Michelle Obama Wore Her Natural Curls on the Cover of *Essence*
You could argue that Michelle Obama has been on a roll her whole life, but this past year has been an especially exceptional one for her. After eight years of holding up to the constant pressure of the White House, we’ve seen the former First Lady finally be able to let down her hair—so to speak.
She danced with Tina Knowles at Jay and Bey’s OTRII concert in Paris, celebrated 26 years of marriage with America’s Coolest Dad, and now she’s on a massive press tour to celebrate her highly-anticipated memoir Becoming. Along with her 12-city book tour (in which she’s selling out arenas and casually getting interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, MObama also took the time to shoot a few magazine covers. Her latest? A stunning shot on the cover of Essence that celebrated her natural curls in their glory.
Although Mrs. Obama has graced the covers of magazines a countless number of times (including Glamour), this is the first time she’s worn something other than her signature waves—and I’m here for every moment of it.
During her time in the White House, the former FLOTUS didn’t discuss her hair all too much, but she didn’t have to. Black women got it. It’s something every professional women of color has faced—just, you know, not on such a national scale. Since her departure, though, she’s slowly been opening up about the experience and how she had to develop “a hair strategy” during her time in the spotlight.
“Well, you know, the first thing you’ve gotta worry about is how to keep it healthy,” she shared during an interview on the 2 Dope Queens podcast. “My whole goal was I want to end this with hair on my head. And so now you’ve got to think about how do you do that, you know? What are you doing? And are you swimming? Are you working out? But this wasn’t just a first lady journey. This is a black professional women’s journey.”
She also said the strategy was so involved, that she’s “sure a lot of white women are sitting over there going, ‘Man, I didn’t know all that was going on.'”
It’s refreshing to see her curls looking so hydrated, full of life, and the most important of all: naturally textured. She’s worn it natural before, which was also met with much fan fare. And her hairstylist Johnny Wright actually revealed back in 2015 that she’s been completely natural for years now—meaning there were no chemicals like relaxers or texturizers used to straighten her hair.
But as a fellow black girl from the South Side of Chicago, every sighting of her curls gives me hope. It’s still difficult for black women to wear our hair the way it grows naturally from our scalp—Mrs. Obama is proof of that. Each time a powerful black woman pushes back, though, stereotypes or media criticism be damned, it tells the rest of us that our hair is magical. And that it can be “professional.”
Sure, the natural hair movement has been around for awhile and some might consider it taboo (or policing) to keep bringing attention to these instances. I hope that soon we won’t have to celebrate a moment when a prominent black women wears her hair in it’s natural state. But until then, I’mma be here to point it out and cheer it on every chance that I get. And if these tweets are any indication, I’m surely not alone.
https://twitter.com/joimariewrites/status/1063110985756667904
https://twitter.com/YeshaCallahan/status/1063067572969463809
Related Stories:
–Gabrielle Union: “I Won’t Be Defined By My Hair Choices”
–Why I’m Done Trying to Hide My Triangle Hair
–President Obama Talks Black Hair and the Pressures His Daughters Feel to Look a Certain Way