Hair = Politics ?????

The video clips we watched today in class I found to be so interesting!  Neil Lester a professor at University at Arizona discussed his studies on hair and how he has found that they can dictate a lot about "patterns of identity constructions historically."  He is right!  We see young African American girls looking up to pop star celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Beyonce, and others.  And we see straight hair glorified.  However, for those like young African American girls they were not born with this so they will do anything in their power to achieve this look.

It is sad to me, because I feel people should be proud of their heritage and wear it all over them not change it to fit in.  As Lester talks about his daughter who wanted her hair chemically straightened he said that no longer does she have virginal hair because she has changed it.  I can only imagine how hard this was for him to go through and see how much his daughter wanted to assimilate into society.  (This is similar to Benetha in the play "A Raisin in the Sun")  She could no longer go swimming, she had to stay away from rain, and not sweat in P.E.  Why would you go to this extreme to look different?  Or to fit in?  I guess it is similar to plastic surgery...

All in all hair is a way to read culture, race, politics, and gender.  We also see people being judged based on their hair.  For instance Lester has dreadlocks and he says that people are always asking him if he is from Jamaica or if he is Rastafarian when in reality he is neither.  People perceive things just because the way others look and in most cases your judgement is wrong.