Why do we "proud" Black parents teach our kids such nonsense as "Bad hair" and "Good hair"???

Question

As a parent of a 3/4 Black and 1/4 Hispanic child, her hair is coiled tighter than mine...and it's beautiful! I just can't stand to hear Black people use the phrase "Bad hair" to define African American hair and "Good hair" to define hair with a more straightened texture. Can we please stop brainwashing our Black children with this backwords thinking? Time to start telling them how gorgeous their hair, skin and features are so when they're older, they can look in the mirror and see something admirable, not ugly.

Perhaps other cultures cannot relate but it is understood amongst Blacks how much hair is such a hot topic.

I consider this a "serious" issue because teaching our kids a sense of pride starts with not only educating them but also instilling a sense of pride in themselves...at the core beginning with their features. A person not confident in their own body can have a hard time being confident in their abilities as well. I see it everyday and especially saw it growing up. Yes, violence and all that has been mentioned is "more" important...but this is just ONE question.

Answer 1

I agree with you. This goes back to the mentality of whatever is related to "black", it's bad. For years we even went through the whole skin tone fight where lighter blacks were supposed to be better than darker blacks in some way. As being as light-skinned black woman I even used to get into fights in school about how light I was and was told that i wasn't black.And let me say I love my nappy hair. I haven't had a relaxer for about 6 or 7 months.As a woman with a daughter myself, I believe we need to redefine what is beautiful or the whole skin and hair thing is going to persist. Thank you for allowing me the chance to express my thoughts.

Answer 2

I'm sure the asker is well aware of the other problems in the black community. 99% of the questions asked on here are not as important as other issues in the world but i bet they got some kind of answer besides a veiled racist response.

To answer the actual question, the "bad hair" thing goes back to when the standard of beauty in this country was 100% based on caucasiion ideals. there were no black glamorous women. All of the early black female stars of any kind had to achieve a look reminiscent of white women to be seen as beautiful. Even to get a job, a woman stood a better chance if her hair was closer to that of white women. Hence, it was "good". Like a lot of bad habits and traditions, these things get handed down for generations even if the original meanings is lost.

Hopefully we will move past this and work on more serious issues. Unfortunately many of the things mentioned are related to this issue because it comes down to a a matter of pride. Until we TRULY judge our standards of beauty as sometjhing other than a comparison of white people, we will continue to use these outdated terms.

Answer 3

Madame I have seen the plight in the black community and hair is minute compared to some of the more life threatening situations such as education, unemployment for the men and women, poverty, violence, hunger.

Dont call this racist but some people need to wake up a smell the coffee. God bless you and yours.