I Love My Hair or You Think Not

The Sesame Street video “I Love My Hair” has almost 200,000 views and while many may be from young children a significant amount of the views are black women who have fallen in love with the song.

Since the iconic children’s show aired in 1969 – during the Civil Rights Movement – up until today’s current version of colorful puppets, the lessons on the show have expanded beyond the alphabet song.

“Don’t need a trip to the beauty shop, cause I love what I got on top. It’s curly and its brown and its right up there. You know what I love, that’s right, my hair!” are the words to song performed by the brown puppet this past week.

So what is the bid deal and why is one Sesame Street skit giving a jolt to black woman across the country? For years the image of beauty has been dominated by mainstream media to mean white, thin, and long hair – and many black woman have been accused of buying into the mainstream image when they decide to get a long silky weave or use the cream white stuff we call a perm.

Most recently, black women and their hair have become a popular topic for discussion with comedians, black intellectuals, and even film producer Chris Rock’s documentary “Good Hair”.

Black comedians punt jokes about how you can’t touch a black woman’s hair and how black women will barely sleep the first week of a new hairstyle just to keep it fresh. Black intellectuals have somewhat attacked black woman as hating themselves for not wearing their natural texture that God gave them. And Chris Rock, well he hit it on all angles in “Good Hair,” especially the financial commitment black woman make to have their hair done to their liking.

It would be naïve to think that as a race – and black women in particularly – we have not had to faced self- esteem and image issues. But, to lump every black woman into a category as “self-hating” because they wear weaves or perm their hair is ridiculous. Our white female counterparts color their hair and now even wear hair extensions, but they are considered to be fashionable and not self-hating.

For the purpose of full disclosure, I have worn weaves for years. Whether they were straight and long, curly and long, short and curly, braids, or twist I allowed my creativity to flow freely through the styles I wore up top. But the unspoken secret that was not shared was the hurt I felt when I was criticized and questioned by men and women for not “embracing” my “true” self and wearing my hair natural. The frustration I experienced was not because I wished my hair was a different texture but rather why I was being defined for my hairstyle because of people who did not approve of my choice. It was also insulting to me that people assumed a lack of love for ones inner most self because of the hairstyle they wore.

Many people will not agree with the idea that altering the natural state of one’s hair is just being creative. In fact, during the 1940’s a study was conducted with black children using black and white dolls to show the impact of segregation in the schools. The results of the study showed that black children preferred to play with a white doll more so than a black doll. The study also has been used to show the need for black children in the 40’s and even today should love and respect themselves as they were created.

The Sesame Street video takes a small step in helping to alter the results of the doll study; first by just showing a black puppet on a main stream children’s show, second by letting them talk about an issue that relates directly to them, and finally by showing the joy and love a black child can have for themselves.

There will also be critics that thinks all the video is, was a cute skit. But for the majority of black woman we know that is not the case. The video made us smile for the same reason we smile every time we see Michelle Obama. It made many of my black female Facebook friends post it on their wall with a positive comment, because they wish they had a song like that when they were young. It ultimately, offered the young and old of black woman an opportunity to be proud of who they are whether or not they wear a weave or natural hair. It made us visable in places we are not always seen.

Finally, one of the things that is most catching about the song was the list of hairstyles the puppet highlighted. She mentioned the afro, a clippy, a bow, and cornrows, wearing it up or down, in pigtails, twists, and braids. But my favorite line is, “It does so many things you know, that’s why I let it grow.”

Well, then that is the charge for all to take. Allow the song to go beyond your hair. Don’t just let your hair do so many things, instead you do as many things a black woman can possibly do and let them grow. And if you just want to keep it in the hair realm, then rock your afro, locks, weaves, or perm and love it, but most importantly love yourself.