By Cheryl Mattox Berry
Olympic gold medal gymnast Gabrielle Douglas deserves a platinum medal for the way she dismissed folks who made negative comments about her hair. What started as a few posts by black women on Twitter and Facebook about how her hair needed to be better groomed grew into a firestorm. Douglas promptly extinguished it.
“I don’t know where this is coming from. What’s wrong with my hair?” said Douglas, the first U.S. gymnast to win gold in team and all-around competition. “I’m like, `I just made history and people are focused on my hair?’ It can be bald or short, it doesn’t matter about (my) hair.”
Her response shows that she’s not only talented but smart and confident in her own skin. She knows what is important, and doesn’t let superficial things, like hair, distract her.
Douglas, 16, pulls her hair into a ponytail and uses gel and clips to keep it in place when she competes. A ponytail or bun is the common hairstyle worn by gymnasts. What were the posters expecting? A head full of blond weave styled into mermaid hair?
As a black woman, former runner and gym rat, I was insulted by all the asinine comments. Those of us who are serious about staying in shape could care less about our hair. We throw on a scarf, headband, cap or scrunchie to get it out of our face and off our necks during a workout.
I know that hair is a sensitive subject for black women. Most say they don’t exercise because it messes up their do. Sadly, this excuse has been passed on to their daughters, granddaughters, nieces and goddaughters, many of whom are overweight. It’s time to get over the hair thing.
Girls of color need to embrace sports so they can shed pounds and feel better. Studies show that teen girls involved in sports and dance have a higher body image. They don’t engage in self-objectifying tendencies, such as standing in front of a mirror checking their clothes, hair and makeup several times a day.
Make no mistake, Douglas knows how to glam it up. Check out the promotional pictures of her stretching on the stairs while eating breakfast and stretching against the refrigerator. There’s a time and place for everything, but competing in the Olympics is not the place to be worried about hair.