I Love My Hair - Are you part of the 7%?

Article from Glamour Magazine:

This is bumming me out: Dove put together a Make Friends with Your Hair Survey of 1,000 women in the U.S. and found that only 7 percent of them love, love, LOVE their hair. But there were other interesting finding as well...

They also discovered:

* Although the overall finding was that only 7 percent of women love their hair, African American women (14%) were the most likely to vote that way.

* Hair Care is a higher priority in a woman’s morning routine than eating breakfast (45% versus 41%), applying makeup (39%) and extra sleep (35%)!

* When asked how many hair products they use on an average day to manage/tame their unpredictable hair, 58% of women said they use three or more.

* 1 in 5 women have passed on a social event as a result of unpredictable hair.

Some of this isn't so shocking. Three products sounds about right to me, for instance. But that 7 percent number really makes me sad. Is it really that low? Do we all hate our hair that much? And I have to say something about the whole "more important than breakfast" thing. Are you kidding me? Breakfast is my favorite meal! Well, really brunch is, but I can't start every day with a bloody mary. But, regardless, if it comes down to chowing down or doing my hair, somebody better leggo my Eggo. A ponytail will do.

You can find the original article here.

Am I surprised by these results?  Not really.  Am I “bothered” by them?  A little.  Let’s first remember that these are statistics and we have no idea how the poll was taken, what variable existed or how these results were derived.  Statistics are basically a compilation of data, analysis of that data and the interpretation of said data.  So there are a lot of factors to consider before reading too much into these results.  I mean where are all the women with their “I love my hair” t-shirts? However, let us take these numbers at face value for the purposes of this discussion.

 

The #1 complaint I hear from women, well wait…#1 complaint is usually a man, #2 is either hair or weight.  Those last two flip flop depending on what week it is J.  The complaints surrounding hair almost always surround not achieving the results they want or more to the point, wanting someone else’s results.  “I want huge waves like Kim Kardashian”, “I want bouncy curls like Tracee Ellis Ross”.  Oh and I can’t tell you how many “if my hair was ____ (fill in the blank), I would go natural”.  It seems as if there is never a happy medium when it comes to hair from both natural and relaxed women alike.  

Based on discussions I’ve had with women, here are the top reasons women don’t love their hair:

·         My hair isn’t long enough or my hair won’t grow – historically length has been associated with feminism and sexiness. 

·         Looking for the “S” factor – desire to have curls that form a perfect s pattern.  My hair doesn’t curl up - major focus on curl definition and forever on the quest for that product that will “make” the hair curl.

·         My hair is too curly - too much shrinkage, excessive knots and tangles and frizziness seem to rule my hair.

·         My mate or significant other doesn’t like my hair

·         I don’t know how to style my hair

·         My hair is too kinky or “nappy”

Me personally I love my hair and this has not always been the case.  I always wanted my hair to do something other than what it wanted to do.  That is problem #1.  When I would get relaxers, my hair would curl up immediately upon wetting it.  It was almost no point.  I could wear my hair curly even with a relaxer.  Not as curly as now, of course but my curl pattern always crept through.  I was somewhat content with my hair but never did I love it.  For me, a lot of that was linked to internal issues moreso than external aesthetics.  Now I love my curls, even the tangles and knots that come with them.  Do I love it every day?  Absolutely not.  Every now and then I have a day where I’m not really feeling it but overall, I can say I am part of that 7% who loves their hair. 

Do you love your hair?