# In Defense of Gabby Douglas’ Hair

- Link: https://exclusiveaccess.net/in-defense-of-gabby-douglas-hair/
- Published: 2012-08-03T06:21:06-04:00
- Author: EAN

[Gabby Douglas](http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/raising-olympian-gabrielle-douglas-173500313.html)
is proudly representing her country in the Olympics. She’s poised under pressure,
[performing gravity-defying athletic feats](http://shine.yahoo.com/team-mom/eye-popping-images-gymnasts-motion-173300569.html)
in front of an international audience. She’s 16 and the second female African American
U.S. gymnast to ever make the team. But instead of lauding her achievements, some
people are slamming her for… not getting her hair done.

Related: [Raising an Olympian: Gabby Douglas](http://yhoo.it/NdfJ6g)

⌊Photo: Twitter⌉⌊Photo: Twitter⌉Photo: Twitter

Seriously? Douglas is an incredible athlete. When you’re doing something like this
on a 3.9-inch wide wooden beam set four feet above the ground, the last thing you’re
worrying about is your hair.

⌊Gabby Douglas dominates on the balance beam, Thursday, Aug. 2. (Photo: Getty Images/
Streeter Lecka)⌉⌊Gabby Douglas dominates on the balance beam, Thursday, Aug. 2. (
Photo: Getty Images/Streeter Lecka)⌉Gabby Douglas dominates on the balance beam,
Thursday, Aug. 2. (Photo: Getty Images/Streeter Lecka)

Some critics insist that Douglas needs to properly represent the African American
community, and how her hair looks is part of that. And yet, most of the negative
comments about her hair are coming from other African Americans.
 ⌊Photo: Twitter⌉
Photo: Twitter

“I find it sad that I have seen more Black women post criticizing comments about
Gabby’s hair than I have comments of praise about her athleticism or adding color
to USA Gymnastics since Dominique Dawes,” writes Monisha Randolph at SportyAfros.
com.
 ⌊Photo: Twitter⌉Photo: Twitter Many African American women choose not to work
out in order to protect their hairstyle, Randolph points out. “The last time I checked
when you play a sport, you sweat. I know I do. And when a Black woman who has chosen
to wear her hair straight begins to sweat, her hair will (not might) begin to revert
back to its natural coily, curly, or kinky state,” she writes. “Some of us are sitting
up right now with our hair done but suffering from high blood pressure, borderline
diabetes, obesity, and/or a lack of energy. Oh, but the hair is on point.”

Hair has always held a special significance in the African American community. Emmy
Award-winning comedian Chris Rock was so struck by his daughter’s obsession with
her friend’s hair that he made a documentary about it; in “Good Hair,” he goes on
a quest to better understand why hair is so important to so many black women.

“There’s always this sort of pressure within the black community like, if you have
good hair, you’re prettier or better than the brown-skinned girl that wears the 
Afro or the dreads or the natural hairstyle,” actress Nia Long told him [when he interviewed her for his film](http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/Chris-Rocks-Good-Hair-Documentary).

“They say it’s for the men, but it’s really for the women. Because guys don’t care”
about a woman’s hair, he points out. His theory is born out in the stream of tweets
about Douglas’s hair — the most critical comments are by women. (Thankfully, [some of the most supportive ones](https://twitter.com/#%21/search/gabby%20douglas%20hair)
since have been by African American women as well.)

Instead of worrying about whether her hair is perfect, Douglas is focused on making
history and winning Olympic gold. She is representing all Americans, not just one
single group. She’s achieved more by age 16 than most of us do in a lifetime. Shouldn’t
we be cheering her on instead of tearing her down?

By Lylah M. Alphonse