by Latoya Peterson
Via Curly Nikki, we find this awesome video by Diamond Stylz about rocking a natural as a transgender woman. Unfortunately, there is no transcript, but Diamond makes some major points about what informs the choices we make.
Key Point:
First, I wanted to get used to the short, you know, because it’s just something psychological. I just wanted to get used to having my hair short. [...]
[After explaining she dons wigs for YouTube videos, but wears her natural hair in real life] I get way less attention from men when my hair is like this. When I have the long, flowy, “ooooh” – wait, let me go get a wig. [Cut to Diamond in long wig.] When I’m giving them this [...], when I’m serving them the Jacqueline Smith look, you know the boys go wild. [Flips back to natural] But when I give ‘em this, I don’t really get that much attention. There’s a certain type of guy that will [pay attention], but not like it used to be, it used to be all across the board. When you’re looking like that, the guys just flock to you. But when you’re looking like this, its a certain type of guy to you. Usually he’s natural too, or he’s some kind of [puts up the black power fist] you know. [...]
So it’s weird. But, the flipside [to the drop in attention], is that as a transgender woman, it helps you blend in more. [...] To society, it makes me regular. I just don’t get the same attention. And I’m fine with that. I can go in the world, and not worry about people being in my face trying to clock me and figure out, you know, “Hmmm…”all that kinda bullshit, I just go about my business. Dudes just look over me. But when I have that hair on, things are totally different.