Mission: How Good Is Your Hair?

Perfectly coifed updo, check. Tightly coiled ringlets, check. Chicly sculpted bob, check. Yep, a good hair day is every girls dream.

Just the other day in an elevator a blond straight haired, blue-eyed 20-something lamented to her friends how her golden locks were “so unmanageable” and how she refused to get a perm, but couldn’t hold a curl to save her life. In response, they gasped and shuddered as if in agreement that they understood her plight.

Not all of us can be a hair heiress, so unless you are hair royalty and inherited a voluminous, frizz-free 'do, you have some of the concerns that many women do today. Whatever your hair fairytale, there’s no denying that certain hair worries are more than just having a bad hair day. They can be cultural, too. That said, could one’s race be at the root of it all when it comes to good or bad hair?

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m-4qxz08So] Good Hair" Trailer Featuring Chris Rock

Who isn’t familiar with the stereotypes surrounding good and bad hair like the fine and limp shag of a European, the kinky curly afro of an African American, or the bone straight bob with blunt cut bangs of an Asian. There is such a social stigma about having “good hair” that it has even made its way into popular culture like the docu-comedy by Chris Rock, titled, of course, Good Hair, which examines black women’s hair in America and the subsequent use of relaxers and wearing weaves. In the documentary, rock explains that he was compelled to make the film after his daughter innocently asked, “Daddy how come I don’t have good hair?” When most dads are fielding questions about boys, Rock, an African American actor and comedian was posed this hair-raising quandary from his little girl.

Tori Nichel, Fashion Designer

Tori-Nichel, a New York-based fashion designer who has been featured in Elle, Essence, WWD, and touted by Forbes as an emerging designer to watch, likens her hair to a spiral cord on a phone saying, “You can pull it out several inches longer than it looks, but eventually it will always spring back to a coil.” Other than going gray, she has no concerns about her hair and even though she has not been directly affected, she believes there is a stigma with African American women who choose to wear their hair natural. Regardless of the stigma, Tori-Nichel confidently sports her locks a la natural in an afro.

Nearly a decade ago she opted for a look that set her apart from her contemporaries when she lopped off her shoulder length relaxed hair. “I felt like I looked like every other Black girl and wanted a look I could call my own,” she says. The up and coming designer admits she likes her hair as is and has never worn a weave. “I can't say I haven't been curious at times but I was afraid it would break my hair off and weaken it. It seemed safer to work with what I had,” Tori-Nichel says. She believes the most positive aspect of African American hair is its versatility.

With salons doling out the dos and don’ts of over processed, treated, and styled hair, it’s a wonder that so many women still throw caution to the wind when straightening, dyeing, hot curling, even lightening their hair in an effort to achieve that elusive perfect ‘do. It isn’t even too far reaching to say that maybe they’re trying to emulate Hollywood hair chameleons such as Rihanna, Lindsay Lohan, Beyoncé, Scarlett Johansson, and Paris Hilton, who coincidently has her own line of hair extensions — that have no qualms coloring, cutting, curling, even adding weaves to their heavenly manes.

Fulya Guney, Computer Arts: New Media

Academy of Art University graduate student and Turkey native Fulya Guney, who wore a Katie Holmes styled bob with bangs for four years, says it was Sienna Miller’s layered locks that served as inspiration for her shaggy ‘do, stating that she likes the textured look of the starlets hair. Guney describes her own hair as thin and wishes she had more of it but confesses she likes her flat hair because some days she is just too lazy to care. For Guney, the cut must be stylistic. “I just want to wash and blow dry my hair and go out; it’s all in the haircut for me.” Thin flat hair isn’t typical Guney says of Turkish girls. “Girls in Turkey have beautiful curly hair; but they are obsessed with getting it flat.”

But, is it always greener or even cuter on the flip side? For just as many looks one can get there are just as many products like gels, hairsprays, creams, straighteners, and curling irons that can help them achieve it. California-born Wendy Chu who is in the MFA Fashion Merchandising program at the Academy knows this all too well. “I like how my hair can easily be manipulated with hair products and stay that way the entire day,” she says. Asian women are known for their bone-straight raven locks.

Chu, who is of Chinese ancestry, says that most Asian women complain about their hair falling flat and lacking volume. “I've tried to obtain the messy look, but it just doesn't work and when I ask for side swept bangs, they never turn out the way I had envisioned.” Typical of Asian women, Chu has always had fine, straight hair. She even recalls her mom giving her homemade perms when she was in elementary school to add volume. She tried the process again stating, “I did get a slight wavy perm, which turned out great until my straight, no volume hair grew back.”

We are always in search of the perfect hair hoping this day will be the one where there is no frizzies, the curl holds, the fly-aways are tamed, and just maybe the updo will manage to hold throughout the night. But, is any one group truly cursed with a perpetually bad ‘do? One thing for sure good hair and bad hair means different things to different people regardless of their ethnicity. Luckily there are a bevy of tools on the market from rotating flat irons and crimpers to weaves and perm kits that the look desired can be achieved. Nichel sums it up nicely saying, “I define my hair, my hair doesn't define me.” Touché.

(Photos credits: flickr.com, getemgirls.com, and courtesy of interviewees)

Chicly Yours,
The Chic Spy