The reality is that black people are the only folks on this earth who even have these types of discussions. And the reason is because our hair/skin is unlike anyone elses. Think about it--There are only a small percentage of White/Asian/Latina women who chemically process their hair (to alter its texture), for black women it is the other way around. Does this not seem odd or backwards to you? I am so tired of people pretending as if a perm is a style "choice" for black women. We have been bombarded with the notion (since early childhood) that at some point it would be MANDATORY for you to straighten your hair. It has been so embedded into our subconsciouses (centuries in the making) that NATURAL has become UNNATURAL and vice versa. A woman who wears her hair naturally (Jill, Lauryn, Badu) has an "alternative" look and is subject to scorn and ridicule??? WTF...hello? When Catherine Zeta, Lucy Liu and Gwenyth Paltrow are being praised for wearing their hair naturally straight??? Black folks need to get it together--it goes beyond bobs, and shags--believe that.

"We live the now for the promise of the infinite" --Mos Def

"I'm tryin' to soar to altitudes unknown to man, woman or the most agile of birds" --yours truly

"your people first. a quiet strength. the positioning of oneself so that observation becomes reaction, where study is preferred to night life, where emotion is not seen as a weakness. love for self, family, children and extensions of self is beyond the verbal"
--Haki R. Madhubuti