Lil' Wayne describes what he wants in a woman in the opening line to the popular song "Every Girl." Long haired, well ‘endowed’, and light skinned is apparently Wayne's ideal type of woman and apparently the sentiment is shared by the black males at the University of Florida.
A blog topic started over the summer, known as "Title Town Queens," in which black males discussed the "baddest" women at UF served to convey this sentiment. The topic was eventually closed due to personal attacks being thrown, but from the names that had been mentioned one thing could be said: black males at UF love them some "LHTRB."
While the blog topic brought up issues of color in relation to beauty, it also grazed on another aspect of a woman that denotes beauty: hair. Whether or not a woman is light skin or dark skin is one thing, but can hair length and texture really affect how beautiful a woman is perceived to be by her male peers?
Alex Hanse, also known as Nemo to his UF peers, was the host of the Title Town Queens discussion on his blog site Nemo's Corner. On the issue of black women and their hair, Hanse said that the condition of a woman's hair says a lot about her character. Hanse feels that longer hair makes black women more attractive because "Long hair is associated with beauty and it adds to a woman's beauty." This sentiment is shared amongst other men, myself included, but why? Why is it that long hair makes a woman more beautiful? Why is it that we prefer long hair over short hair?
Hanse had something to say about this too. He believes we've been brought up to prefer straight hair over natural hair.
"Long, straight hair is more attractive, that's been instilled in us from our parents,” he says.
Has the thought that long, straight, "good hair" been really pushed into us by our parents? Never that!
Sarcasm aside, where would this notion of long, straight hair being the superior hair come from? Hanse thinks it probably stems from the era of slavery, when the master's wife was seen as the epitome of sweet, untouchable beauty with her silky, smooth, long hair.
But Nemo is only one guy. His opinion couldn't possibly be the same as most other black men at UF, right?
After asking a few of my peers and throwing my own personal opinion into the mix, all of the black males in my sample prefer long hair over short hair. When asked if they prefer it long and natural or long and relaxed, all of the males chose relaxed. Senior Jermaine Lamar says "…Perms or flat iron is the key."
So the jury is in. But who are we to judge what beauty is? Ladies, keep on doing what you want to do with your hair. Long and permed or short and natural, your hair isn't the only thing that defines your beauty. I'm sure you have many other qualities that will catch the eye of a male admirer, but having long hair wouldn't hurt your chances.
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I get alot of comments from my guy friends saying I look "ten times better with straight hair", "don't go natural", yada, so I understand the male fascination with black women having that long, straight flowy stuff. That doesn't mean I, or other black women, have to settle for their standards. Smh. 