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Each month, I always buy ESSENCE. Even though I am not American, it still speaks to me as a young black woman although it needs a *lot* of tweaking.
In the March 2009 issue of ESSENCE with the beautiful Halle Berry on the cover, there was a section of the mag that troubled me. The hair section. I have the mag here and I can scan the pages of conflict soon when I get the chance.
Reading the hair pages with famous celebrities, I am starting to feel like ESSENCE does not understand the concept of natural hair for black women. Irony?
Example #1: One page with a picture of Erykah Badu, there is some advice to ‘go to a natural hair stylist’. Okay, at first sight this comes across like good advice, but speaking from experience, you can try and go to a salon and get your done naturally and you WILL receive sneers from fellow black hairdressers as I painfully learnt.
Example #2: On the same page, it advocates you to use hairpieces. I think this is a fundamental error. It is well known that there are massive debates about whether wearing natural hairpieces is actually NATURAL so for ESSENCE to write this in the natural section is very very very worrying.
Just looking from these two examples, I feel like ESSENCE as a magazine is conflicted and does not actually know what the hell it is talking about. It is such a shame. Because black girls barely have any media that speaks to them and for them. The conflicting messages show that the mag itself is conditioned into one way of thinking that excludes kinky hair.
For black women of the Diaspora, no or little hair is the most natural.
When black women have every grade and texture, trying to fit into any natural style can require great effort, cease the naturalness.
Some women’s hair hold twist others don’t, cornrows that wont frizz are only a luxury for few women. Most black women have to figure it out for themselves, because black hairdressers either over or underestimate ones hair. They will not take the customers word for it.
Of course Essence doesn’t know the concept of natural hair, no one does.
@Hathor, I see natural hair in a different definition. Natural hair to me is Afro hair that has not been chemically manipulated ie, via relaxers.
That’s the tone of my post and that is why I think ESSENCE don’t know what to do because most of the images in their mag are made of black women with relaxed hair or weaves.
But see every black womans hair is not the same. I would say that probably every woman in your family’s hair is different. My hair would never have enough weight to fall as yours as seen your avatar. It would never have any look without doing something to it. So what to do, use product to weight it down? That’s why I said the best natural look is no hair or little hair. Actually before the Euro influence, that’s what most sub-Saharan African women had.
Essence Magazine is no longer Black-owned so I would say that there is no emphasis on showing true natural hairstyles.
It’s just in the business to sell subscriptions and advertising. I used to subscribe a LONG time ago but no more. Sad.
I disagree that ESSENCE is conflicted. Well, maybe on some other things, but, with respect to the issue of hair, I believe that it is a response to the different ways Black women choose to wear their hair. Yes – to be natural, pressed, relaxed or faux is a choice, and we as Black women can rock it however we choose, without judgement or denigration re: one’s authenticity.
@Hathor, I respectfully disagree with your opinion 🙂
I am thinking that chemicals make natural hair not natural, ie, that change the curl pattern, not whether one uses scissors or something.
P/S-The image in my avatar is not of me but I wish it was!
@Kim Major, the tone of the magazine has definitely changed. I still buy it every month because the features can be good but I do agree, it has changed.
@missprofe, I don’t judge any black girls who straighten their hair. But the fact of the matter is by straighten their hair, they are not being natural. It would be nice to see more images of natural headed black women in ESSENCE b/c I sure as hell am not going to see it in Glamour mag.
I won’t be renewing my subscription to Essence for the same reason. Its too commercial, and some of the topics are best left for Dear Abby. I decided to go natural a year ago, cut my shoulder length relaxed hair off. My hair has more shine and body to it. I flat iron my hair for a night out, mostly wear it in loose curls, or curly fro. We have to get back to “our” creative roots when dealing with our hair. I hear women say their hair won’t grow, but steadily piling chemicals on it. My hair is healthier without the chemicals, it has vitality and strength. Relaxed hair is weak, look at the thinned strand. Growth starts from the inside, nourish your bodies and your minds.
Peace
I think Essence is in the position where they must play both sides of the fence. They are not going to go totally against the status quo of straight, or weaved hair. But they do know some of their readers with natural hair, demand at least a small presence.
I recommend going to http://www.acceptthehealing.com whether you have straight or natural hair. I think it will help either way.
Peace
I think explaining that every natural hair texture is not the same does not excuse the magazine for encouraging people to cover their natural hair as opposed to styling it. They could give information and styles for the different types of natural hair textures, which would actually be very helpful to some readers. Other magazines do it for straight, wavy, and curly hair.
Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s Essence was more informative when they did articles on natural hair! The woman’s hair was actually natural with a host of different bold innovative styles as the natural hair care movement was exploding! We had Diane Bailey, Pamela Farell, Diane DaCosta and many others!
Essence was right there with it! Back then and right now I’ve always been focused on natural hair and I made a point of clipping out every natural hair style that was featured in Essence Magazine back then. I still have a photo album about 3 inches thick full of those old Essence Magazine styles! I have featured a couple of them at my blog.
I stopped subscribing to Essence long ago as well because I outgrew it. But I’m wondering if we ought to demand from them what we want to see in the magazine, rather than discard it. It’s such an icon for black women!!