One Last Thought on Zahara's Hair: Patrice Grell Yursik Weighs In

By Patrice Grell Yursik

Can I be honest? If the opportunity presented itself to meet Allison Samuels in person, I might respectfully decline. At the very least I'd be a little nervous. Not because I'd be intimidated by such an esteemed journalist (whose work I have admired in the past) but because apparently she'd look at me and deem my hair to be "a hot mess." And according to her most recent rebuttal, other people are apparently looking at me and thinking the same thing "...because like or not, how we look has a huge impact on how people see us and ultimately judge us. Is it fair? No. But is it reality? Yes, it very much is."

Wow. That's enough to give anyone self-esteem issues.

Just about every day of the week, my hair looks quite similar to Zahara Jolie-Pitt's. Yes, it's true, I live in a wash-and-go world. It exists. And it's wonderful here.

I look at pictures of Zahara Jolie-Pitt and see an adorable, sassy little girl who's obviously got personality, fashion sense, and both of her parents wrapped around her finger. (Hello, she's most often seen being carried out of a toy store!) She’s usually wearing a dress that I’d totally rock myself, and a bright smile. Ms. Samuels looks at these same photos and sees "...this cute little girl, with ruffles on her dress, bracelets on her arm, and hair that clearly hasn't been attended to...uncombed, unconditioned, and unbrushed." She sees a little girl condemned to grow up feeling less-than, despite having the kind of childhood upbringing most of us would dream of.

Are we looking at the same photographs?

It’s interesting what we choose to assume, and which celebrity children bear the scorching heat of the spotlight. I have yet to read a piece lamenting the hairdo of supermodel Liya Kebede’s daughter, who is also of Ethiopian descent and wears her hair in free, loose spirals. Nobody says a word about Will Smith’s or Heidi Klum’s sons, and their hair shares textural similarities to Zahara’s. Or Chris Rock’s daughters, who wear their hair natural and whose own hair insecurities led their father to make a documentary about the black-hair industry. Zahara bears the burden because she is an African girl who was adopted by arguably the most famous caucasian couple in the world.

What else do we need to see, to be satisfied in the knowledge that this child is obviously being tended to and therefore will grow up with a healthy self-esteem? Do we need to see a paparazzi photo of Angelina sitting with baby Z between her knees, armed with a tub of grease and an array of colorful barrettes at her ankle, and a rat-tail comb in her hand as she works assiduously on Zahara's mane? What hairstyle would make everyone stop offering their opinions about the parenting of the Jolie-Pitt family? Braids—who wants to see Zahara in braids? What about Afro puffs? Or cornrows? Or a Pebbles-esque ponytail on top of her head? Maybe some two-strand twists?

Why is it our business? Why can't we just let baby Z and her freestyle 'fro be great? Why do we have to saddle her with our expectations?

There are some telling and painful scenes in the docucomedy . In one of them, a group of African-American high-school girls discuss their employment prospects based on hair texture. The students turn toward the one girl with natural hair and tell her that hair texture wouldn’t be deemed professional enough for her to get a job. In another scene, a child about 4 years old—right around Zahara Jolie-Pitt’s age—explains that she gets her hair relaxed “because you’re supposed to.” Even Chris Rock stops smiling at that point. was a film fraught with inconsistencies and flaws, but it made one salient point crystal clear: these particular hair-related self-esteem issues in the black community take root early and are as a direct result of our own conditioning.

We teach our children at an early age that their hair isn’t beautiful in its natural, unfettered state. We teach them that they need chemicals that require the use of plastic gloves to “tame” their hair into something “presentable.” And somewhere along the path in our own conditioning, we start assuming that “we know best” how to take care of our hair, even though so many of us use relaxer and wear weaves in order to “manage” our own natural hair. And when we wind up with images like this, some of us even find ways to excuse that kind of abuse by blaming the behavior of a child.

It’s up to us to stop handing down this baggage. It’s up to us to “remove the kinks from our brains,” to paraphrase a memorable Marcus Garvey quote. If Zahara Jolie-Pitt grows up to have self-esteem issues, it won’t be because of her parents. It’ll be because of people who look at her with judgment in their eyes and make assumptions about her life, her upbringing, and her grooming habits based on a photograph.  

Patrice Grell Yursik is the creator of beauty-and-culture blog Afrobella.com, and the AOL Black Voices hair blogger at BVHairTalk.com.