Last week, my blog post pointed out that Black female celebrities rarely wear their natural hair in public. Well, I guess I stand corrected. Oprah, the most famous of all Black female celebrities, is donning a gigantic afro wig that would make even Mufasa, the original Lion King, bow down. There is a small part of me that worries our hair may be viewed as an amusing charicature; however, if allowed to grow without mitigation, some of us would actually look like this. Natural hair, at it’s absolute best, grows up and out like a halo surrounding the head of a Renaissance saint. So, do your thing, Oprah. Even if it’s not really yours (and thus not really natural), I choose to look at this as a bold celebration of all that Black hair can be.
Learn more about the genesis of this O Magazine cover at US Weekly: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-beauty/news/oprah-winfrey-wears-35-pound-wig-on-september-cover-of-o-the-oprah-magazine-201358
The Only Afro in the Room 
I hate Oprah and this is why. She seems to always be right on the heels of whatever trend/cultural shift to add her uninformed opinion. Ignoring the fact that she herself is relaxed she doesn’t do her own hair. I get this hair things has become a “movement,” but I have a hard time people forcing what is so common place into the spotlight as though they are celebrating something new. It is almost demeaning to be an accessory to your hair, a mere prop for someone else to ogle. Hair is Hair and is not, unlike the cover suggests, a prop.
I liked it better when she wore tracks and gave relationship advice to married women despite not having a husband.
Sorry for the rant, but Oprah stresses me.
Thanks for your comment. I was wondering if some of her readers would react that way. I can’t speak for Oprah’s intentions, but perhaps some people are merely capitalizing on a legitimate awakening of Black women to their collective selves. I see the natural hari movement as just the latest evolution of a movement for our freedom that began a long time ago. The day when we can all walk around with our natural hair and have whatever job we’re qualified to do (just like women of literally every other race on the planet), then we can say that this natural hair issue is passe.