In today’s video, I respond to Michelle Obama’s recent comments about Black people feeling pressured to straighten their hair to fit white beauty standards. 

While that pressure has definitely existed historically, I believe Michelle Obama’s take misses a major part of the conversation.

For decades, many Black women have developed an adversarial relationship with their natural hair — not only because of outside expectations, but often because of criticism from within our own community. 

From being told natural hair is “unprofessional” to being teased for texture, shrinkage, or “kitchen” hair, a lot of the pressure to straighten our hair comes from Black people, not white people.

In this video, I break down why I think Michelle Obama “got it wrong,” why so many Black women struggle with their hair identity, and how our community plays a bigger role in shaping beauty standards than we sometimes admit. 

This is an honest conversation about natural hair, internalized bias, and the cultural expectations Black women still navigate today.

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