with a nice merlot. ;p
Wonderful comment Christy! I, thankfully, did not have my hair permed as a child. But I did have family members, on my Dad's side, that decided for me that I needed to get my hair pressed. Needless to say... it was very painful. I suffered a few burns from it. I am sure at that age that I did not argue about getting my hair pressed because I was young, and wanted to make my family members happy. So as a kid, I am thinking if they said I need to have my hair straighten, it must be the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole experience should not be forced on a young child. Not only is it damaging and painful, but if makes the young girl grow up to fast. Now she has to worry about her hair getting wet. Is her hair straight enough? If her hair is not straight enough, will she still be beautiful? Just way way too much for a little girl to have to deal with. I say wait till the late teens for a perm, or even after 18 like I did. When the person can make a conscious decision and not feel force.
Naturally Sophia - Thank you for the wonderful message. I just sent you an email. So happy to have a new blog freind. I look forward to hearing you comments in the future.
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ReplyDeleteJust to add to the above comment - I also think that we should teach our children that perms and chemicals are not the keys to being beautiful. A chemically free lifestly is always better than the alternative. So if your child really wants to get their hair permed, I say wait till their late teens or after 18. But if you can get them to understand and appreciate their natural beauty, they may not want the chemicals at all. That is something I am striving for with my own daugthers. Although I do think it is ok for them to express themselvs with a little bit of color, at some point in lives - I would never want them to chemically alter the texture of their hair. It is who they are and that is why they are beautiful
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen the documentary Good Hair by Chris Rock? I'm trying to get my hands on a copy. Apparently, it explores what it means to have good hair from a comedic standpoint. It stemmed from a comment Chris' 7yo daughter made about having good hair.
ReplyDeleteHi Christy,
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know that his movie already came out. But I just did a search and saw that it was an HBO special. I just added it to my Netflix queue, but for availability it says "unknown". So who knows when I will actually get to see it. I look forward to watching the movie to see his take on the issue.
I agree that relaxing a child's hair is really lame. As a black girl 7-15 yrs this should be the time when you spend your weekends etc combing your own hair. This is the time when young girls should be learning to do their own cornrows, twists, single braids, adding extensions and dealing with their natural hair. This would prevent them as adults from paying too much to do their hair and damaging our own children's hair. It is a cycle. This is done in most of the Caribbean and it works. Later on when West Indians and Africans come to America for University it becomes an easy way to pay for stuff Americans take student loans to do... and they don't even have to be experts...
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