r e s m a r t e d

You grow, girl!

“Good hair.”

These two words were often projected on little black girls by adults. Either you had it — hair that didn’t “need” to be straightened and grew and grew — or you didn’t. If you had it, your status was somehow elevated. If you didn’t and you were lucky, you were told you were beautiful by your daddy and by your mama and you believed it. But sometimes you were dismissed, never knowing exactly why the hair you had was considered not good hair. Did that then make it bad hair? And if you had bad hair, what did that say about you?

full article - the washington post