I woke up this morning feeling very beautiful, like I believe any woman who has come to understand herself and cherish what she has in every ramification should feel. I think a lot of black women in a love-hate relationship with their different parts of their bodies – from the kinky hair, to excess endowments, to the black skin – which unfairly comes from the broader society that tells her (sometimes quietly, sometimes brashly) how unattractive she is.
Yes. And please do not pretend you don’t know where I’m going with this. You do. But if you decide to say to yourself: “Chantal can't be talking about me, then it shows you have bigger problems than the rest of us! Lol!
Let’s be sincere with ourselves, deep down, we know how it feels when we run through our work load via the internet and somewhere between clicking to check our mails we stumble on Kim Kardashian’s pix or Scarlett Johansson’s….and somehow we whisper to ourselves: “Isn’t she a perfect beauty?”
If you have never said this, or ever wished it…then maybe, just maybe, I exaggerate things. But if you have, then it is good cos you are in the process of getting your healing faster than those who will not even admit to themselves how it feels sometimes to be a black woman in a society that favours anything lighter, slimmer, straight-haired…and stands for all the things you don’t possess!
One afternoon while in the restroom at a hotel after a long endorsement meeting, I met a lady there who happened to be a fan *smiles* and we got talking when an Asian lady walked in. My fan sighed, and then turned to me and said, “see the weave we spend so much money buying, resting peacefully on its original owner’s head!”
We both laughed and continued with our gist but afterwards, I got to think about my fan's comment on the Asian hair. I will also admit here that her (Asian) skin looked supple and so very bright and beautiful! I feel that way about my own black skin, but that was after many years of that love-hate relationship I spoke about earlier on *shaking my head*
If we think about it sincerely, we can at least admit to ourselves, oooh! the beauty black African women, that there is a tinnie bit of wish that our hair was the straight-and-gorgeous-out-of-bed kind, and our skin was as bright as the sun. That wish is there. If it wasn’t then all the hydroquinone products and weaves will not be multi-million dollar businesses all over the world!
But that doesn't mean that we do not love ourselves. We just spend too much time thinking of the things we do not have which affects our positivity and being thankful for the things we have! When we start to appreciate the black beauty – kinky hair, black skin, excessively endowed physique, then we can truly live the life we are meant to have.
And if a man won’t stay with you because you are black and beautiful, he still won’t stay when you bleach yourself white.
We are black women. We should be proud of who we are.
Go on and shine!
Chantal
