Analysis Of Don T Touch My Hair

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Don’t touch my hair: this should be a sentiment simple enough to understand. However, for many black women this establishment of boundaries can be broken repeatedly and without any regard for personal space. Solange Knowles’ song “Don’t Touch My Hair” and accompanying music video takes this declaration of self and creates an anthem for the empowerment of black women and dismissal of microagressions, white beauty standards, jealousy and appropriation. Her lyrics emphasize the emotional connection that black women have to their hair. But, beyond this pride is an act of self-love militant and radical against white standards of beauty; or is this self-love subscribing to the notion that black women’s hair is an object detached from their personhood- objectifying themselves to other’s gazes and not subverting them? In order to answer this question, theories from Helen …show more content…

Each wave, kink, coil and curl has carried the weight of systemic oppression by way of racism and misogyny; when the two are not mutually exclusive, they are known as misogynoir. Laws and policies have been in affect since the 18th century to police the appearance and presence of black women in the United States. Tignon laws, as a set of rules from a larger set of sumptuary laws to protect citizens from overindulgence and vice, were imposed along the Gulf Coast from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans, Louisiana. This rule forced free black women to cover their hair. The reasoning behind this rule was to “other” black women in order to counteract the jealousy of white women and the practice of white men having black mistresses. However, the Tignon law was counterproductive because free black women saw tignons as badges of honor and not as a punishment; they began to wear colorful head wraps and tie them in elaborate and innovative fashions. This rule enacted in 1789 foreshadows the struggles and triumphs of black women’s hair as a source of

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