Patti Ghezzi, an education reporter and one of the women on my local mom’s group lists, sent a link to a really great story in Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Clifton Green, a father and Emory University professor, who washes, twists and braids his adopted daughter Miriam’s hair. Miriam is from Africa, and he and his wife finalized her adoption about two months after their son was born. Clifton saw that his wife had her hands full taking care of a newborn and a toddler, so he decided to take responsibility for caring for her hair. Judging by the photos accompanying the article, he has done a fabulous job.
As someone with ethnic hair, I can personally appreciate his efforts. I’m half Puerto-Rican and I inherited my father’s coarse, tightly curled hair. My parents divorced when I was very young and I had very little contact with my father’s family growing up, so I lacked a cultural point of reference where my hair was concerned. My mother, with her fine, stick-straight hair, had no idea what to do with it. Ponytails and barrettes were out of the question, and this was in the days before gels and pomades were widely available on the market. So, my trips to the hairdresser meant getting my hair shorn short with clippers. There was no attempt at style. I remember feeling like I wanted to cover my head up afterwards. I was tall, thin and athletic so I was often mistaken for a boy until I was a teenager. No lingering trauma there, eh?
My daughter’s hair right now is mostly straight, but curls are appearing at the nape of her neck. It’s hard to know if she will end up with curly hair or not. My mother said my hair didn’t start to curl until I was two years old. I found myself musing recently that if Ahleia’s hair stays straight or wavy that I will need to learn how to do things like pin back sections with barrettes or make ponytails and braids! I may need to give Clifton Green a call.
The article touches upon the cultural significance in the African-American community of caring for hair. And once again, we invoke Brangelina, who, according to the article, has been criticized for not doing more with their adopted daughter Zahara’s hair. Cared-for hair is a sign of status – and more importantly, devotion. It’s a tradition passed down the matriarchal line from generation to generation in African and African-American communities. Grandmothers’ hands guide mothers’ hands, who guide their daughters’ hands.
Clifton Green is doing no small thing. Not only is he crossing racial lines, he is crossing gender lines by using his hands to weave love into Miriam’s hair.
