Earlier this year, I wrote about Beyoncé’s politically charged Super Bowl performance and the scandal that arose in its wake. Half the world praised her for giving Black empowerment a moment in the media, while the other half branded her a racist and threatened to boycott her music.
Beyoncé made no apologies and paid no heed to the angry mob. Instead, she later followed up the performance with the release of Lemonade. Since its release, the album has inspired critical acclaim, a whole new host of pop culture references… and the witch hunt for one very elusive “Becky”.
In her song Sorry, Beyoncé stated:
He only want me when I’m not there He better call Becky with the good hair
Brilliantly Bad Decision
In hopes of capitalising on the spotlight thrown on Beyoncé yet again, two staffers of Glamour devised a brilliantly terrible plan. They fired back at Beyoncé’s Becky with the Good Hair by posting:
I had to see it to believe it. I couldn’t believe that anyone living in a multicultural society, like America or the UK, could be so bloody clueless as to why this would be inappropriate.
The responses on social media further brought perhaps the biggest embarrassment any lifestyle and entertainment brand has faced in quite some time.
Glamour Magazine is not Alone
But I would soon learn that Glamour staffers weren’t the only ones who didn’t quite get it. Many people actually have no idea what this means.
The following day, while Michael and I drove back from the gym, I asked him if he had heard about the incident.
To put things into context here, let me just inject the necessary detail that my husband is White.
Michael raps, has more Black friends than I do, and knows more about Ebonics than I will ever care to learn. Yet, even he was clueless as to why the article was offensive, and as to what on Earth the phrase “Becky with the good hair meant”.
“Isn’t that the whole thing about Jay-Z cheating on Beyoncé?” he asked me.
“Becky isn’t the point. Don’t you know what ‘good hair’ means?” I asked incredulously.
He didn’t.
It was at that moment that I had to step back and re-evaluate what I believed should have been common knowledge and fairly obvious. After all, I come from a predominantly Black country, whereas America is… well… America.
So let me explain why this is not just another minority-tantrum like the many that make it through the media.The History Lesson
Of all the angry tweets directed at Glamour, this one summed up the root of the problem best.
The keywords here are “historical significance”. This is because the phrase good hair wasn’t coined by Beyoncé for Lemonade, or even by 90s rap. It’s been a part of the Black Movement and the Black struggle since the days of slavery, and is deeply rooted in the journey of Black women (and men) from properties to human beings.
To keep slaves compliant, they were taught that their natural features made them somehow less worthy of rights and freedoms than other races. This primarily included the colour of their skin, and the texture of their hair. Coincidentally, these are the two most distinguishing features of what it means to be Black.
After slavery, as civil rights movements took shape and Blacks received their first chance of assimilating into regular society, these differences posed a problem. But while Black skin brought no inherent inconveniences besides people’s personal biases, Black hair did.
Let me explain how.
The Struggle is Real
For most Black women, our hair is still a part of that daily struggle – especially in an era where personal appearances mean so much. Our friends of other ethnic groups and mixes can easily throw their hair into a ponytail in five seconds. But our frizzy hair obeys no law and no man.
Even in the corporate world, many of us are forced to ditch our natural hair, because corporate thinks our kinky locks are too naughty for regular business operations. And at my Catholic school, every ethnic hair-do was banned in the rule books, and as we tried new ones – like my signature Mickey Mouse puffs in seventh grade – those were quickly outlawed, too.
But ironically, the people who notice our hair the most? – is us. While other teenagers mostly worried about body image issues and acne, we worried about that and our hair. Maybe mostly our hair.
Many of us have tried everything – perms, presses, cornrows, braids, and just cutting the damn thing off. Sometimes we’ve done so much crap to it, it just falls off on its own…
And all of that to conform to what regular society decides is good hair – which is essentially not our stubborn kinky hair. Good hair is the Black Community’s bitterly-spoken name for obedient, soft, silky smooth locks of the Mixed, the Asians, Latinas, and of course White folks.
It’s worry-free hair; the hair of the models they put in Pantene ads, and the girls on Pinterest with an effortless bun on the top of their heads.
In contrast, our naturally dry, frizzy hair is bad hair. We are taught from an early age through dolls, school rules, corporate expectations, and the media that our genetically gifted natural hair is not sufficient, fashionable, or appropriate.
To soften the message, the media often puts forward an image that kinky (or nappy hair) looks like this:
This is true to an extent, but more accurately, this is what African hair looks like when a woman is mixed. In other words, if Michael and I had a daughter, she would likely have a similar hair type to either of these two women. Often times, these hair-types become grouped with good hair because it’s “less Black”.
But for most of us, our hair looks a bit more like this:
Imagine trying to get hair that kinky to meet society’s professional, beautiful, and neat standards, like these Beckys with the Good Hair.
And then imagine the overwhelming pressure to meet these expectations. We quite literally get chemical burns from relaxers and heat burns from press combs just trying to keep up. As one tweep summed it up nicely:
The Way Forward
Of course, things are changing now. Many corporations “allow” us to wear our natural hair without causing a fuss. I, for instance, wore my dreadlocks when I worked at Xerox Business Services.
Similarly, many magazines, fashion shows, and movies also feature Black women who embrace their natural heritage; whether they have bad hair, good hair or something in-between.
As we grow older we learn what works for us, and we accept that we’ll just have to spend more time and more money on making our bad hair good enough to meet societal expectations.
In fact, Beyoncé made a strong statement by refusing to chemically alter her daughter’s hair – at least, not yet. However, when that same Queen Bey – the most powerful female symbol in the Black Community – hires a team to make her look like a Becky with the Good Hair, you know we still have a ways to go…
Reblogged this on writingsofasinglegirl and commented:
Just came across this. Really opened my eyes.
It is terrible that we put expectations on how one anothers hair should look. I used to straighten my naturally curly hair so I could style it “cooler” like the way so many guys do. Up and over. But lately, I’ve just been embracing my curls. I say embrace your hair and wear it the way only you can.
You are so right. It is; especially when they make it a systematic thing in work and school that surpasses mere aesthetic.
I think that’s the only reason we should have to change our appearances. Curls look cute on boys. Embrace it!
Reblogged this on #TheMeetingPlace and commented:
What a great read regarding “Becky with the good hair”! Everyone should definitely check this out!
This article is so well written. I can honestly say that I never thought about “Becky with the good hair” in this way at all, but now that this perspective is being shown to me, I can’t even believe these journalists. Knowledge is power people, this article showed me that today.
Thank you Nicole. It means the world to me to hear that. Thanks so much for reading. I’m glad it showed you a different perspective.
what do you think about how Beyonce is approaching these issues? Do you think she should step up and explain these lyrics ?
I think it’s music and art, and the artist owes no one an explanation. It would be nice if she did but I don’t fault her for leaving people to speculate.
With people of different ethnicity and diverse culture, its hard to understand that what problem the other one has faced throughout his/her life. Its only when the movement big as such occurs then only the gravity of it is felt and being from a country of color where being fare is a bliss for girl, can so relate to it.
True and that’s why a culturally diverse education is important to give people a better understand of the context regardless of their ethnicity. Until then, a lot of well meaning people will remain ignorant. Glamour, though, should have done their research. They’re professionals.
Professionals earn through it only till the time their own image is not hampered. Now will be the time when they start being apologetic that it was not to hurt anyone’s feeling.
Yes, that’s exactly what happened. Maybe they’ll take the public’s advice and hire a more multicultural staff.
I wish that happens only when they realize their mistake sincerely.
Like like like
Thanks hun!
Thanks for the lesson
You’re welcome. Glad I could share something informative. 🙂
Loved the translation but what got to me is that I cannot go 2 hours after combing my hair before someone complains about it not having been fixed and I end up cutting it, and am in Botswana, where you’d think people would understand.
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Yes, this is why I stated in the article that no one notices hair more than us.
I am aware of rules in corporate, school, and anywhere else and on a wide scale the majority rules and to get a racial issue across there is strength in numbers, and I have a very hard time seeing or believing that black people stick together to fight racial injustice in the work place or schools to wear our hair natural or whatever, it is never ending, do you fight the system of racial injustice in the media, magazines, or right in front of your face?
I wear my hair however I like. I’ve been natural for a long time and have shoulder length dreadlocks. That didn’t happen overnight.
Also I finished school in 2012 and work for myself, so I don’t face the kind of pressure people still in corporate or schools do.
So I try not to assume my ease of rebellion is as easy for everyone else.
Thank you Alex for the education behind “good hair”. I have been a Cosmetologist for 20 + years. And I agree with you when you say the struggle is real. I have always worked hard to advance in my career however there was something holding me back. It was my natural hair. I didn’t get the promotion I worked so hard for until I relaxed my hair. When I did that, doors opened left and right. And when we talk about the mere fact that this is what is happening to some men/women in the Black community then some people in society want to say that we’re pulling the race card. SMH!
You’re welcome. Thank you so much for reading.
20+ years in cosmetology is impressive. Congrats! And who would know the struggle more than you, who has to “fix” it every time we show up?
I had much similar situations with the hair thing too. I was told my hair made me look too young because of the “curls”, and therefore less professional.
Over time, people learned to accept the dreads but the last time I worked in corporate was in Jamaica, so my experience is much different I would say from African Americans. We’re more used to natural hair back home.