Essay peer review

(QUESTIONS DOWN BELOW!) Before reading, there are grammatical errors

Hair is something that you are born with, you live with it and you style it, right? Do you ever worry about what style you’d like to wear, well to some, hairstyle fads are a must to keep up with in today's society. This can be the effect both self identification and even what you choose to remain. Women specifically fall under both, struggling with their hair and trying to keep up with all the latest trends. Hair especially for women and men of color can be an everyday struggle, not trying to keep up with trends, but trying to keep up with the different ways in taming their hair. Textured hair are often put in braids, faux, locs, and even crochet, these are protective styles. In pop culture and as seen in media many celebrities rock these styles, but some fall under ridicule and get bad press. The bad press is caused by their race and ethnicity, due to them being white. Not only does this happen to celebrities but many white people who also choose to rock the style. Although it is seen in pop culture and media that braid styles like cornrows are seen as “exotic” by white people. And in pop culture many  people of color either disagree or have a different perspective, this matters because the perception of it affects the way in which people of color feel about themselves. 

The origin of braids derive from all the way to the ancient egypt to West Africa, North africa, east africa, and Africa Diaspora. Braids were not only for stylistic purposes but also an identification system. the meaning was the brains may curve or look, it can be an indicator of status, tribe, masculinity, death, or even belief. The tightly compressed row of braids, also known as cornrows, originated in the fields of African American slaves. In the duration of slavery, from the 1400s to 1800s, braid held importance in african culture. In the 1600s, Many of the African slaves had lost their sense of expression in the traditions and overall the expression of their culture. Slaves scalps were affected by various diseases, like lice, in which they would have to shave a slaves head. That was caused by the ownership of the Europeans. The dictation on hair form Europeans caused them to treat the african slaves in humaley and belittle them. After slvery, December 18 in 1865, due the forced mummification of to appear like their owner, many afrircan american continued to portray that with straightening their hair. This was in the 1900s, where many of the braids were seen as unprofessional and looked down on. It soon evolved and became acceptable. In an article called “cornrows by Tameka Ellington , Ellignton states that an artist “The singer Mario released a song called “Braid My Hair,” where he is asking his significant other to cornrow his hair in order to take away the stress in his life. Getting one’s hair braided has always been a sign of comfort and camaraderie, a twenty-first-century example of the continued significance of the act of cornrow braiding in the African and African diaspora community. “. Ellignton is saying that braids were so big that influencersand artists,  like Mario appreciated braids and had a love for them. Braids were and are still seen as unprofessional in the workplace, overtime it became more acceptable . 

Trends and styles with braids from the past were seen negatively by white people, but present day some white people are seen wearing them. White woman shouldnt retain the style of braids and view them as a “statement” or even just because of a recurring trend. Growing up, I had long coily curly hair. My mom would always style my hair in braids and I'd wear them for a week, wash-day, and repeat. Little decorations like colored scrunchies and clips would be put in my hair. I didn't personally mind having braids, instead I minded the contatnt touvhing of my hair by friends and even teachers. For every family social event my mom would take me to a dominican salon and I hated it. They’d wash my hair, pull pins in my hair, put me under the dryer, and once I was done the painful process of having my hair pulled and getting burned started. Straight hair is easy to maintain and in dominican culture straight hair is seen as beautiful. When it came for me to style my hair it was harder and I began to get my hair straighten more often. I loved my curly hair but would be uncomfortable when moving to a school with many white kids. They would constantly ask “why is your hair so big”, or even ask, “could you hide my pencil in there”. From highschool on it became acceptable and many of the white kids in my school would wear them. It was shocking to have something that I would be forced in a way to be ashamed of my natural hair and braids and it was now loved by everyone in my school. The discovery of culture appropriation became apparent. Cultural appropriation is when you associate with a culture that is not the one you truly identify with. When going back to braids, the same thread of questions in me having curly hair retired but with braids and would be consistently touched.. In my process of accepting my hair, embrace my natural hair and my go-to style has to be braids. White women and men shouldn't wear braids, in that not only is it that it's something they don't identify with but it's also meant for textured hair. The evolution of how braids were viewed, from negative to positive, was caused by the way it was portrayed by celebrities and pop culture. 

The trend of non-acceptance to acceptance with curly hair does not only resonate with me from personal experience, but also with many other people of color with textured hair. For instance, Brenda Randle, professor at Arkansas State University, in her article “I Am Not My Hair: African Women and Their Struggle with embracing Natural Hair!”, speaks on her experience and many others on the struggle of trying to embrace their natural hair. Randle questions what good hair would be defined as and being defined through straight or even wavy hair, never kinky. She grew up being teased at school due to her tightly coiled hair. She desired the achievement of having permanently straight hair. As she grew to be a teen, she wore her hair straight through chemically processing it. She mentions how she viewed her hair as “good” for other people even though it was bad for her hair natural hair. randle aims it at what she saw on television and shows with african american women adapting to the qualities that Europeans had. She explains how mainstream media and the history african american women trying to adapt to the europeanlook affected the way she looked.  This is all caused by the judgement from the way europeans view African amercian natural hair and their hairstyles. Hair hold significance and meaning to many women and men in general. Randle specifies this in saying “For the vast majority of Black women, hair is not just hair; it contains emotive qualities that are linked to one’s lived experience (Thompson, 2009). Hair plays such an important role to the point that one might even insist women are defined by their hair. According to Byrd and Tharps (2001) it is impossible to ignore the fact that pop culture paradigms of beautiful Black women are coiffed with long, straight hair.” (Randle 116-117)”. Randle is explaining that hair is something that holds a lot of value for many black women and in pop culture it is seen that black women are seen wearing long straight hair. Idententification and acceptionof having textured is often difficult , due the perceptions by pop culture put on black women and people of color with textured hair. 

Some may say that braids are simply a fashionable hairstyle and can be worn by everyone. Braids are seen on celebrities like Kim Kardashian, katy perry, kylie jenner, gigi hadid, and many more. From the grown inspiration and trend of celebrities wearing them, someone is going to want to replicate that look. They are stylish and different, who wouldn’t want to wear them? When white people wear braids it is viewed as “controversial” or sometimes even “trendy”. With it being controversial, it starts conversation about race and cultural appropriation. For example in the article “what should white people do?”, written by Linda Martin Alcoff, professor of philosophy of race, discuss how white people wearing black hairstyles like braids are not too bad. Alcoff starts this off by mentioning how a group of white female students at North Newton Junior-Senior High School in Indiana by Morocco, began to wear braids, dreadlocks, baggy jeans, an even associated with hip-hop culture. Many of the white people in the town reported that they “act black” and would get ridicule from the male students in the school. A couple of months later,  bombs scared, death threats and Ku Klux Klan rallies occured at the school. In response, a male student said that they should be what they are, white. The group of white girls started all these events to occur in their school and gave this issue spotlight. Alcoffexpands on this by stating “In a situation in which political power cannot be mapped, economic power exists on no fixed grid, and the causal relations between politics, economics, and culture have no stability, it is possible to hope that enough incidents like the Moroco cse might be just the catalyst needed.” (Alcoff 16). Alcoff is explaining that sometimes when people appropriate or cross over culturally it can bring up a conversation needed to be discussed. Issues like this can be seen negatively at first but spark up a conversation on what needs to be seen and heard. 

Braids and textured are both things that some people can associate with or even disassociate with, it can come from personal experience or what can be caused the perception played out in pop culture. To add on to Alcoffs point, it is in fact true that many of the controversies seen by white celebrities and even white people, give many people of color or even people in general a reason to talk about the issues of race and culture. As a whole cultural appropriation is something that shouldn't be taken lightly or unheard, as bad as it is it is beneficial. When people get outraged or in disagreement, like myself, we find ways in educating not only ourselves but others around us. It is wrong though, when African Americans and people of color are raised to believe that their hair or hairstyle is not acceptable, similar to me and Randle. When it comes to situations like these, it is different in that when white people wear braids it is insensitive. It takes people of color who come from experiences like these and are still experiencing things like that to have to slightly overcome their defensive reaction to white people wear braids. Everyone has a right to choose the way in which they express themselves and can freely identify with things that may fall into disagreement. No matter what white people wearing or even associating black culture as theirs is like they are stealing an identity that many people of color and black people have struggled and worked so hard to obtain. Hair-wise styles like braids are not for straight hair and can in fact damage non-textured hair. It can cause baldness and thinning hair. This is important because with textured hair and these styles it is meant to retain moisture and lock it in. Textured hair tends to be dryer than non- textured hair, as a result of this it is better for textured hair than straight hair. Pop culture and media shouldnt affect what we do and how we feel but if celebrities implemented the education on knowing what is right not only for their hair but culturally then it would be less of an issue. 

When sitting at the salon chair and you want braids or a specified hairstyle, take precautions. What it is meant by saying that, is that you should look beyond them just being “cute” or “trendy”, look at the history behind them. What you choose to do, is your decision. It is always a good thing to be more knowledgeable in the things you do and say. When it comes to braids, don’t think that you can’t do braids in general. The options for acceptable styles would be dutch braids and even french braids. Take into account of how people may feel and even after reading this sympathize with the stories and experiences told. As mentioned before, educate yourself and the people around you. It is not only problematic to wear braids, but also damaging to non- textured hair. In addition, hair is not the only issue but branches off into many others, like fashion, and identification. Some white people can easily attempt to identify as black or another culture. This sucks because many people of color can’t pick and choose who they are. And the exception of being born the way they are becomes a journey of trying to appreciate their culture and accept who they are. The unfairness of white people being able to morph into different cultures is very apparent and continues to be. Whatever a person chooses to do whether it be for the satisfaction of being on trend or just wanting to do so, is their decision. 

It will always be seen in pop culture as “exotic” and different to white people. This issue is important because it causes africanamerican and people of color to have negative feelings on who they are and how they see themselves. This can form into insecurities and non-acceptance. Women especially take their hair as a part of who they are. Hair is not only something that you wear but what you represent. In today's society the constant competition of trying to be different can cause issues along the way, whether it be cultural appropriation or even crossing-over culturally. Very few celebrities take into account on their mistakes and apologize, while others just take the backlash by being discussed. This relates to even in different environments, like school, in the work, and many more, where people of color find themselves seeing what they were told was un- acceptable to be acceptable by white people wearing or obtaining those things. Also the perception of certain things can have a negative connotation when people color wear braids or other styles but then when a white person wears it, its seen as “high fashion”. It is still apparent today, but it is slowly improving. There has since began where many people of color are going natural and embracing their textured hair. It is even playing out in pop culture where many women of color are taking a stance against those europeanstylistic standards. In the future for generations to come, there is a hope in young black girls being able to idolize other black women through wearing their hair natural. 

Questions: 

1. With reading is do you as a reader feel engaged and interested? 

2. should I speak more on pop culture and include real tweets that correlate to celebrities apologizing or not?

3. I am aware that my paper is a little lengthy, what parts in my essay should I cut out and reduce? 

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