Okay, so I have a fantasy story where the mc is a princess whose family is royal because the first king had a magical immunity and saved the world. Said first king was very pale and very white, and so is much of the royal line, but mc's mom is black (and a distant royal, looking like one of the first king's children because the first queen was also non-white) and for most of the story mc dyes and straightens her hair to look like 'royalty' and while later this is called out I still wanted to ask
Black Royalty Straightening Her Hair
This is somewhat of a complicated subject. Straightening hair and dying it (I’m assuming you mean a lighter color than black) is often falsely perceived as “toning down one’s blackness”. There’s a lot of ugliness here in that Black people have been mistreated, discriminated against and dehumanized for their natural hair, and we still are.Â
Common sentiment in the mainstream is that we need to straighten our hair to be presentable and decent, based on ignorance and hate. This doesn’t however negate Black people’s wishes to straighten their hair. Black people come in many shapes, sizes and colors, including our hair. There are Black people, non-mixed as well, who naturally have straight hair, just as that there are those who have blonde or red or brown hair.Â
This has also been an issue within the Black community and not everyone thinks and feels the same way about this subject.Â
I think these nuances are necessary here, because if written poorly, it will promote these popular falsehoods, and further stereotypes and racist stigma.
This is a fitting moment to also remind people that it isn’t just hair to us, and that racism plays the main lead in this. There are many faces to this subject and it complicates matters so much that outside of the Black community, understanding feels like a speedy unicorn, prancing around in your periphery, and just never honestly focused on unless commercialized or demonized.
~ Mod Alice
