All Afros Go to Heaven?

Natural hair "journeys" have been all over the blogosphere and YouTube, lately. These ladies are usually documenting their transition from relaxed/weaved/processed hair to their natural hair texture. 

Very useful stuff, because many black women have been relaxing or weaving since they were teens or even pre-teen. It's great to have someone describe their natural hair as beautiful and guide women through its care and management. But much of the discourse has been a little vitriolic. And in some circles, it's pretty vicious. 

On the processed side, women have said that natural hair would not be considered professional in a business environment, that it's not beautiful, men won't find it sexy and it's too political. 

On the curly side, women have said that those who process their hair are selling out, trying to look white, are not spiritually evolved, are ruining their health, have low self-esteem (because only women who have high self-esteem will remain confident in their beauty when they transition into naturals). 

I find the criticisms on both sides ridiculous, but what I find most interesting is the linking of spirituality to hair texture.

Really!?! Does Jesus smile on afros? Are fro sporters more connected to the mystical magic of the universe?

In the search for the ever elusive 'perfect curl', the amount of money natural girls spend on hair potions and lotions, not to mention the amount of time spent on twist outs, braid outs and all kinds of other outs, makes them better people? Are they not using artificial means to force their hair to do something it doesn't do naturally? Check out this YouTube video. Take note of how long it takes this young lady to achieve her hairstyle...

Years ago, I read an article about a young mother and her struggle to convince her daughter that her little blond curls were beautiful. Her daughter remained unmoved and the mother was at her wits end. One day, the little girl entered her mom's room holding two hand fulls of golden curls. Her mother was horrified to see that her little girl had cut off all her hair. "Why on earth would you do this!?!" she asked. To which her daughter replied, "None of the princesses in my books have curly hair."

Since I read that article, Disney released The Princess and the Frog with Princess Tiana (the first black Disney Princess with a hint of curly hair). 

But Pixar (part of Disney) will do them one better with their release of Brave with Princess Merida, a tough and free-spirited girl with a head of wild and fiery red, curly hair.

These types of hair issues, however shallow affect women (and men) of all races and cultures. One group's choices about what to do with their hair doesn't make them any better than the others. What kind of values are we modeling for our children when we make snap judgments about a person's worth by the way they wear their hair?