Black Hairstyles Gallery

I came across this photo of U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday. Apparently a black boy was invited to the White House and asked Obama if he could touch his hair to see if it was like his. I almost started crying when I saw this... Let's continue to rethink hair and power.

i read an article in essence magazine about the way black women are portrayed negatively in hip hop and had this whole eloquent blog entry prepared, affirming the piece. but as i sat down to write, i was just too tired to talk about it. one more blog entry about black women and hip hop is not going to help. we've said all we can say. but maybe putting up pictures of beautiful natural haired black women will. i'm hoping it will. beauty is politics. hair is politics. and i hope this site paints a picture of black women that is virtually absent from the media: women who are naturally beautiful, not ascribing to the media's representation of black femininity, and proud of who they are.

LADYLSA : I started transitioning in September/October 2004 and did the Big Chop in October 2005 so 2009 will make 4 glorious natural years for me. I decided to return natural after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I vividly remember how he described his first conk and his realization of what the conk did to him and what he was trying to do to himself as an African American. L says~ The conk was a hairstyle popular among African American men from the 1920s to the 1960s. This hairstyle called for a man with naturally "kinky" hair to have it chemically straightened using a relaxer (sometimes pure lye), so that the now straight hair can be styled. Conks were usually large pompadours, sometimes made to resemble white hairstyles. Other black men chose to simply slick their straightened hair back, and allow it to lie flat on their heads. I took a look in the mirror and asked myself why was I relaxing my hair and realized that I had been continuing years of tradit...