The Big Debate--Wow.
Posted 07-27-2009 at 10:41 PM by JenBenCal
It wasn't until tonight that my faith in people's ability to be courteous and act with respect was challenged. We all know about the "Big Debate" (as I like to call it) and have known for quite some time. The debate over natural and relaxed hair seems to have spiraled out of control with wrongful comments on youtube (never on here though). I was cruising through youtube looking at hair growth progressions for inspiration when I came across this video:
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M5UpVQHtp0&feature=related[/URL]
Now, the topic of debate was whether this woman named Shima (you may have heard of her?) had "real" hair because of the fact that she was relaxed and extremely long. The video was made by her in an attempt to dispel the rumors that, because her hair was relaxed and it had lost its natural texture, her hair growth journey was irrelevant and, ultimately, "fake". Now, I can understand those who rock the natural might not identify the same way as someone with a relaxer (however even this puzzles me because if I see a woman whose hair is growing, it gives me hope regardless), but to bash her in the way some of those women did was ridiculous! Here is a comment, directly quoted from some woman about the video: "[I]Relaxed hair, in my opinion, is not your hair. I mean it's YOURS, but then it really isn't. If your hair is chemically altered, that's not the way it was created. so, technically, it's yours, but it's not your real texture. So it's pretty much real, but fake.[/I]"
I was appalled for various reasons. Even if I didn't sport a relaxer and prefer to be that way, I would never call a woman's hair "fake"! The hair was not sewn into my head nor was it glued, and even if it were, most of the time I use human hair which is NOT fake because it came from someone. It wouldn't be mine, of course, but it'd still be "real", technically speaking. Regardless, my relaxed hair grew and still grows from my scalp. Why is there so much tension (outside of LHCF) between women who are relaxed and natural? I don't understand why we cannot see how beautiful our variations are. Just as no black woman is born with the exact same skin color, eye color, and hair texture, what we chose to do with our hair is one of the things that makes us beautiful! The fact that today I can rock my straight, processed hair and shave it off tomorrow wherein beautiful, natural spirals will grow is what makes me proud to be African American. I would never EVER say to another woman that her choice to color her hair or style it in a way that is not anything but what she was born with would make it "fake". I sincerely hope that woman never finds herself on this site, for her rude statements would taint the very uplifting topics that make this forum what it is today. Just felt I had to say something.
[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M5UpVQHtp0&feature=related[/URL]
Now, the topic of debate was whether this woman named Shima (you may have heard of her?) had "real" hair because of the fact that she was relaxed and extremely long. The video was made by her in an attempt to dispel the rumors that, because her hair was relaxed and it had lost its natural texture, her hair growth journey was irrelevant and, ultimately, "fake". Now, I can understand those who rock the natural might not identify the same way as someone with a relaxer (however even this puzzles me because if I see a woman whose hair is growing, it gives me hope regardless), but to bash her in the way some of those women did was ridiculous! Here is a comment, directly quoted from some woman about the video: "[I]Relaxed hair, in my opinion, is not your hair. I mean it's YOURS, but then it really isn't. If your hair is chemically altered, that's not the way it was created. so, technically, it's yours, but it's not your real texture. So it's pretty much real, but fake.[/I]"
I was appalled for various reasons. Even if I didn't sport a relaxer and prefer to be that way, I would never call a woman's hair "fake"! The hair was not sewn into my head nor was it glued, and even if it were, most of the time I use human hair which is NOT fake because it came from someone. It wouldn't be mine, of course, but it'd still be "real", technically speaking. Regardless, my relaxed hair grew and still grows from my scalp. Why is there so much tension (outside of LHCF) between women who are relaxed and natural? I don't understand why we cannot see how beautiful our variations are. Just as no black woman is born with the exact same skin color, eye color, and hair texture, what we chose to do with our hair is one of the things that makes us beautiful! The fact that today I can rock my straight, processed hair and shave it off tomorrow wherein beautiful, natural spirals will grow is what makes me proud to be African American. I would never EVER say to another woman that her choice to color her hair or style it in a way that is not anything but what she was born with would make it "fake". I sincerely hope that woman never finds herself on this site, for her rude statements would taint the very uplifting topics that make this forum what it is today. Just felt I had to say something.
Total Comments 6
Comments
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LHCF is not exempt from this debate.
You can't pay folks no mind, especially the self righteous.
I can't believe I watched a shima video. blech.Posted 07-28-2009 at 02:14 AM by Crackers Phinn 
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Haha, yeah, some of her other videos are a little...umm lol, but I just took offense at the woman's comment. You're right, just have to ignore the ignorant.
Posted 07-28-2009 at 02:42 AM by JenBenCal
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I'm 95% natural and 5% relaxed (due to a sliver of hair I used to relax when I had weaves which is now growing out) and I must say Id laugh if anybody tried to call me fake because of that minority percentage.
I wouldn't care if I slapped two boxes of relaxer on my head tomorrow morning, if it grows from my scalp, it's not fake.
On a different note, shima… Something just don't sit right with me about that womanPosted 07-28-2009 at 04:12 AM by tash85
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Claude Hammercy...
JenBenCal...
Search the hair forum for Shima... then come back to this blog post.Posted 07-28-2009 at 04:17 AM by SmartyPants
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Why don't people like her? I think she and her hair is beautiful. People can be so ignorant...
Posted 07-28-2009 at 06:42 AM by ♥Lamaravilla♥
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[center][B][color=#FF1493]what that person said didn't make any sense at all. and she didn't even know how to explain what she meant so her argument is invalid anyway.[/color][/B][/center]
Posted 07-28-2009 at 07:33 PM by vainღ♥♡jane
