THANK YOU!!!!
I am a young African American woman recently relocated to DC and enjoying the city. I cut off all my hair in early June. I went from a short straight bob. Just tired of doing hair in this humidity and went natural!!.

BOY!!! I never thought it would be so controversial!! "How could you cut off that beautiful hair?" Children are beautiful, art is beautiful, life is beautiful people, NOT HAIR.

You are correct. I am a Policy Analyst with two degrees from Rutgers University, a BA and a MPA. I want to discuss so much more than hair and I am capable of doing so.

GET OVER IT!!! It's just hair:)

WONDERFUL commentary.

Keep up the great work. Listen to you as I research and write all day.

Peace
L. Dara Baldwin

Sent by L. Dara Baldwin | 3:24 PM ET | 07-21-2008

I felt like shouting to the rooftops when somebody FINALLY gave voice to what I've been saying for years: I AM NOT MY HAIR!!!

I had to listen to that commentary three times to really be sure someone (a person of color) in the professional world could talk about this mind-numbing subject.

Over a year ago, I changed my hairstyle over the weekend to twists, which made my hair look very curly. When I got to my then office, OMG, people wondered how how I got my hair to such state (my natural state). Some felt it made me look more "ethnic." Seriously, I was only trying to give my hair a break from heating appliances. It had NOTHING to do with reconnecting with my "roots."

Then late last year, I did the unthinkable - I cut the whole almost shoulder-length hair off (also over the weekend) to a chic crop cut. Gosh! I think the subject of my hair took close to two hours off my Monday from the HR calling me to her office wondering if everything was alright with me to the coffee-delivery guy who gave me his opinion.

Like I've said to some folks, my hair is an accessory (not who I am); I can change it up anytime I feel like it.

Sent by Moji | 3:59 PM ET | 07-21-2008

Michelle:

I love your show! Thank you for having topics and guests that speak to the universality of the black and/or American experience. Thanks for unapologetically highlighting black folks, as well as other groups.

(I don't capitalize black or wh"ite and use "black" interchangeable w/ African American." African American feels much more restrictive and formal to me than "black." Using AA seems very proper == akin to getting the house spic and span and using the good china for company; kind of putting on airs. I know the reason for using AA is that most of us don't know our countries of origin, so we claim the whole continent. Of course, white Africans, Indian Africans, and other races or ethnic groups who hail from the motherland, can rightly call themselves AAs too. Black feels less proper, more authentic, and perfect for those of us whose ancestors were enslaved or were nominally "free" during the period of institutionalized enslavement in the US. And, it includes all black folks in the diaspora. There's an affirmation and a freedom to the word "black."

This gets me to your wonderful, spirited commentary on hair today. I wore a short or medium length natural since college and until I was in my forties when I wore locks for over a dozen years. The last several years I've worn the noted two-strand twists, which I believe have caused my hair to come out. (I'm swiftly approaching 60.) I've tried a number of beauty shops and I'm thinking I'm just not beauty shop-hardy. So,I'm going back to my beloved short natural, too -- not that getting a good cut is a piece of cake. (After you relax in the knowledge that the barber or stylists knows what you want -- around the 3rd visit -- on the 4th he or she tends to totally lose their mind and does some crazy cut.

I have a lot of folks that will love my natural. But I have s few who have essentially cautionsx me on the the dowdiness and shame of short, nappy hair.

I do have a bias -- oh, for some thick, nappy hair. Thanks again Micelle for being there.

Thanks for

Sent by K. Halley | 4:59 PM ET | 07-21-2008

@Moji, Dara, K. Halley -- if you wonder what they're talkling about - I didn't write about it on the blog--aired a commentary today where I mentioned that I cut off my hiar and went back to the short fro' and of COURSE had to tie in the whole New Yorker cover about the Obamas, the traditional Muslim garb the big Afro, yada yada.. that's what they are talking about. funny to be blogging about it because our collective point is that the whole subject is BOR-ING. we have other things to talk about...but it had to be said, right ladies?

Sent by Michel, host, TMM | 10:58 PM ET | 07-21-2008

Hi Michelle (love your show)
I would like to comment on today's show featuring the Mocha moms and Soleadad O'brien. First, I have to agree with one of the ladies who commented that she feels that the Black in America show really has nothing more to offer other than an opportunity for some un-informed liberal white persons and so-called Christian conservatives to gather and talk about the horrible plight of poor black people in America. I am 42 years, highly educated, professional, married, mother of three young sons, and did I mention, black. I grew up in California, lived in the Midwest and northern states, and now I reside in the south. I graduated from an HBCU and getting ready to complete a doctorate from a PWI. I am a staunch Obama supporter and always have been. I say all that because, darn it I am tired of hearing about the plight of black people or the fact that we too are just like white America. If I am tired of listening to our plight in America, I am sure others are tired of it too. Yes racism exists! But so do sexism, ageism, elitism, bias against your chosen faith, bias against you being single with kids, married with kids, own a home or rent an apartment, and the list goes on. If we were all the same, guess what? We will still find something to be insecure about. It really boils down to self-love. All "isms" in the world are a result of someone feeling like someone else has one up on them. Our human nature (ego) can sometimes (most times) make us feel like we are not enough being who we are. So please for the love of God, can we concentrate on issues of self-respect and living from within. I know Obama's run for presidency has put the issue of race on the table, and made being black cool and popular to discuss. But is not our future president's message about seeing each other as people with commonalities as opposed to difference? Even in our differences, we can still find common ground. Do we really need a show exploiting one race of people to make that point? I applaud CNN efforts, but please turn the page. Thanks for your time and keep up the good work!

Sent by R. Westry | 10:42 AM ET | 07-22-2008

Michelle, I loved your commentary on hair and wanted to respond but didn't know where. I see several people have done so here however so here I go. You are so right that hair does not need to be such a defining measure of a person. I am very conscious of the fact that I have spent an inordinate amount of time learning and thinking about my hair in comparison to the people of other ethnicities that I live around. Why isn't it okay for African-American people to wear their hair natural? My friends and I will get together for lunch and always my Indian girlfriends are wearing their hair in a long braid down their back, completely natural...and beautiful. To some extent though, the problem of desiring and advocating the artificial is a general problem in society as everyone infuses their bodies with chemicals in an attempt to look like something other than what beauty they were born with. Certain people from all ethnicities go to perm their hair in one way or another but the pressure to make naturally soft and curly hair conform to the straight and narrow is just a potent metaphor for the rest of society. The damage done to our hair is analogous to that being done to our families and our souls by the pressure to fit into the narrow confines of the stereotypes we are assigned.

Sent by R. Gabriel | 1:19 PM ET | 07-22-2008

Part of the problem with increasing diversity in the news business is that there aren't any jobs.

You have to be insanely committed to the business of journalism or independently wealthy to pursue that path. And who tends to be independently wealthy in this nation? Whites. Not minorities.

It's so unfortunate but true.

Sent by Adrien Seybert | 2:36 PM ET | 07-22-2008