Politics aside, there is no doubt that Michelle Obama is an absolutely intelligent, beautiful and glamorous African American/Black woman. Without taking varied political perspectives into consideration, and focusing on the purpose of nearly all of my Blog posts and it's theme, Natural Is Cool Enough, I can't help but wonder, what the impact would be if Mrs. Obama were to stop making her hair totally bone straight and let her natural hair, as it grows from her scalp, be seen, in public, particularly when she is giving a speech as important and as eloquent as the speech she gave last night at the Democratic National Convention. I wrote about this back in May of 2010 and continue to ponder this:
http://naturaliscoolenough.blogspot.com/2010/05/should-michelle-obama-wear-her-hair.html.
As I explored the web, after her speech, I wasn't surprised when I saw comments from Black women noting that they were on the fence about keeping their hair natural or transitioning to natural hair, but after seeing FLOTUS during her speech, they were going to go ahead and get a perm or straighten their hair otherwise. Some think that First Lady Michelle Obama uses a flat iron, others say it is a perm, and some even argue that there is some weave involved. Essentially, no one knows that will reveal this, nor should they, but what is absolutely clear is that something is being done to change the texture. So, here are some pictures, in case there is some uncertainty.
Mrs. Obama is a Princeton graduate, a Harvard Law graduate and she is married to the President of the United States. Other than being the President herself, what role would she need to be in before wearing her hair naturally would be acceptable? I can't help but think how intense it would be if side by side pictures of Michelle Obama and Ann Romney depicted Mrs. Obama with her hair rather than like this...
but like the style depicted in the picture immediately below. Maybe African American/Black women across the web and all over the world who are on the fence about going natural or not would say, I am going to go natural too...with Mrs. Obama as a role model, in terms of hair. Perhaps little Black/African American girls in the U.S. and around the world would look at their hair and want to emulate Mrs. Obama's natural hair.
So, although the First Lady, for whatever her reasons, chooses not to represent the notion that Natural Is Cool Enough in her role as first lady, there are others to continue to look to for this type of role modeling. It's nice to see the covers below with Jill Scott and Oprah as they are literally representing natural hair in the public eye. For these two ladies, with politics aside, it appears that your perspective is that Natural Is Cool Enough!
Maybe one day we will see Mrs. Obama gracing a magazine cover like this:
INSTEAD OF LIKE THIS...
