Hair | Oprah Keeps It Real On The Front Cover Of O

[The Ed.]

Holy Oprah! The Queen of Media is blazing another trail and this time it's all about her hair. The recently released visuals for the September cover of O, The Oprah Magazine shows the most powerful woman in media wearing her hair in all it's natural glory. She joins the ranks of Viola Davis and Solange Knowles who have all recently worn their naturally textured hair with pride (served with a huge dollop of media attention).

"I wanted to wear it close-cropped à la Camille Cosby, but her husband Bill convinced me otherwise. 'Don't do it,' he said. 'You've got the wrong head shape and you'll disappoint yourself.' I took his advice," says Winfrey.

So, what's the story, I hear you ask? Why is this making the headlines (excuse the pun)? Well, I've got to be honest. I'm thinking the same thing. While there's no doubt she looks fab, surely it's a sorry state of affairs when we are lauding an African-American woman for 'daring' to wear her hair naturally?

Until then...geek on!

The Ed.

 

[x Fee x]

The problem, I feel, is that women with African American hair have been led to believe for decades that their natural texture is not the beauty ideal and not attractive (I say this as a woman with Caribbean heritage) and that relaxed and chemically straightened hair is desirable. It is also difficult for some to wear their hair natural without suffering from unmanageability, breakage and damage if they don't know how to care for it properly.

It shouldn't be a big issue, but it makes sense, to me, that high profile women with African/Caribbean hair textures that embrace it are celebrated to encourage the average, non-celebrity woman to also care properly for her natural hair and wear it with pride (I'm not currently one of those women )

 

[olabecee]

The problem, I feel, is that women with African American hair have been led to believe for decades that their natural texture is not the beauty ideal and not attractive (I say this as a woman with Caribbean heritage) and that relaxed and chemically straightened hair is desirable. It is also difficult for some to wear their hair natural without suffering from unmanageability, breakage and damage if they don't know how to care for it properly.

It shouldn't be a big issue, but it makes sense, to me, that high profile women with African/Caribbean hair textures that embrace it are celebrated to encourage the average, non-celebrity woman to also care properly for her natural hair and wear it with pride (I'm not currently one of those women )

Well said Fee, that used to be my thinking until 6 months ago when I started on my natural hair journey and haven't had my hair relaxed in 6 months. I'm living it but the transition hasn't been easy as I'm full Black African and you know what that means in terms of the texture of hair (ouch)
With Oprah not really convinced that's her natural hair except if she's mixed and I don't think she is. What do you think?
Sent from my HTC Desire HD A9191 using SalonGeek