Final Project Proposal: My Hair, My Lips, My Skin

Final project topic

        A children’s book for black girls that focuses on their representation, and how they can create a narrative and meaning from their personal experiences or appearance.

What I wish for this project:

          This book should tell the targeted audience that their experiences, while overlooked and often misrepresented by mainstream media, are important and need to be told by them in order to be conveyed in a loving manner. I would like to move girls to feel free to speak about the things they find interesting, especially when those things are related to their appearance. Images of black girls rarely exist in media platforms, but if they are included, they do not focus on the characters or on what little nuances help shaped her personality.   For this reason, I want to focus on girls and how they can change the narratives surrounding their hair, nose, and lips-- features that have been racialized, sexualized, and mocked many times—into one that properly depicts them.

Reasons for this project

I have two reasons for making this project. The first reason comes from my own personal experience of having natural hair. I am an African American woman, and if not highlighted by the color of my skin, this fact is solidified by my hair. The second reason for focusing specifically on this topic is to address the absence of black women and their experiences in media.  

          As a little girl my hair was not my own. Since, I was not able to comb or style it myself, my hair

was left in the care of my mother, my aunts, or a hair stylist—anyone that had comprehensive knowledge of how to style kinky, thick, black hair. I was rarely ever allowed touch my hair out of fear that I would pull it out or mess it up. When my aunts or my mother decided to it was time to do my hair I went unwillingly. Nimble fingers moved quickly through the forest called my hair. Without remorse or an intent that made no room for the complaint, adults would move thin toothed combs through thick coils, forgetting that each follicle was attached to my scalp. I hated each encounter, every part felt like cuts were being open and braided shut. I would cry, but quickly be silenced, after all, my aunts/mother did not mean to hurt me. However, this feeling of not being able to have a say in how my hair was done, whether in terms of aesthetic choices or to voice a complaint during the combing process, caused me to develop a negative relationship with my hair. I often wished that I had hair like Barbie’s so that the combing was easier. I did not want my hair, and it felt like everyone else shared the same feeling. When my aunt decided to use a hot comb to straighten my hair in order to make it easier to comb, I felt that it was true—no one wanted this hair. As media images gradually became a part of my life, I realized that the hair I was born the much like the skin I am in was not present, not needed.  

           It is only recently that I have begun to see myself differently. I have been lucky enough to grow up in a time where media is gradually becoming more inclusive of people that look like me. I think back to the times that I was riveted to see a woman with natural hair. I remember gleefully

After going through hairstyle after
hairstyle she chooses the current
style shown.

watching Doc McStuffins, happy to see not only a girl of color aspiring to be a doctor like her mother, but to see a whole episode dedicated to  how she came to love her hair I was over the moon. When my older sister, the smartest girl I know who frequently tells me that her self-esteem is impaired by the way her hair looks, tells me that she feels connected to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie due to a brief description of getting her hair braided in Nigeria, I am convinced that this is an important topic that must be shown in media platforms. While there are still images that are detrimental to the images of black women girls, there has been a push to get authentic experiences of black women on screen. The natural hair movement has had a significant impact on me and my relationship to my hair. Natural hair vloggers have created tutorials that show how one can take care of her hair. These tutorials have shown me how versatile my hair can be. I am developing a more loving relationship to my hair and myself through these moments. I am changing the idea of “no one wants this hair” to “this is my hair and this is what it means to me.”

The Project So Far:

 Right now I am at the development stages of my project. I am currently working on the story and dialogue. So far, there is a character (to be named) in a class that wants to show something special during show and tell. Her classmates are all throwing out ideas of what they want to show (a bike they got for their birthday, a pet lizard, a baseball, etc.), but she has no idea what to show. She goes home where her she thinks hard about what she wants to show. Her mother calls her over to get her hair done. Sadly, she goes to her mother. As her mother combs her hair, she tries to think of what to show. Her frustration grows. Her mother accidentally pulls her hair, causing our character to jump out of her panicked thinking. She realizes that she can show whatever she wants so long as it is important to her. She chooses to show her hair. Her mother helps her to get her presentation together. In the next scene, she is in class. Her classmates have given their speeches on the items (bike lizard, baseball, etc.). When her turn is up she states what she her item is: her hair. The class bellows out statements that follow the notion of “we know what your hair is,”  “we have seen it before,” or “that’s not a show n’ tell item.” She listens to them but counters their complaints. After her presentation she sits and listens to others present their work. Some kids tell her show and tell was not interesting. Then someone (a friend or a classmate) presents her lips in the same fashion of our character, then another presents her skin, and so on. The book should end with a little title card headed by the smiling faces of the students that  presented their features the way they see them prompting  the reader to show and tell something about themselves in the same manner as our main character and those that followed her example.

I need to work on character design, images, and dialogue. I feel like this story needs to be flushed out a bit more, but so far I like this outline of my story.

Timeline 

October 25- October 31 working on story and dialogue/Character design/ page number
November 1- November 7 working on character design and images( may start earlier )
November 8- November 14 working on book cover and design
November 15- November 21 working on putting things together and publishing

Concerns for this project:

• finishing on time
• making sure the message is conveyed clearly
• publishing ( I am considering self publishing but I would need to research how to so.)

References:

Why black Hair Matters Melissa Perry

The Oppositional Gaze Bell Hooks

A Girl like Me Kiri Davis

Good Hair Chris Rock

Doc McStuffins