So Exotic!

This post covers a topic that has been done to death but I've always wanted to voice my opinion about it so here goes... A couple months ago I wrote a paper for one of my classes about hip-hop music videos and what it does to the young, black female's perception of beauty. Naturally, after reading all this material, I realized that black females aren't really featured in hip-hop videos these days. Sadly, only their essence remains. There may be girls with "black" attributes, body shape, pouty lips etc. but they always have "other" attributes mixed in, long curly hair, freckles, fair skin to make them appear more exotic. If the girl is indeed "black", meaning she has more "black" attributes than "other" attributes, she is almost always over the top in some other area. She might have a huge booty or know how to shake it way better than the others. In other words she has to stand out or she doesn't get air time.

Anyway, I won't get into the whole light-skinned dark-skinned thing but do want to mention that to mention this... I've yet to understand why long hair on a black woman, any black woman, holds such fascination. It's like the whole world, or at least other black women and men assume that a black woman can't simply grow her hair past her shoulders without being of mixed race or having "good hair". If she does she's considered a wonder. The only reason this is attractive is because it gives off the impression that she is exotic or foreign and guys tend to swing more toward this hence the lack of real "black" women in music videos. This annoys me. All my life I've had long hair. I'm not mixed and I don't have special super powers I just took care of it and grew it long. I believe that any other black female can do the same if she takes good care of her hair and fights the temptation to cut it. Which brings me to my next point... Why is it such a big deal for a black female with long hair to get a haircut?

Yes, you guessed it, I've recently cut my long hair into a short bob and everytime I do it's a big deal. I've cut it before and grew it out again in high school and it was even worse. I get every kind of response. Anything from anger to shock. People, it's just hair. It grows back. It used to bother me when someone got mad at me for getting a haircut. I mean really mad. It's like they almost expected me to consult them beforehand so they could tell me that I couldn't cut my hair. I'm thinking they don't have to comb this everyday and take care of it non-stop. Long hair is pretty to look at but it's work to take care. Forgive me if I want to take a break from that. Even if it does make me look less exotic. If I'm that much less appealing by doing something as simple as cutting my hair I don't think I want those kind of close-minded people in my life anyway.