I would appreciated your opinion....

[naturegirl]

I received an angry email yesterday suggesting that my company(Nature Girl -- we sell hair for weaving and extensions) and others like it were further erroding a black womans ability to love her 'natural' self.

While I appreciate the feedback. I'm of the opinion that a weave is not an all out assult on the culture but rather a fashion choice. Indeed, a bad weave is, at most a fashion tragedy! You can read an article I wrote on the subject at: http://www.beautyworlds.com/politicsweaves.htm

Any feedback at all would be most appreciated .

Thanks,

Elaine

[que90nek]

I didnt read your article because I prefer not to read long things on the hush....

BUT...

will comment nonetheless:

i think weave is ok....about as ok as all the other things that we put on ourselves to enhance our appearance....makeup, blingbling wear, rims on our cars....etc etc....

do you!

is the bottom line. some people like long hair...others like short.....so doing something to try to please others should be the LAST thing on your mind....pleasing yourself....loving who YOU see in the mirror is what it is all about....if u do not actively love you....there is no amount of weave....makeup....clothes....rims....that will fix that.

[CD]

I'll be brief

A grown ass woman should be able to do what ever she wants to do to her body for whatever reason.

Now with that said, a child or young lady shouldn't. I do see putting fake hair on a child as screwing up a little girl’s head. She is being taught at an early age that what she has been born with is not good enough. I think that is bad. It really gets driven home when all the adults tell her how pretty her hair is when she has the fake stuff in. So she learns the only time she gets attention is when she gets the fake stuff put in.

So the point of the bad e-mail has more of an impact when talking about little girls or young women, but little or no impact with grown women.

[que90nek]

i am going through this with my daughter...

she LOVES makeup...but i don't allow it....but her mother does........i don't even like PLAY makeup......

her mother doesnt wear ANY....
my wife doesnt either....

she gets it from all those friggin disney characters....

[Tastey]

I don't think any message is being sent to a child unless we are sending it.

There is the ASSUMPTION that no black woman could ever grow long hair so she buys fake hair. When the truth is WHITE WOMEN were wearing weaves and extension long before Black America knew anything about it.

Secondly black women have long hair, NATURALLY long hair, and to assume they can only have it by weave is BULLSHIT!

When I wore weave it was because my LONG HAIR was very thin. The weave added VOLUME...not LENGTH.

Whenever I take my braids out, I get the speech about how pretty my hair is, and long, and why do I cover it up.

Because I want to. It's EASIER and it's a choice.

If I have a daughter and I choose to do the same for her she will UNDERSTAND that's it's not because what she has is too ugly or too short, but it's a different choice.

How come when little boys get haircuts and people say "Oh you hair looks so nice cut instead of all nappy and peasy." People don't think it's SENDING any bad signals. :rolleyes:

[swtjamaica]

...if you like it, i LOVE it...it's all about how YOU feel about yourself...in regard to little girls w/weave, i'm going through that struggle with my 6 year old neice and her mother...my neice doesn't like her natural hair...it's long (at her shoulders), but when she washes it, it draws up...her mother doesn't like it like that, nor does she like cornrows or other "afrocentric" looking hairstyles, except for individual braids...i believe that my neice is too young for individual braids, and i see the effect of adding extensions to her beautiful natural hair...she feel like her hair has to be long, straight and able to "toss"...i catch her doing it all the freakin time...i try to encourage the fact that she is beautiful no matter what her hair looks like, but her crazy ass mama has her wanting to be white instead of being what she is...a beautiful, smart, loving black young lady...i'm rambling...i'm done....

[que90nek]

swtj,

i totally feel u!

its also a lot of what she sees on tv.....

everybody on tv...tosses their hair.

[mystkev]

Swtjamaica, just keep doing what you are doing and reinforcing that her natural hair is beautiful. Counteract what the mom is saying, some people believe certain things, and her ideas won't change.

Que, I toss my hair, I'm just tryna get it out my eyes.

I did not read your essay either, too long, sorry. Weaving and adding extensions is a personal choice, if someone doesn't like them then they needn't wear them. Now isn't that simple?

I do not believe that weaves are the reason that some people don't like their natural hair or themselves. I really get tired of people feeling you should answer for your own personal choice just, because they disagree.

[djackso]

If you didn't sell the products, they still will be sold. As far as children go, it is the parent's choice. Weave is not the problem in black america.

[HulaSista]

re: little girls and braids.

the whole children with weave braids is beyond me. i don't see the need to do it.

my sisters and i use to get our natural hair braided in singles when we went on vacations as little girls. would have it up all summer til the school year began. my uncle's girlfriend was fast and did it for $30 a head. long and pretty with our favorite color beads on it (bone beads were always my favorite). we use to plan what colors we would mix up for the new summer! it was a tradition that i thought was once the norm in the black community.

what is worse, for me, is a sista at my church gets her daughters' hair braided with the extensions and her daughter has no hair to catch to begin with. so you see funky braiding and patches of nap knots spotted all over her head :blah:

i am not brave enough to tell her her daughter's hair is fucked up. :(

[mystkev]

Originally posted by HulaSista
i am not brave enough to tell her her daughter's hair is fucked up. :( And you shouldn't be, not unless y'all close.

You might want to offer some advice, if you have some other than to tell her that her child's hair is fucked up.

[MsMeelah]

I agree with most of the others about little girls wearing weaves. I do think it is sending a message. As an adult, to each his own. I wore pieces from time to time when I was permed and when I was natural, for me it was just about changing hairstyles, not neccessarily to front like I had long hair.... To each his own.

[naturegirl]

I'm pleased to hear that there is so much rational thinking out there. My company does not promote 'long hair" but rather personal expression. I have clients that order kinky hair bacause they want an afro! We also want to put a stop to gorgeous women of color wearing an inferior product -- it's unnecessary. The tools and expertise to do it right are readily available -- and at a reasonable price.

I'm not sure how the topic of children wearing weaves got introduced, but it is interesting none-the-less. I've not had a single client buy anything for their children. But then, stylists typically use synthetic hair for braiding and I don't sell any synthetic hair.

Thanks again for your feedback. It's truly appreciated....

Best,

Elaine

[ice-c]

I'm pleased to hear that there is so much rational thinking out there. My company does not promote 'long hair" but rather personal expression. I have clients that order kinky hair bacause they want an afro! We also want to put a stop to gorgeous women of color wearing an inferior product -- it's unnecessary. The tools and expertise to do it right are readily available -- and at a reasonable price.

I'm not sure how the topic of children wearing weaves got introduced, but it is interesting none-the-less. I've not had a single client buy anything for their children. But then, stylists typically use synthetic hair for braiding and I don't sell any synthetic hair.

Thanks again for your feedback. It's truly appreciated....

Best,

Elaine
Nature Girl
naturegirl.dailydiva.net
welcome back, ms nature...

[naturegirl]

Thank you ICE!

As I said, my intension is not to SPAM. But rather share information - I just wanted to start a 'section' specific to the topic of weaving and extensions.

My company is growing and so to is the database of information we collect on a daily basis about this topic. The boards offers an unprecedented opportunity to share that information. Indeed, we've gotten very little business by participating on boards - so it is not, were we to evaluate it, an effective means of advertising. 90% of our business comes from recommendations... Moreover it is not what the board is for and, despite what you might think, I do respect that.

Best,
Elaine

[Joi :)]

hair, just like skin color, is a touchy subject for some of us. Growing up with short hair, i'm very self concious about my hair and was very fearful of cutting it despite damage. I've recently met a wonderful stylist and i pay her by the month and see her weekly. What a wonderful thing. No weaves, no braids, just me. I dont even perm every six weeks as suggested. My daughter cut her hair last year and its slowly growing back. Rather than getting extensions or weaves, Im trying to teach her how important she is, rather than justher hair (its not easy either). She still wants long flowing hair cause of school and tv...but if someone wants to wear a weave, wear it well...if not...do what you like...i do :D