"Hair Love" is a short film that targets young black girls. In the beginning of the film, a young girl wakes up with so much excitement.
As she gets ready for the day, she jumps in front of the mirror, and POOF! Her big, beautiful, and messy natural hair. She gets her tablet, and looks for ideas to style her hair. After looking at ideas, she encounters this one hairstyle, that reminds her so much of her mother. She is ready to style, and when she attempted the style, it looked a mess!
Her father sees her hair, and he does his best to style it, however, he couldn't do it. Then, they see the video of the hairstyle, which we found out later that the person in the video, is her mother. Her father successfully the style, and they are ready to go.
We find out later that, they are going to see her mother, who has cancer. Her mother has no hair, but they are still united as a family. This video depicts so many beautiful characteristics about being a young black girl, and having a proud family even through the circumstances.
I remember watching "Hair Love" for the very first time. I was in complete awe. "Hair Love" is a film where young black girls could relate so much to the main character. Not only does this film target young black girls, but it also targets black fathers as well. There are so many fathers, who have to take the place of the mothers due to divorce, sickness, or death. This film targets black mothers who are suffering through diseases that cause them to lose their hair and lose their confidence.
However, they keep fighting because they know that their children wouldn't want to see their mother give up. For that, I salute all black fathers who take the responsibility and embracing the role of a #girldad.
"Hair Love" also shows what it's like the deal with natural hair at a young age. There are so many products for so many purposes. Curl definition, moisture, strength. Anything that's in the product, it is guaranteed to sell, because of what we want to maintain natural hair to be healthy.
With everything that is incorporated with this film, "Hair Love" deserves the praise it gets. It is black excellence. On Sunday, February 9, the creators of "Hair Love" went to the Oscars, and they even invited the young man who refused to cut his dreadlocks for graduation.
This shows that nothing should get in the way of persevering your goals. Hair Love was nominated for Best Short Film, and they won the Oscar! The creator, Matthew Cherry said,
""Hair Love" was done because we wanted to see more representation in animation. We wanted to normalize black hair."
For a long time, cartoons depicted natural hair as bizarre. Yet, if one creator that makes a film that sees the beauty behind it, then viewers can share the message of self beauty and self-worth.
"Hair Love" has taken the world by storm, and I am looking to see much more representation for young black girls!
