Fades, Waves, and Do-rags: How WE Love
I have come to understand self-love to be a resistive and revolutionary act for Black people in all spaces we occupy. For my project, I sought to address what self-love looks like for young Black men. And through my preliminary thoughts on Black men and self love, I realized that our hair is a huge form of self love. No matter where you look in the US and no matter what type of hair we have, for Black men, our hair is something we take seriously and take a lot of pride in. “Fades, Waves, and Do-rags: How WE Love” is a short documentary comprised of interview clips with Black men on their thoughts on Black masculinity, self love, and the importance of their hair as part of self preservation, self love, and self expressive acts, as well as short tapings of the interviewees going through hair care regimen — i.e. what they do to their hair when they wake up, before they are going out etc. I am thankful to all of the professors, scholars, creatives, friends, and family, who have invested in my intellectual and personal growth.
River Bunkley is a junior at Emory University majoring in African American Studies and Political Science.