She got that gooood hair

So today one of my friends asked about the reality of "good hair" and "bad hair" today. Generally society has said good hair is something that is straight, easy, generally not the natural way we (black folks) have hair come out of our scalp. Bad hair is... pretty much bad hair is everything that is related to Black hair. period.

I got curious of the definition of bad and this is what i found.

1.	not good in any manner or degree.

2.	having a wicked or evil character; morally reprehensible: There is no such thing as a bad boy.

3.	of poor or inferior quality; defective; deficient: a bad diamond; a bad spark plug.

4.	inadequate or below standard; not satisfactory for use: bad heating; Living conditions in some areas are very bad.

5.	inaccurate, incorrect, or faulty: a bad guess.

6.	invalid, unsound, or false: a bad insurance claim; bad judgment.

7.	causing or liable to cause sickness or ill health; injurious or harmful: Too much sugar is bad for your teeth.

8.	suffering from sickness, ill health, pain, or injury; sick; ill: He felt bad from eating the green apples.

9.	not healthy or in good physical condition; diseased, decayed, or physically weakened: A bad heart kept him out of the army.

10.	tainted, spoiled, or rotten, esp. to the point of being inedible: The meat is bad because you left it out of the refrigerator too long.

11.	having a disastrous or detrimental effect, result, or tendency; unfavorable: The drought is bad for the farmers. His sloppy appearance made a bad impression.

12.	causing or characterized by discomfort, inconvenience, uneasiness, or annoyance; disagreeable; unpleasant: I had a bad flight to Chicago.

13.	easily provoked to anger; irascible: a bad temper.

14.	cross, irritable, or surly: If I don't have my morning coffee, I'm in a bad mood all day.

15.	more uncomfortable, persistent, painful, or dangerous than usual; severe: a bad attack of asthma.

17.	regretful, contrite, dejected, or upset: He felt bad about having to leave the children all alone.

18.	disobedient, naughty, or misbehaving: If you're bad at school, you'll go to bed without supper.

19.	disreputable or dishonorable: He's getting a bad name from changing jobs so often.

20.	displaying a lack of skill, talent, proficiency, or judgment: a bad painting; Bad drivers cause most of the accidents.

21.	causing distress; unfortunate or unfavorable: I'm afraid I have bad news for you.

22.	not suitable or appropriate; disadvantageous or dangerous: It was a bad day for fishing.

23.	inclement; considered too stormy, hot, cold, etc.: We had a bad winter with a lot of snow.

24.	disagreeable or offensive to the senses: a bad odor.

25.	exhibiting a lack of artistic sensitivity: The room was decorated in bad taste.

26.	not in keeping with a standard of behavior or conduct; coarse: bad manners.

27.	(of a word, speech, or writing) a. vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous: bad language. b. not properly observing rules or customs of grammar, usage, spelling, etc.; incorrect: He speaks bad English.

28.	unattractive, esp. because of a lack of pleasing proportions: She has a bad figure.

29.	(of the complexion) marred by defects; pockmarked or pimply; blemished: bad skin.

30.	not profitable or worth the price paid: The land was a bad buy.

31.	Commerce. deemed uncollectible or irrecoverable and treated as a loss: a bad debt.

32.	ill-spent; wasted: Don't throw good money after bad money.

33.	counterfeit; not genuine: There was a bad ten-dollar bill in with the change.

34.	having the character of a villain; villainous: In the movies the good guys always beat the bad guys.

35.	Sports. failing to land within the in-bounds limits of a court or section of a court; missing the mark; not well aimed.

36.	Slang. outstandingly excellent; first-rate: He's a bad man on drums, and the fans love him.

So I went through these and was thrown. I thought about how I grew up thinking there's good hair and bad hair and the way that my hair is was bad. According to whom? Who's to say my hair is bad? What standard is there?


Most of the definitions of bad are ridiculous. They make it just seem terrible. To call your hair, the hair that grows out of your head "bad" if that's how it naturally grows. Why should someone have to alter themselves every 2-8 weeks in order to have hair that would be categorized as good? Things like "inadequate" and "tainted" or "regretful". Mercy... have we really been using these for years? smh. Even if we don't say we have bad hair, we are always saying "she got that goood hair"... if you say someone else's is good... then there is a bad. One can't exist without the other. However on the other side of the fence, "disobedient" "causing distress", could very well describe hair in it's natural state.

I think it boils down to how YOU want your hair. If it's not what you want, it's bad, if it is, it's good. Simply put. I think it's important that we shift from just calling natural hair bad hair.

Digging further... pondering... when I had a perm I never once said I had good hair. It was what it was. It was easy, manageable and all that... but I'm not sure if I never called it good because it wasn't actually how my hair grew. There are so many ways you can look at it.

If we grew up as little girls and natural Black hair was "the standard" and accepted and cherished, would we still call it bad? If we celebrated the versatility of our follicles and explored the possibilities. Do women who grow up in predominately White communities generally find happiness in altering their hair whereas in predominately Black communities they enjoy naturals? How does media play a part?

Of course we see how they handle the light-skin/dark-skin thing... but look at hair. It's very clear that natural hair for a Black woman is NOT cherished on mainstream TV... and really not necessarily on our networks. The natural girl always has to be the one with the attitude, Black Panter-like and just so-so into her roots. Why can't the natural girl just be a woman? I think of Jill Scott on her Live album when she addresses this. In her song "Gettin in the way":

Jill: "'...Jill Scott she's supposed to be such a positive person' First off, I never said that. We have this thinking that soon as we see someone with a natural that they're automatically positive. I mean, come on... some days I am, some days I'm not. Human"

This makes me chuckle more now because I'm natural. I'm no different than I used to be. Actually I take it back... I am. I appreciate myself more. I don't know if that's due just to my hair being natural and all that comes along with it or with just growth period. I accept my forehead more now, I accept my "naps". There are times when I can't stand them... there are times when I want to slap a perm in my head... but I don't. I just love the fact that my hair is mine... it's mine.

*pondering* How can something that we go through on average, once a month... not have an effect on us. If not concisously, subconciously. As soon as we see a piece of a nap we are ready to get that liquid crack and slap it on thick. It's not good until it's essentially not really ours. What if we did that in other areas? As a hair follicle I would be offended if every time I decide to grow, I am thinking I'm doing you a favor... and you want to change me. Change...

In any state Black women change their hair. We don't wake up in the morning and just go. We do something to tame the animal unless it's in a style that doesn't require maintenance. Would we... as Black women be more accepting of ourselves and others if we were just "naked"? If we didn't alter our selves in any way and just were "ourselves" how would that change things? Or would it?

There have been times that I thought about there being a day when women just were just who they were. No fake lashes, no make-up, no weaves, no extensions, no girdles, no "good" facebook picture that doesn't really look like you look... just you... You. Beautiful YOU! How would it be? Or does that seem preposterous? And if it does... how happy are we with who we really are "naked"?





These is just thoughts... will touch on this another time...

Even how we have conditioned our men to accept our rating systems.