By the title of my post, you know where this is going. Yes, Blue Ivy's hair. But before the baby protectors and naturalistas come for me, please take note of the title again. I believe Blue Ivy is a baby and should not be public domain, however, Beyonce is. If I as a commoner (as the BeyHive calls them) can receive 2 cents she can get some too.
First, let's be real. I want everyone to get out of their feelings for a moment. If I carried in my arms a babe who had unkempt hair, every time you saw me, what would you say about me? Right. She needs to comb that baby's head. Some might even call me neglectful. Just because she is Queen Bey and running the Beyhive does not give her free reign to neglect motherly duties. Yeah I said it!
For me the problem is not the fact that Blue's hair is natural. So I want everyone who is crying race relations and indoctrinated self-hatred to hold on to their well-coiffed two strand twists and moisturized TWAs dripping with ACV rinses. Because all the Youtube videos, natural hair tutorials, and 4c blogs tell me that people put time, money, and effort to maintain their natural tresses. Before you label me as self-hating, I love hair: fake, real relaxed, real natural. I am relaxed but I've been natural. I mean pixie afro natural (kempt and unkempt). I didn't rock a relaxer really until I was 16. But I digress. My point is natural is not the equivalent to unkempt!!!!! You can be relaxed or have the straightest natural locks and still be UNKEMPT. By the way I recognize unkempt because I had a don't care period in college, where I would wash my hair, barely condition and never comb it. I would just tie it back with a pair of old stockings LOL! Evidence below.
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Which brings me to my second point. My issue. It bothers me when any mother is maintained, styled, KEMPT in a BETTER fashion than their own child. Have you ever seen Queen Bey with tangled, unmoisturized locks, or unkempt hair as much as we have seen her child? I think not. I am in defense of Blue. I don't think it's fair. Some are applauding Beyonce for not feeding into norms and stereotypes. But when was teaching your child to love themselves by taking pride in their appearance a stereotype? I think envy and self-hate can develop when a child sees her mother with kempt hair and hers is just fashioned atop her head willy-nilly like. Even as an adult running to classes with my hair unkempt, I was embarrassed because I knew that I wasn't putting my best foot forward and I was neglecting myself.
My mother was not a hairdresser, but she spent time, money, and energy to maintain our tresses. I will concede, there were times my mother missed the mark, but for the most part we were together. The picture to the left, I had seborrheic dermatitis and lost most of my hair - which was probably the original struggle braid. LOL!! The picture below my Mom grew it back. My Mom was really particular about our appearance and I think she got that from her mother. My grandmother is known to re-curl her hair at 6 pm in the evening because, " you never know who will drop by and pay a visit." LOL.
Hair is one reason why I personally don't want a girl. I am not ready for all the maintenance it entails. I want my daughter to know: to be unkempt all the time is not an option, you will love yourself and your hair, and mommy will never stylishly galavant while you look ragged (unless you are learning a lesson for the day, like not talking back and appreciate the clothes and hairstyle you have). LOL.
Lastly, stop being mad that someone has an opinion about someone else's child rearing techniques. I know I am going to get tons of backlash for this one! But, let's just be real, everyone wants to subscribe to the adage, " it takes a village to raise a child" but as soon as someone suggests something contrary, you want the village to shut up. LOL. You can't have it both ways! Now I will say, the village does have idiots, like the young lady who started a petition about Blue's hair. Girl bye, that was uncalled for and not constructive. Satchyourself down. Although I think if Beyonce does her babe's hair it will have nothing to do with the village. There has been times B has gotten her act together and groomed Blue and made her as kempt and fierce as herself. Or maybe Tina did it. I will dignify those times with a picture.
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Beautemous natural hair! Love it. With everything I said, I do realize, I am not a mother, nor Queen B. So the village may vote me out and return my 2 cents for lack of experience or authority. That's fine. I am only sharing the values with which I was instilled by my village.
But, I'm curious to hear from you. What has your village instilled in you when it comes to grooming? Leave a comment!
P.S. If at any time I have a child and I bring them out unkempt, you can bring this blog post out so I can eat my words!! LOL
Last night was such a difficult night for me. My Crohn's decided to come out and play. So not only did I wake up to excruciating cramping, I had to run to the bathroom in between. It probably lasted all of 45 minutes. The next morning I had to wake up and go to work. Of course I was late. 
