Black Women, Beauty, and Hair as a Matter ofBeing

Since I was a teenager, I have chemically altered the natural state of my hair. At the time, I never really thought about why I did it, or the extent to which that chemical would rule over me. But my hairstory is not unique. For the vast majority of Black women, hair is not just hair; it contains emotive qualities that are linked to one’s lived experience. The crux of the Black hair issue centers on three oppositional binaries—the...