By Isaac Asare (Psyche)
The 21st century has seen black women wearing weaves,
relaxing and conditioning their hair, and so on.
There has long being a debate on whether practises as these
are necessary, and also helpful to the image of the black woman. Is it just
fashion or do these actions feed into a supposed mainstream portrayal of white
women being the ideal women ?
Penny Prempeh , the founder and manager of House of Prempeh,
a company dedicated to health and wellness, begs to differ. Madam Penny
believes that " black is actually main stream culture ", and that
white women in the mainstream media have for a long while now been trying to
copy black women. She made examples of the Kardashian women who have had breast
and butt implants, among other modifications to their looks, just so they can
appear more like the black woman. They even try to braid their hair.
She explained that we
idolize these kind of women in the mainstream but actually their idols are
black people ; maybe even some black friends they grew up with, she pointed
out. This opinion of hers was declared on the Diaspora dialogue on XLive
Africa, with Host Kwabena Bibini Tawiah, on the 30th of January 2019, today.
Most of the chemicals and even glues used in relaxing the
hair can cause fungal infections, hair loss, and even cancer. Everything we put
on our body and also on our hair is able to enter our body through the pores.
She mentioned that there are lots of benefits with going natural but that ,
" It's difficult because the image portrayed is that if your hair is long
and silky it is easier to manage".
Madam Penny believes that through education and empowerment,
young African women can begin to be proud and confident of their most enviable
Afro hair. Parents and other elders must begin to compliment and tell the young
ones how good they look when they are rocking their natural hair. Black women
can even do more with their hair , she says.
In the UK , whiles in college, Madam Penny began to produce
shea butter and the likes for sale, in a modernly consumable way, because
friends would always ask her what she uses on her hair . It was in high school
that for a short while she tried out the artificial look , which she realised
is not all that it's hyped up to be.
In the upcoming African Cultural And Wellness Festival,
Madam Penny will talk about everything from food and natural looks , to Kinetic
Yoga.
She believes that the proud black woman is slowly coming
back.
By Isaac Asare (Psyche)
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