05 Oct It’s Never Just About the Hair
Netflix released its latest “rom-com” Nappily Ever After on Sept. 21. Almost immediately it became a major topic of discussion. It promised representation not just for the black community, but for the female black community (generally one of the most neglected groups in America). Finally, a story about a journey that we all experience differently – our hair. Currently we are experiencing a major paradigm shift in regards to natural hair in the black community. Someone finally told us that being natural is okay, more than okay; it is beautiful.
Viewers were sent into this film with the expectation that it would resonate with them in their own hair journey. For many, the film fell flat in its delivery of its overall message; but for others the film was exactly what it needed to be, a story of embracing oneself despite what society is screaming at us from the sidelines. One thing the film did regardless of interpretation, was reignite the natural hair discussion, and we’re excited to be a part of it.
In the film, the “perfect” Violet Jones (Sanaa Lathan), an accomplished marketing executive, does not receive the ring she was hoping for from her boyfriend of two years, Clint. After a drastic hair change and an unsettling run in with her ex, Violet chooses drunkenly and haphazardly to shave her head in a “cathartic and freeing” scene according to Lathan herself. Violet’s hair is a catalyst for her character as well as a reflection of her current state at each moment in time. With every new hairstyle she changes her personality, but hair is only hair. Most notably she goes blonde (do not even get me started on the process she probably put her hair through – trust a professional ladies) in order to get her groove back. While our hair sometimes aligns with where we find ourselves in life, it is not the end all be all of who we are. It is like India Arie sang in one of her well known singles, “I am not my hair.”
Natural, straight, weave, colored, textured, it doesn’t matter; embracing who you are should come first. Wearing your hair natural does not automatically make you “woke” or comfortable with yourself, but becoming happy in your own skin makes you shine in whatever style you choose to rock. Violet finds herself on a journey of self discovery, and it is marked through her hair. Her hair however does not control the way in which she begins to love herself. And that is what is beautiful about this film, because while everyone is waiting for her to choose a man, she is choosing herself instead.