Michelle Obama says Americans weren’t ready for her natural Black hair

First lady Michelle Obama considered wearing her hair in braids while living in the White House. But then she thought of the American people.

They were “just getting adjusted” to having a Black president in the Oval Office and a Black family in the White House, so she decided to keep her hair straight, Obama said at the Warner Theatre in Washington on Tuesday, the first of a 13-night cross-country tour to promote her new book, “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times.”

It would have been easier to keep her hair in braids, Obama said, but “nope, they’re not ready for it,” she added, recalling her thinking at the time.

So she sacrificed doing her hair as she would have liked so her husband’s administration could focus on achieving its goals instead of sinking political capital into putting out a hairstyle-induced firestorm.

“Let me keep my hair straight,” Obama said of her mind-set at the time. “Let’s get health care passed.”

Obama said her dilemma was an extreme example of the decisions Black women make daily to navigate the politics and sensibilities of their workplaces. They often find it easier, healthier and safer to wear braids, dreadlocks or Afros, but feel the pressure from White beauty standards and workplace norms to chemically straighten their hair for a more professional, “clean-cut” appearance.

“We deal with it — the whole thing about, ‘Do you show up with your natural hair?’” Obama said.

Attitudes about natural Black hairstyles, such as braids and dreadlocks, have shifted. Earlier this year, the House passed the Crown Act, legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on someone’s hairstyle, including those “in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros.” Although the bill stalled in the Senate, Alaska in September became the 19th state to pass legislation to protect Black people from being punished for how they wear their hair.

California’s original Crown Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” passed in 2019.

Despite growing acceptance of naturally worn Black hair, stories about hair-based discrimination pop up regularly. In 2018, a 6-year-old Black boy was blocked from attending the first day of school because he wore his locs below his ears. Later that year, a referee forced a Black high school wrestler to cut his dreadlocks before letting him compete. In 2019, a TV reporter said her news director told her that her natural hair was “unprofessional” and pressured her to change it to “what looks best.”

Minda Harts, the founder of a career development company for women of color, told The Washington Post in 2019 about a conversation she had with a White headhunter bemoaning her struggles to recruit Black women to become corporate directors. When Harts asked her whether she would be more comfortable with a Black executive who wore a ponytail or a natural hairstyle like an Afro, the woman opted for the “clean-cut” ponytail. (cont.)

Excuses, excuses.

(cont.) “These unconscious and conscious biases keep us from even having the opportunity to have a seat at the table. We haven’t even had the chance to introduce ourselves, and there [are] these assumptions of unprofessionalism,” Harts said at the time.

“I’ll be honest with you: I wear my hair straight probably 99 percent of the time because, being in corporate America, I’ve seen how clients who have braids and natural hairstyles can be looked upon.”

On Tuesday, Obama discussed her hairstyle choice as sitting first lady with Ellen DeGeneres, who moderated the sold-out event. After citing the 2014 uproar over her husband’s tan suit, Obama imagined the fallout if she had changed her hairstyle, the Hill reported.

“Remember when she wore braids? Those are terrorist braids! Those are revolutionary braids!” Obama said, assuming the role of her critics.

Nearly six years removed from the White House, Obama is now wearing braids, something she showed off in the middle of her talk with DeGeneres by grabbing her hair and interjecting “Braids, y’all!” to applause from the crowd.

Is she referring to braids? Surely this is more natural - and also, so SLIMMING!

Not this again

I think natural hair on black people is prettier.

Of course, as a white person, black people don't care about what I think of their hair, which is as it should be. Just saying, though--it's beautiful.

They also airbrushed her ass down by half so nobody would call it terrorist ass or revolutionary ass

She can be attractive with the right clothes, hair, and makeup. I felt people calling her beautiful was pandering.

Natural hair in an up-do or a chignon is better (and low maintenance) compared to those braids falling down on her shoulders.

r8 She's pretty for a president's wife..

Does this ho write a book every year? She couldn't possibly have that much to talk abiut.

Well her ghostwriters were verbose

How truly bored Mrs. Obama must to air her prejudiced assumptions.

^^^^ must BE

Gosh, I wonder why she would think such a thing...

"It would have been easier to keep her hair in braids, Obama said"

Oh, honey, no...

She’s right, of course DL’s resident racists have a problem with her. Pure gaslighting.

I think more Black women should wear their hair natural, which looks great.

But don't braids have to be unwound and redone every few weeks? Doesn't that take hours? How is that easier?

Honest question. I don't get it.

Ladies and gents, welcome Adolf Hitler at R16, ad well as Goebbels, Himmler, and Mengele who posted before him.

Verrückte Frisuren are not as scary as verrückte or rassistische posters.

Complete bullshit, Michael.

R19 Jews were the targets of Hitler, Himmler, Goebels. Mengele performed his most horrific experiments on Jews. But don't let reality obstruct your ignorance.

Black women wear their hair straight because they’re self-loathing and want to have white hairstyles. It’s their own choice. It’s not because Americans “aren’t ready”.

Those tight braids make a person go bald more quickly. Hair was not meant to be held in constricted positions for long periods of time.

Godwin's Law is yet again proven

She lost me on her Target story. It changed depending on who she was talking to.

@r19, Leave it to you "every road leads to Hitler" people to be a humorless slug with no ability for nuance. Obama caught hell over a tan suit. My post @r16 is indicative of what 30% of white America would have seen if Michele had gone with any type of "ethnic" hair style

God, you're dumb

Gurl, I know what you mean. Americans hated my guts when I tried to go natural.

R21, calling other people ignorant while presenting your negligible knowledge of history, is quite, what’s the word…ignorant?

No one forces black women to appropriate hair colours, textures and styles from White women. Their natural hair is afro. I find it hilarious when they complain about White women "stealing" fat asses and oversized lips from them when they've been copying White women for a lot longer.

*Black.

She’s angry and irritated? Must be Thursday.

I think she is making an interesting point, but I feel like the personal angle is not quite truthful. Did she ever wear braids as an adult prior to Obama being elected? Maybe she just decided to wear them now and figured being able to spin a story about how not choosing them before was because of concern for the American people was a bonus. Because Obama has been out of the White House for quite a while. This would have been more believable in 2017.

R22

But there have been studies on this. Black women with straight hair are more likely to get job interviews. So it is society.

Plus, we saw first hand the awful attacks the Obamas faced, despite being the most classy family in that White House in a long time.

There’s nothing more relatable than listening to a multimillionaire complain about her hairstyle options.

Sorry to say the Obama lost the plot a while ago. In office they were so relatable and intelligent; now they’re just more of the elite, talking down to the rest of us.

Wow so many I'll informed morons posting here as if there wasn't in fact years of discrimination tied to black hair styles. Had she worn braids she would've been called a thug, afro = nappy headed hi and so on.

R35

It’s gaslighting, plain and simple. They want black people to just shut up and take the discrimination.

^ This one gets it 👍

^ For r35

They've got more rights, protection and opportunities than White working class people, R36.

R39

You’re fucked in the head.

@r39, Like what?

Newsflash for Michelle Obama: white people spend exactly zero percent of their time thinking about black women’s hairstyle.

R28 Please point out the "negligible" part(s).

R42. Lol. Dumbass

I've lived and worked in racially mixed populations for years. Never heard a white person make fun of a black woman's hair. I do hear black women make fun of other black women's hair all the damn time. And they are always making fun of it specifically for being "nappy," a "fro," etc.

The call is coming from inside the house.

Monica Kaufman a Black newscaster in Atlanta caught all kinds of hell for her for decades.

White women also do all sorts with their hair - how many white women peroxide their hair? and straighten their hair? Whatever makes a woman comfortable.

But I do understand what she's saying but to blame it on "Americans" isn't on. It's about how she wanted to present herself ultimately. Did she go au naturel the minute her husband left office?

@r46, OMG, yes, poor Monica Kaufman was a long time running joke in Atlanta for her many bizarre hairstyles. My favorite was her nuclear mushroom cloud doo. 😂

Gurrrl please

She's not being ridiculous. When she was lady, a newspaper had some stupid article about how her arms were "too toned" for a first lady. If that's the kind of crap they were saying about her, just imagine what else they were saying. Of course, all standards were thrown out the door once we had a hooker as our first lady.

^ They were saying "Big Mike" was trans. That's how bad it got

[quote]Never heard a white person make fun of a black woman's hair.

Oh, well then, it's obviously never happened. Thread closed, everybody!

Research Suggests Bias Against Natural Hair Limits Job Opportunities for Black Women

[quote]Gurrrl please

^ You've busted open this conversation and led it to its rightful conclusion. You're a genius.

I found one picture of Michelle in braids, college years it appears.

Hair is so overrated.

I could braid my hair if it will get my husband black votes.

I'm very sad for this underprivileged and victimized Black woman.

Some of you get so triggered by this stuff because you know it's all true. Some have been trying to paint the woman as a racist, going all the way back to the 2008 primary campaign.

Well, you know, can't have a smart , educated black lady as First Lady ... or Princess 😏

Same vibe, same hate

[quote]Well, you know, can't have a smart , educated black lady as First Lady ... or Princess

Apart from the tiny fact that we did. So the hate can't be as powerful as downers and negative people like you would like to have people believe.

^ Oh, please, there's a large faction of whites who are still mad that a black family "soiled" the white house and the British Royal Family. Just because the Obamas are past tense the hate lingers

There is a lot of ignorance here and A LOT of honest questions about black hair.

[quote]Black women wear their hair straight because they’re self-loathing and want to have white hairstyles. It’s their own choice. It’s not because Americans “aren’t ready”.

Very few women today, white or black, wear their "natural" hair. White women dye their natural color, get extensions, highligts, clip ins, they perm their hair to give curls or straighten their hair using chemicals to get it bone straight. A lot of these are chemical processes (FORMALDEHYDE!) to become something other than what they are. I dare you to point to a single white woman on television who doesn't do anything to transform her hair. No one is saying white women are self-loathing and want to be Asian when they straighten their hair. For them it just gets to be a stylistic choice.

[quote]No one forces black women to appropriate hair colours, textures and styles from White women. Their natural hair is afro. I find it hilarious when they complain about White women "stealing" fat asses and oversized lips from them when they've been copying White women for a lot longer.

Afro is NOT the natural hair. Black hair is as varied as white hair person to person. Curly, to tight curl to kinky is the usual natural state of black hair. But just as Italians, Spanish, Jewish people tend to have curlier hair due to their proximity to middle east, Africa, there are many black people who have natural wavy hair to almost straight because of mixing or races over the years - like my dad and my aunts. My aunt is black but her hair can't hold an afro.

r18 [quote]But don't braids have to be unwound and redone every few weeks? Doesn't that take hours? How is that easier?

Yes, it can take up to eight hours to put braids in depending on the style. But there are a couple of things that braids help with. When you consider that some women spend an hour a day on their hair, over the course of two weeks that's 14 hours. You can go a month with braids, so you are talking about 30 hours vs. 8 hours. So yes it is a time saver. And Braids and weaves can actually protect your natural hair, allowing it to grow healthily underneath WITHOUT the daily damage from blow drying and hair products. What Braids don't help with is putting a lot of unnecessary weight on strands of hair. That is why micro braids can be damaging - it's a lot of weight on individual strands that can pull the hair out.

Black people's scalps do not produce the same level of oil as caucasian hair does. If I don't wash my hair, it doesn't get oily, greasy over time. Actually Black people tend to have to find shampoos, conditioners that add oils into the hair so it doesn't become dry. If I solely used white shampoo products on my hair, it would become dry and brittle. But this is the reason black women don't have to wash their hair as often as white women because our scalps don't get oily, quickly. So they can wear weaves and braid styles longer because you can wash your hair once a week. Actually washing our hair less is actually better for it.

[quote]There is a lot of ignorance here and A LOT of honest questions about black hair.

There is a lot of ignorance here, because as I pointed out in R42, white people spend zero percent of their time thinking about black hair.

This country was fine race relations wise until she and her husband started the economic, civil, and political decline of America. Why is she such a global star anyway? She practiced law for five minutes, got a 400K no show job at a hospital, and ruined school lunch. Michael Obama is ugly both inside and out. Fuck her!

For instance, Beyonce's natural hair pretty much looks like this - even though I think this is a piece, or extensions. There are several white women with the exact same texture who who straighten their hair as a choice. If Beyonce wanted to have an Afro style hair with her own hair, she couldn't wear one because her hair is too fine to hold one. And she wears a lot of wigs and weaves BECAUSE she is a performer and her natural hair would be burned off her scalp with all the different styles, and treatments her constantly changing look would require. But look at Madonna. I would say 90% of the pictures we see of her that we think is her natural hair is weaves, wigs, extensions, clip ins.

And R42 they present themselves as coming from a place of knowledge when making judgments on them. But that is typical. White people speak on a lot of black issues but actually have zero interaction with them in their real lives. Maybe at work, but that's it. Or they think interacting with black people they have to go into the inner city. Trust me white people, their are many black people in your same socioeconomic and educational level you can meet and mix with if you only looked and tried. You don't have to take your kids to a soup kitchen. White people who actually do have black friends and acquaintances don't usually make pronouncements about them. That's why it's a dead giveaway for those who do.

[quote]white people spend zero percent of their time thinking about black hair.

Bullshit. They just used the term "professional". If a black person wanted a corporate job and came in with dreds or cornrows, they wouldn't have gotten that job or a promotion. It's the same way the LaQuishas and the Da'Vontes resumes get thrown in the trash before getting an interview.

White people think about this shit more than you'd care to admit.

They trashed Michelle Obama for wearing J Crew sleeveless dresses and then praised an ex-hooker who became first lady. Stop pretending that you don't care. You just don't want your bullshit called out.

She hates white people. You know it’s the truth.

I, too, prefer natural hair on a black woman. Wigs and weaves... nah. It can look pretty but often looks ratchet and cheap. Granted, most women have ruined their hairlines and scalp by doing this from a young age.

But Michelle can fuck off with her revisionist nonsense. BEFORE she became First Lady - or was even involved in her husband's campaigns - she wore her hair straightened and not braided or au naturale.

[quote]White people think about this shit more than you'd care to admit.

I really don't think so. And when they think about it at all, it is always as the other, very objectively. White people in general have very few dealings with black people in their day to day lives. Trust me, I've spent my life being a little ambassador of my race in a white world to know this. And as a country with centuries history of racial problems, this is pretty sad. Attempting to understand each other - on the sole purpose with our racial history as a nation - should be a two way street. But it's not. But that's work, and people in general don't like to work more than they have to when everyday life can be a struggle. That's understandable.

Who do you think hates white people more and relishes this increasing racial division, Barack or Michelle?

Yeah, revisionist bullshit. She didn't have a black hairstyle before.

Wait, that wasn’t a wig?

Black hair is… a revolution!

Thread like this are important because they highlight the extent of racism in the black community. Including by Mrs. Obama. So often black racism is ignored. Or worse, excused and rationalized.

[quote]This country was fine race relations wise until she and her husband started the economic, civil, and political decline of America.

False. This is tantamount to saying an abused wife is fine because she put makeup on to cover her bruises. The tensions we see now have always existed, they never went away. People, in polite society, before Obama just kept their sentiments to themselves or in small circles, kitchen table talk. But one thing I do know is that a large swath of white America (not all, or maybe even most) cannot stand is an "uppity ni@@er". As long as we're shucking and jiving, sticking to our rap and sports we're ok. But as soon as you show your're capable of doing what they do outside of these fields, and better than them - then blacks don't know their place. It sounds very 1950s, but it's true. I have experienced it. And that is exactly what this certain swath of white America saw Obama as, an "uppity ni@@er." And the last thing he was going to do was to tell them what to do.

So America before Obama was like a cold beef stew sitting on the stove. The Obamas were the flame that started the boil. And Donald Trump (the obvious backlash to a black president) was the ladle that reached in and stirred it up. He allowed people, emboldened in their racist views, to rise to the top, become visible, take pride in their beliefs. Like him or hate him, if the history books are at all kind to him at all, it will be for this one thing. Donald Trump showed America exactly who we are in the point in history INSTEAD of who we thought we had become.

Only black people truly know the extent and depth of racism in America. Michelle must've worried not just about her hair, but for the safety of her husband and family.

[quote]Thread like this are important because they highlight the extent of racism in the black community.

If we are going to be a 100% honest and look at this fairly, you have to consider this. There is no REAL reason for white people to have hated black people. This is just something they chose to do, based on nothing really other than them being black. Why would, did white people hate black people? And now the dislike really comes from a lot of generational guilt heaped on white people today due to the great sins of the past. A past white people wish everyone would just get over because they really had nothing to do with it - which is true, you didn't. But the nation you live in does. A nation that never even officially apologized for slavery, by the way. And you're not really doing much on your part to bridge the gap and get past it - even though this is hard as mentioned above. The common practice is to ignore and point fingers and wish people would just shut up, which just becomes cyclical.

Now on the other hand, if you were the type to harbor hate in your heart for other people, Black people have a million and one reasons to hate white people. I know my Great Uncle did until the day he died. But he grew up in the south and was called ni@@er and a boy, and discriminated against and spat at and had family members killed for no other reason than the fact that they were black and didn't know their place. I don't hate white people. I grew up in a white world. All my friends are white for the most part. So I have a unique understanding of all of this that most of you here lack. I can look at it from every perspective. But to be SHOCKED by the fact that, oh my gosh, certain blacks hate white people, and that this hatred is somehow unjustified, is extremely naive and self unaware.

And no, The Obamas don't hate white people. They aren't racists. I know black people who hate white people. They aren't them.

It's too bad she gave this consideration because it wasn't the case. She was First Lady. She could have worn any tasteful hair style she wished.

White people are obsessed with Black people's hair. Always wanting to touch it, compliment it and know about it. You guys don't have any Black friends.

R78 perfectly proves the rationalization/justification point. No different to the KKK rationalizing white racism. It's racism, no matter the instigator or the target.

[quote] There is no REAL reason for white people to have hated black people.

You cannot forgive the ones you have wronged.

She is full of shit.

[quote] Only black people truly know the extent and depth of racism in America.

Only black people truly believe that their experience of racism in America is somehow different to the racism/bigotry that Jews, women, Hispanics, First Nations, Asians and gays suffered and continue to suffer.

[quote]She could have worn any tasteful hair style she wished.

Her husband got shredded for wearing a tan suit and not taking the office of the president seriously. Has any other president been schooled (as if he were a boy out of place) on the proper way to dress yourself, if you want to be taken seriously as a world leader? She probably told her hairdresser to take down the cornrows at at their very moment.

And I forgot to mention that not only are most of my friends white, but my husband is white as well from white trashy Butler, PA - his words not mine, although I see his reasoning. My in-laws are white and still live there. That is how I know exactly what was being said down at the American Legion about the Obamas and "blacks like them." And this is why Trump used it as a location for one of his huge rallies.

Who gives a shit? I don’t . BORING !!!

You posting here R86 shows you had at least a little turd in you.

A bunch of white nationalist gaslighters here. SMH

[Quote]Her husband got shredded for wearing a tan suit

Shredded by Fox. Who gives a shit about Fox? Obama ignored the issue.

R88 Excellent! Another black racist! Outing yourself makes it so much easier to identify and condemn black racism.

Natural is the way to go!

She was dragged for baring her arms and called a terrorist for doing a fist-bump, so I can just imagine the lynch mob that would have formed had she worn her hair natural. It would have made Charlottesville look like a cotillion.

All First Ladies get shit. You sound like a big MARY!

School Days

So much racist bullshit on this thread. Are there no Markle threads for you to hate on? 😏

If you are not in agreement with r95 you're racist, boys.

Hillary's ever-changing hair has been a subject of discussion for years. Of course, in her case, it was said that "Men don't have to deal with this," because it was a feminist narrative being crafted rather than a racial narrative.

POS of a woman. America was ready to elect black president in a presidentisl system that gives president almost as big authorities as Putin's Russia, yet had problems with coiffure of his missus.

Stupid immature woman. She was younger and wanted to be "pretty"and now she wants to play the victim.

There is nothing more fascinating than when some of you pull out your hoods. You don't even update your talking points.

Will the media please stop saying she's a beautiful woman?

How did she feel about the average person getting screwed while her husband bailed out the banksters and let them have everything they stole , no one was jailed for knowingly willfully crashing the economy. Fuck her hair.

[quote]It would have been easier to keep her hair in braids, Obama said, but “nope, they’re not ready for it,” she added, recalling her thinking at the time.

It’s everyone else’s fault. She’s not responsible for any of her own decisions.

[quote]So she sacrificed doing her hair as she would have liked so her husband’s administration could focus on achieving its goals instead of sinking political capital into putting out a hairstyle-induced firestorm. “Let me keep my hair straight,” Obama said of her mind-set at the time. “Let’s get health care passed.”

Oh, the tremendous sacrifices she made. Health care got passed solely because of all the work she put in straightening her hair.

White people have more important things to worry about than fucking hair. Black women are not remotely interesting.

She is a tad too old to be so obsessed with hairstyle

Michelle has been a big disappointment for me since she's left the White House. She's had no problem hawking oppression & race, seeming forgetting that her husband was elected enthusiastically twice by the same Americans she claims had a problem with her hair. Instead of stories of success, achievement, triumphing over boundaries & shattering perceptions, she's opted for victimhood, "the system", & relentless boogeymen that are proven to be more & more irrelevant as time goes by. She's exploited the insecurities of the very population she has the ultimate power to inspire. How sad that she just can be smarter or more productive with the privilege she's been granted by the "system" she's a part of & yet continues to dissect for more victimhood status.

[quote]Instead of stories of success, achievement, triumphing over boundaries & shattering perceptions, she's opted for victimhood, "the system", & relentless boogeymen that are proven to be more & more irrelevant as time goes by.

This sums her up quite well.

Most people wouldn't worry so much about what people thought of them - if they knew how rarely they really do.

A lot of black women wear their hair quite short and natural, she could have done that. With nice earrings it looks great.

I don’t know if it’s considered natural styling but I like how Wanda Sykes wears her hair.

By the way, bored or not, talking about Race is very important. I think the fear surrounding talking about it actually builds resentments. And the resentment is obvious here from the snarky comments. But people can move past that if they can decipher where the snark is coming from and why they feel the way they do - and just ask a question. But I will give white people the fact that that isn't easy. Not all black people make it easy to just ask them a question and today's current climate of the easily offended has scared people.

Straight talk makes for straight understanding. We all have these pre-conceived notions about each other that are inaccurate or have changed over the years. Yet we haven't had an open and honest national discussion on race - honest on BOTH sides - for a very long time. The last time we were able to confront these issues is when shows like Oprah or maybe even Donahue were around and brought these issues to a national level.

With my white friends I was constantly answering questions from my experience of being black in America. I can't speak for all black Americans, but I definitely gave my friends insights from my experience that they previously didn't have.

R111...Perpetuating the idea that this open & honest conversation about race has yet to happen because white Americans refuse to have it is simply ridiculous. It's another myth Americans like to utilize to keep the race dialog moving in specific directions they approve of. The so-called conversation is going on & has been going on ALL DAY EVERY DAY. Any damn time anyone wishes to discuss race in America a conversation about its past, present or future can be found. All anyone has to do is dive in. Hell, it's been going on in the thread & is going on in a 100 other threads on this site alone. Rational, realistically thinking people do not deny that racism exists. However, to believe that it exists to the magnitude that those who wish to steer & manipulate the conversation is not rational nor realistic. These very ideas are refuted by many black philosophers, pundits and Scholars, who are not necessarily conservatively minded, Michelle Obama not being among them. No, she is among those who are very comfortable having the conversation about not having "the conversation".

Thanks for your posts on this thread, R111. You seem great. Wish I knew you in real life.

Ignore the idiots.

I mean, she lived in the White House and was married to the President. Seems like she should be above the victimhood mentality. But no, here we are…

It's insulting to be lectured by black people when they don't know us, our thoughts or our experiences.

Michelle Obama is still the most popular person in America, and probably the world.

The conservative idiots on this forum are so intimidated by her.

"Michelle Obama is still the most popular person in America"

Only on DL are such sweeping rhetorical claims made. Bank this with the "Dick Van Dyke is an icon" twat on the thread about the dying A Lister.

R114 She shows exactly what is wrong with woke ideology, extremely privileged and powerful African American people playing victims even over most trivial things like haircut.

While real life people toil working few low paid jobs, without health insurance and have no time to care about haircut like the idle missus.

R116 Conservatives won't be scared by the aged bimbo who obsesses over haircut in her 60s.

I think she made the right choice but my opinion about black hair is irrelevant. Here it is anyway: The amount of time and money spent on weaves and sewn-in braids is idiotic. Please don't tell me that the media has taught Black women to hate themselves so they need to spend more. We all have free will if we want to exercise it.

Michelle Obama fools no one but herself.

T114 speaks a truth that many will never comprehend.

R114

Some of these people act as if it's still the 1950s or something.

The black hair thing has been talked about, and talked about, for the last 50 years. 50 fucking years. They sound like a broken record.

By the late 1960s the Afro was the thing. Michelle Obama acts like none of that ever happened and white people just aren't ready for natural black hair. LOL.

She is ridiculous. A truly ridiculous woman.

Hon, you are a multi-millionaire. A permanent A-list celebrity. You are NOT a victim of anything.

R121 But she does fool others, liberal whites, who are almost equally privileged as her and live on some sort of exploitation of poorer citizens and third world countries will be crying their eyes over her hairstyle troubles, just like some stupid blacks here with self victimizing mentality.

Im Black American and I noticed Black people make fun of natural hair that is kinky and nappy 4c texture. White people seem more fascinated by our hair than fearful. How many white girls try to get braids or dreads now?

The faces of the natural hair movement all have type 3 or 4a hair that grows long. They prefer visibly mixed women to be the face of that movement. There's so much self-hate within our community. People even try to avoid the label of dark-skinned and exaggerate how mixed we are. I see African immigrants rocking natural hair and show no shame in their dark skin. Yet African Americans and Caribbeans still hold long hair and light skin on a pedestal. Black women have been natural for decades in academia, corporate and prestige positions (many wear a short fro or pressed or curl their hair with heat and dreads), no weaves or relaxers. Michelle is just a social climber bougie type. Nothing wrong with that but she had a choice to defy the odds. I'm not mad but she is being a bit dishonest.

The irony is relaxers completely damage hair follicles and prevent growth of length. The cover models for those Just For Me kits all had natural hair that was hot combed and blown out. Black women look so beautiful compared to the hot fashion disorder of 2000s after many went natural. The weaves need a break though.

R124 uncancellable, unless she pulls a Yeezy

[quote]Michelle Obama is still the most popular person in America, and probably the world.

You sound as deluded as she does.

[quote] But don't braids have to be unwound and redone every few weeks? Doesn't that take hours? How is that easier? Honest question. I don't get it.

I'm not sure you have to re-do braids or what's involved in maintaining braids.

However, I do have very wavy hair. When it's long, it takes some time / work to detangle. I'm guessing that the braids save you from having to detangle. And, no, you can't just keep your hair in a tangle as a style." Whenever you have to wash / condition your hair, you've got to detangle.

Fuck off bitch, you have no alopecia.

Is she Precious?

No white people are allowed to discuss this issue. If you’re white please leave the thread now! Goodbye! Goodbye!

I said, Goodbye! Get your ass out of here, now!!!

I am not so surprised cause, unlike her husband, she did seem to have that passive aggressive allure, you the type of frau you wouldn't like to have as co-worker or boss cause she would constantly make you feel guilty over your white privilege and you will have to walk on eggshells not to offend her.

Black Americans self-hatred is something I feel white Americans will never solve. Indians and Pakistani will wear traditional clothing, hairstyles, bindi and headscarves, Muslim women will wear hijab, Jewish men will keep forelocks and wear a kippa and Sikh men and Native American men will wear their hair long. All of those cultures have intense pride in who they are and they've also faced stereotyping and prejudice but usually will argue for cultural and religious expression. Too many Black people seek white approval as a side effect of slavery and colonization and we've allowed this discrimination to flourish by abetting it. We continually perpetuate the myth our dark skin, features and hair is innately undesirable and need to be fixed. We push light-skinned or biracial people with obvious admixture as our representatives when they are not the average look. I noticed when white or Asian or Hispanic men date Black women they go for those with dark skin and natural hair and don't seem bothered by it.

Oh, come on, Muslim women will wear hijab cause they are husband's slave, nothing to be proud of R134.

I prefer blonde Beyonce with straight hair.

Interesting documentary on Black hair.

[quote]Too many Black people seek white approval as a side effect of slavery and colonization

In other words, it's really white people's fault.

That's all it every really is. Isn't it?

Really, Michelle? Really? So this is what we can expect from you? Your self involved discussions about your hair, as a subtle or not so subtle reminder that a lot of people are still not informed about race matters? And your oft repeated, general message: "Believe in yourself! I have struggled too. " I had high hopes for her. She was a wonderful first lady. I bought her book, "Becoming" for my mother and actually took my mother to see her when she toured for the book.

But post Presidency I was expecting more from her. I know she doesn't like politics. Fine. But Why is she imposing limits on herself like this? I know some of you will jump on me hard, calling me a hater. I'm not. She has the intellect and the capability to elevate the conversation and take us to a level of discussion that will energize all of us, and IMO she has walked away from that. She is deliberately non controversial so she can cultivate her celebrity. I feel bad.

You are such a frau R138

Michelle Obama has always chosen the easiest, best paid route. Look at her progression from corporate lawyers to community liaison for the University of Chicago hospital for 300k a year.

i llike and admire her but I would never worship her..

Kanye, tell em who she is.

I don’t give a damn about her hair or any woman’s hair. She’s full of shit and looking to stir up animosity. Is she some privileged victim? Seems like black fragility.

I swear the white supremacy that was set in place is being perpetuated by so many Black people nowadays. Michelle, you were the most powerful woman in America from 2009 to 2017. You could afford the best hairstylists and could have rocked gorgeous natural styles and would have been more inspirational to little Black girls who were bombarded with images of light-skinned long-haired girls as the beauty standard nonstop at that time. I don't buy her story. I know many Black women who were natural way before it was trendy and always looked classy and poised and they where nowhere close to wealthy like her. She should just say "I liked wearing weaves and wigs and its my damn business" and that would have been more empowering.

Privileged black women can at least, when they become bitter hags who can pull no more good dick, draw attention bitching about their victimhood and blaming it on racism. Older white women can just be bitter.

I'm happy she brings a positive message to women and young people, but she raises expectations that are out of reach for most people.

Back to Africa ... there's a ship waiting for you, Michelly.

We sisters with naturally curly hair are always subjects of envy.

White Americans would have had no damn choice but to be "ready" if their First Lady rocked natural hair. She had her chance but didn't take it. She is still inspiring and a ball of positivity in other ways and I'm not diminishing her accomplishments but this just contradicts her "love yourself" message. I was asking myself why she wasn't wearing natural hairstyles at least a few times back during the Obama Presidency too

Black ladies, are you offended by this piece that was painted by DLer Brian Nash? He was a lovely guy who died of cancer a bit back.

I nearly bought this piece. I'm a Hispanic guy. Just curious if this offends.

I have never once paid attentuon on her hair, you are such a big frau R148

It is disgusting to watch how uber rich, privileged, powerful blacks are competing on who is the biggest victim of them all. They are the real deplorables.

Black women should be encouraged to wear their hair natural. HOWEVER

Some employers discriminate against it, associate it with low class, ghetto, and it's a real issue.

When Kim K can wear braids it's beautiful and trendy but a black woman who wears them because it holds her curly hair is looked down upon - that's a problem.

The military only recently took black hair types into account. Let black people wear their hair as they damn well please and stop encouraging chemical relaxers which can burn the scalp.

Accept the curly and kinky!!!

If I were a black woman I'd cut my hair short and wear a Mary Wilson wig. So glam.

LIke Michele Obama was ever high on Negritude and natural hair. This is bullshit historical revision.

[quote]Michelle Obama is still the most popular person in America, and probably the world.

There is nowhere on planet Earth where this statement is true.

I understand Melania expressed similar sentiments about her own tangle of pubic hair.

People just need to accept that Michelle Obama is an angry, miserable black woman who looks for ways to be offended. It's not a stereotype when everything she says and does shows it to be true.

You know, this is such bullshit. Back in the 60's and 70's wearing your hair in a natural or cornrows was a political statement. But now anything goes. I know a lot of women in corporate world who wear cornrows. Al lot of them wear a natural. My sister is an executive VP and wears a natural. It looks hot. She has a side part. She also wears designer clothes. Black women wear weaves they wear wigs they weak straight hair braids any damned thing they want in 2022. It's anon issue. HOWEVER: There are some who like to emphasize their "separateness" and they want it to be an issue, and it is deliberately exclusionary.

Tina had great wig-dos.

Wow, this thread reads like a Meghan Markle thread. You bitches are fucked up.

R161 or maybe you are fucked up and latent racist with this fear to speak normally about black person. Complete phony asshole.

It's funny, all the women and girl Huxtables on The Cosby Show dubbed "America's #1 family" had natural hairstyles in the 1980s. Denise rocked wash-and-gos. Vanessa wore afros. Rudy had a blowout. Raven had braids. I don't think natural hair is seen as unprofessional if it loves presentable and not wild. Natural hair is extremely versatile to style.

As for Michelle, having relaxed hair or weaves didn't stop racist Republicunts from calling her an "ape in heels." So I doubt wearing braids or natural hairstyles could have made things worse for her. I think she and Barack pushed that "respectability" and "high standards" image very far and while it worked for them, they now seem to want to take it back and hop on the "be yourself" trend as a way to gain relevancy and sell new books. They were aspirational and cultivated this high ideal that appeals to multiple demographics. It was all calculated and cynical but I can't dislike that hustle, they got what they wanted. Plus the double standard irritates me because Trump and the Republicunts are trashy and look like hot messes yet nobody dragged them except liberals.

[quote] But post Presidency I was expecting more from her.

Sorry to disappoint you but she was always like this. Her statement about being insulted that she was asked to help a short person get something off a high shelf in a store told you what she is. A giant of a woman being asked to help another height disadvantaged human being. This really turned me off because I am a short female and I always have to ask tall people in the grocery store for help. They are always gracious and happy to help. But after she said that it made me hesitate a few times. Still I persist because, unlike Michelle, I believe in the goodness of most people.

There were other examples I heard about from those who knew her in Chicago but this one just told me she may not have issues. I always wondered if it was she who kept Barack from campaigning earlier for Hillary.

She needs therapy.

Bravo R163!!!

I don't get how natural hair could have been a problem, if people were ok with this atrocity back in the day.

[quote] It's funny, all the women and girl Huxtables on The Cosby Show dubbed "America's #1 family" had natural hairstyles in the 1980s.

I respectfully disagree. Lisa Bonet & the actress who played Sandra probably started with looser-textured hair. So, it was easier for them to be more natural.

Phyllicia Rashad, I'm guessing she was wearing a weave or wig. A very good weave or wig. I could be wrong.

The actress who played Vanessa did have a lot of different styles and it did look like she was "wearing" her real hair. But her hairstyles probably took a lot of work.

Unfortunately this fucking ape will be relevant and hailed as beautiful and powerful until the day she dies.

R168 people who call her beautiful are such spineless sleazeballs. It' s even offensive towards blacks, treating them like mentally challenged children who you must give fake compliments to please them. I mean there are many beautiful black women, think of Alicia Keys and Beyonce and many others. But this woman is unattractive. And I know that racist wanted to offend her by calling her ape, but honestly, she has the face that reminds of monkey, just like some fat blonde people remibd of piggys and some skinny with big noses remind of birds. She is the type of woman that even own mother couldn't call beautiful, but she was supposed to have other qualities, not to blab about hairstyle like 20 yo bimbo.

R169 is Roseanne.

Well, if Roseanne is the only one who has eyes...

At least nobody claimed Roseanne is beautiful.

The Colored Museum: The Hairpiece

Michelle Obama in 2004 when she was forced to straighten her hair

Michelle Obama being forced to have straight hair for her wedding.

Michelle Obama in 1998 being forced to have straight hair while pregnant.

At least she got to botox her lips. Or at least that's they way Viola Davis played her.

Puerto Rican and Jewish gals/guys with afros can suffer from natural hair anxiety as well.

[quote] But don't braids have to be unwound and redone every few weeks?

They spend hours and hundreds of $$ at salons getting these dos put in. It’s a LOT of upkeep.

I miss Michelle.

Plus it looks ridiculous on a woman her age R178. She has a heavy menopause.

Such as shame she didn't save this little revelation for Meghan's podcast.

Perhaps they, Oprah and Jada Pinkett can get together and bossgirl the world to rights.

R175

She is really not a great beauty, on this photo, if at all.

Flat hair is ugly on her.

Spending money to look bad? What a waste.

She looks very masculine, though pregnant.

She fails to mention that braids are looked down upon mainly because it's usually hoodrats acting like fools who are wearing them.

Here's a video borrowed from another thread featuring a bunch of obese braided women behaving like animals. And we're supposed to believe this is the look her Harvard-educated ass wanted to sport in the White House? No, don't think so.

Her popularity would have soared among white people if she'd worn her hair like the lovable Pippi Longstocking.

She's pandering to an audience of Black women and taking no risks.

Any more videos like that one R182?

Hilarious.

And what cruise company is that where 99% of the passengers are Black?

*

[Quote] And what cruise company is that where 99% of the passengers are Black?

Carnival What else?

Doria Ragland is not self loathing and wore her brains and a symbolic African nose ring to meet the Queen and she looked fantastic.

It is got to get funky washing your hair once a week or bi monthly.

R182

What are they saying? I can understand only « my best friend »

Those women are fat, they are shouting like most Americans are doing and hairstyle is ugly and too complicated.

The cruise video came from this thread:

I think it was an Appreciate Michelle Obama - the Black Jackie Kennedy cruise.

She’s not that smart. She got into Princeton via legacy (her brother being an alumnus) and affirmative action. Remember her thesis was all about how bad whites at Princeton were. Please stop saying she’s some brilliant mind.

Please stop saying she lucked into Princeton and that her thesis was shit. You sound off.

Maybe she meant back hair?

Siblings don't count as "legacies".

Former first lady Michelle Obama made the ridiculous claim last week that she always wanted to wear braids in the White House but didn't because she thought the country would not accept it. This nonsensical claim reveals more about the former first lady's prejudices about white people than the reality of the situation.

She is just a liar R196

"white women have been copying black women for centuries" "black women have been copying white women for hundreds of years"

No you racist morons, WOMEN have been copying other WOMEN. the race is HUMAN. "skin color race" is a lie, sorry to burst your bubble.

So sick of this rich and privileged woman's constant refrain of grievance. No one gives two effs about her hair or her hairdo's.

I'm not ready for Michelle Obama as a Victim

She seems tone deaf on this. Usually I like her enough. Not a love of course.

Remember the story about her experience in the grocery store when she claimed a white woman asked her to hand her something from the top shelf?

Maybe that's what she gets for being a giant.

R202 God, how fucked up are people with complexes.

R202 that’s the Target story. And Michelle puts a spin on it according to the audience.

The basic story, pre-First Lady days, she was in Target. A white woman standing next to her asked her if she could reach something on a higher shelf.

Only an angry black woman would make something racial out of that.

I don't thinck Americah ready for an afro in Whyte Houz.. Looking profeshinal iz #1 4 a Vairst Letty, Also, Mishell not varry klassy when I giv her gift frum Tiffaneez!

She is such an obnoxious frustrated self absorbed frau no matter her skin color. It is funny to see how some posters are insisting on her qualities and how they liked her. What qualities? A humorless, dull frau aking ti be waljing on eggshells around.

I believe it is just white liberal pandering cause if she was exactly the same woman without melanin, you DL queens would be pissing on her. Funny to see how you are scared to be honest when discussing black celebrities. Just another face of racism.

At what point did the tide turn on Michelle on the DL? Was there an inciting incident that then lead to her demise. I agree with what everyone is saying, but it seemed last year, Michelle was definite in "yaas Kween" territory where she could do no wrong. Everyone wanted her to run for President.

We on DataLounge change our allegiance as often as we change our caftans.

She didn't wear her hair natural for the family's Thanksgiving picture either. WHY? I think we're ready.

Just on looks alone (this excludes inner beaut), who is more attractive - Michelle or the Vairst Letty? Who had better White House style?

One thing I do not get - the tight mini-braids and 10 pounds of rags braided into hair must be so incredibly uncomfortable and how can it not damage hair? White people are told not to pull pony tails too tight to avoid hair loss, what black people do looks a hundred times worse.

[quote]They often find it easier, healthier and safer to wear braids, dreadlocks or Afros,

Let me stop this bullshit right here.

I wear my hair natural and have done so for the past 16 years. Not only is it absolutely NOT easier, but it's more fucking expensive with the products I have to use (looking at you Mielle and Shea Moisture). You have to constantly make sure you're combing through and twisting and moisturizing to avoid single-strand knots that lead to breakage. Co-washing every so often to clean out the the edge control to avoid build-up on the scalp.

She had a damn wrap for the time her husband was in office. All that takes is a trip to the salon and at night you just literally wrap your hair around your head, throw on the do-rag and the satin pillowcase and call it a fucking night.

Girl bye!

Why didn't she get a Symone Sanders' do? Seems like this style wouldn't require much work?

Creamy crack

[quote]As for Michelle, having relaxed hair or weaves didn't stop racist Republicunts from calling her an "ape in heels."

[bold]Woman who called Michelle Obama an 'ape' sentenced to jail for defrauding FEMA of $18K[/bold]

story at link