"Hair" by Malcom X

The way that this story developed was totally unexpected. I have heard the name Malcom X plenty of times and knew that he was a influential person in the Civil Rights Movement but I have never read any of his pieces. Knowing this about him I knew that the story was going to have something to do with the Civil Rights Movement, especially since this was coming right out of his autobiography. I liked that he didn't come right out and talk about the problems but instead he told a story that then tied into what he was trying to teach. It kept me wondering throughout the story; When will the lesson come? Is this story really just about him relaxing his hair?

That fact that they made a bootleg relaxer is hilarious to me! I also have nappy hair like Malcom X had and have gone to the hair salon plenty of time to relax this mess called hair. Reading the pain he had to go through and that they had to do it more than once just so that a barber would charge them less blows my mind. When I go to the hair salon I pay a lot of money but I would never go as far as making a bootleg relaxer just to save a couple of dollars. That just shows the difference between the way we live now and the life he had to live. He didn't have the luxury of being able to pay ten dollars for his hair cut which is why I understand he would do anything it takes to save some money.

The reaction he had when he first looked in the mirror after he was done relaxing his hair brought back so many memories. Two key memories that I love. Like I said I have gotten a relaxer before and have been doing for about four years, it isn't a strong one because I don't totally want to get rid of my curls. The reaction he had was the exact same reaction I had. I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe that was my hair, it was so manageable and I couldn't wait to leave my hair down and do cute styles to it. Another memory that came to mind was the day my cousin straighten my hair for the first time. Since my hair is so nappy people see it as a challenge. So he took about three hours blow drying and ironing my hair with a clothes iron (crazy, I know!). When he was done, he took a step back and looked at my hair and felt  so accomplished.

Now Malcom X didn't write this for me to sit her and just talk about all these hair stories, the last paragraph is definitely my favorite. I was waiting for the moment where it would get serious and I couldn't have thought of a better way to say it. "This was my first really big step toward self-degradation...", this line blew mind. In a million years I would never have thought of relaxing my hair as self-degradation but it totally is. He went through all that pain just so that he could look like a white man. He couldn't believe that he had joined all the people that felt that if they didn't look like the whites they weren't pretty. He brought to light a problem that to this day still exist in society. People are changing their bodies, faces, hair to look like what others think is beautiful. Instead of just embracing their own unique beauty.