Why straighten your hair?

THERE are 12 finalists in the Miss SA beauty pageant finals, a first-ever public vote which has resulted in a demographic of a bevy of six whites, two Indians and four African South African women. All are beautiful. The physiological requirements for a beauty queen or aspirant model are a tailoring of tallness, leggy and of being effortlessly svelte with a languid saunter to show off your assets. There is an electric beauty to them, a carriage that somehow makes them seem separate from others. It simply triggers you to take an inventory of the components that make them so compelling.

There would be no true beauty in any public contest without the inclusion of Indians with their unquestionable pulchritude of cinnamon-mocha tones, raven black, silky hair and sloe eyes.

Priyeshka Lutchman and Shane Naidoo have the chance to once again emulate the beauty, charisma and sassiness like so many before them. Recently it was announced that Kajal Sewgobind was tipped as one of the three most beautiful women in the world vying for the FHM title in Singapore.

But I have observed that a new dimension has come into play: that of straight hair – waterfall tresses that cascade. Hair-straightening has gained popularity in the last decade among the majority black population. There is some bad social myth floating around and I don’t think that the founder of Black Like Me, Herman Mashaba would be impressed with this trend of coiffure which has become the de rigeur of society.

Dispelling the mulatto image, I find urban coloured women extremely beautiful, sexy and daring. But they too tend to straighten their hair, losing the twisty, wiry natural exuberance. Also, there is a big demand for skinlightening cream and people will carry on experimenting with different formulas until they get bleached or get skin cancer.

While straight hair and fair skinned complexions seem to be the desired domain of beauty contestants, it should not be used as a unit of measure for judges. KEVIN GOVENDER

Shallcross