What message to our black daughters?

THE EDITOR: Maybe this is a new perspective on the ongoing debate but I believe that the issue of locks in school should be argued on its own merit and not in the context of any particular religion or religious beliefs. When a school principal states that locks do not conform to their dress code, what is that? At the convent I attended, I recall that hairstyles were to have been simple and well maintained with hair accessories in school colours or black only. In my opinion, however there appears to be a bias toward chemically altered hairstyles for Afro-Trinidadian girls. Parents of these girls shell out hundreds of dollars per year to have their daughters’ hair denatured from tight kinky curls into the more acceptable looser jeri-curls or “relaxed” to the point where it could be described as “bone-straight.”

As a matter of fact, a hair-altering trip to the hairdresser has become almost a right of passage for young black girls just at the crucial stage of their development when they begin to develop into womanhood. Notwithstanding the above, we are seeing a trend where locks and other natural hairstyles are becoming increasingly popular among black women. We are witnessing women at all levels of the society who have chosen to forego the jericurls and straightening bottle and opt for either short natural styles that do not include “locking” or for the more permanent locks which are maintained at longer lengths.

Kinky African hair is vastly different to other hair types and cannot be treated in the same manner. It is said that hair is a woman’s crowning glory and young women of all races take pride in growing their hair. For some of us however, interlocking our tight curls is the only way we can attain the length of hair we desire. In conclusion, while I would be the first to condemn this or any other type of long hairstyle for schoolboys, I believe that we must treat the issue delicately and consider the type of message that we are sending to our young black daughters.

CILLA BENJAMIN
Cunupia