“Good hair”
is a loaded phrase in the black community, as it often excludes kinkier
textures and tighter coils in preference of straight locks or loose curls. It’s
a sensitive topic, and the firestorm surrounding Melanie Fiona’s comments to
Sophisticate’s Black Hair Styles and Care Guide shows that the wounds are still
fresh.
Here’s an
excerpt from Fiona’s feature in the June/July 2012 issue:
SBH: What’s
the secret to your gorgeous long hair?
Melanie
Fiona: I was born with a full head of hair, and my mom wouldn’t let me cut it
until I was 12! I’m mixed – my mom is Black and Portuguese and my dad is Indian
so I have a good mix for growth.
Some
bloggers were outraged that Fiona would attribute growth to her mixed roots.
Ebony of Longing4Length.com writes:
“In the
future when asked this same question, a much better response would be “I’ve
been blessed to always have a head full of hair and never had to concentrate on
growing it long.” You can acknowledge your ethnicity but that whole ‘good mix
for growth’ girl, if I were part of your PR and marketing team, that statement
would be forever banned from your vocabulary! Secondly, where have you been
Melanie? Did you not get the memo that we are trying to do away with the term
“good hair” in all of its traditional uses?! I need to send her one of those
popular t-shirts with the slogan: I got good hair – I got African in my family!
Shoooo, she needs the accompanying earrings too! Or maybe we need to have Rev.
Al Sharpton conduct a public funeral for the phrase good hair as he did for the
N-word!”
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