Real Black (Hair) Is The New Black: Tyra Gets Real

Generally, the nuggets of wisdom gleaned from Tyra Banks’ twitter feed are better suited as punch lines on The Soup, but I have to give Tyra a little credit for this one:

Guess What! I'm rockin' my REAL hair on my talk show September 8th. No fake hair at all! Will be the hair coming out of my scalp! 4 all 2 C!

Cheers to the sentiment, but not 4 the ridiculous dance routine performed yesterday in Union Square Park in celebration of casting off her weave.

The “good” hair “bad” hair conversation has been going on between African-American women (and men) forever: Good hair is typically described as longer, smoother and straighter, while bad hair has been typified as kinky and coarse. To that end, most African-American women I know spend massive amounts of time, energy and money on the quest for “good” hair.

Chris Rock explores the issue in the upcoming documentary “Good Hair,” inspired by the sadly innocent question by his young daughter about why she doesn’t have “good” hair.

I asked fellow beauty writer Kristin Booker, Fashion.Style.Beauty, what she, as an African-American woman obsessed with all things beauty related thinks about Tyra’s announcement:

“I think it’s a very intelligent and brave decision for Tyra to present herself to the world with a weave-free head. It says to me that she no longer feels she has to have Caucasian-textured hair to be perceived as beautiful, which is a huge statement for women of color. There is more than one perception of beauty in the world and by Tyra accepting her own God-given beauty, perhaps women everywhere will realize that we’re more than just our hair. I know I went back to my “coarse” texture this summer and I feel relieved because I finally realized that the only “good hair” is healthy hair that makes you feel good about yourself. Well done, Tyra.”

I’m with Kristin on this one. But I’ll be interested to see whether this is a one-time publicity stunt for Tyra, or if she actually plans to go au natural for good.