funnily enough i wrote a paper on the politcs of black hair when i was at university... long time ago... anyway. to drop my 2 cents...
The war-zone that is black hair is one as old as race relations and is deeply entrenched within the racial discourse anywhere black people have been taken or went by choice...
Contrary to popular opinion, the afro is NOT an "authentic" natural do... any person who has one will attest to how much work it needs to keep it poppin.. it is a product of the black conciousness movement in the 60s and 70s in the US, black folk were becoming enamoured by the prospect of reclaiming black identity from the white man and were striving to define themselves with some sort of relation to Africa (just like always) thing is info on what is/was authentically african was thin on the ground and the result was a sort of artists interpretation of what an authentic african style might be.
So the question must be raised, what is an authentic style? Is their any culturally specific hairdo? whats the norm?
We all have hair and while black folk might have nappy/curly hair across the majority, you get caucasoids with kroes too.. what defines the styling are the products available at the time and the societal structure of the individual... some of us dress our plumage to be iconic and some to blend in with our herd,.... we wear "mating" plumage when we go out and we have "battle" plumage (often similar to the mating plumage).
On a personal tip as a mixed race brother.. the hair lottery gave me the straight variety.. now i can say right now that its a case of wanting what you cant have, cos some members of my fam are heavy on the nappy side and some got the soft curls and others got straight... and they all want the others hair... having had dead straight hair all my life, its kinda boring... its either long or short, its either up or down... and thats it.... i always wanted curly hair, i tried braids and cornrows but shit fell otu in a matetr of hours (annoyingly, fewer hours than it took to put them in, f*** them cornrows hurt at first, that tightness is no joke) I always toyed with the idea of havin a 'fro... but that is never going to happen, i've made peace with it now, i wear it short cos that works for me... chicks and guys who are ashamed of they hair game.. them i pity... and there is NO debate... Wigs and Bad Weaves are f***in terrible.
Remember, the exact same debates surrounding racial heritage and identity are to do with hair, its part of us and is a mine-field all its own, the media says alot and most of it bad but we make the choices around our representation, including our hair... our influences are deep and can speak volume about how we think and how MUCH we think, so ya if you choose relaxed then ok, if you allow the media to make your decisions for you, then you're a sad sad non-individual who deserves no more than my pity cos you always choose your bed, everything is a choice, even living.