Natural Hair Speech

Principles of Speech- 11AM

Persuasive Speech: Natural Hair

“Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind? Who taught you to hate the race that you belong to so much so that you don’t want to be around each other? No… Before you come asking Mr. Muhammad does he teach hate, you should ask yourself who taught you to hate being what God made you.”

       -- Malcolm X

The natural texture of African American hair is usually kinky and curly. However, many women and men don’t embrace their natural hair either because they have conformed to society’s liking of the relaxed look or they feel as if their hair can’t be managed with out the relaxer. Men claim to only like woman with relaxed hair because they believe they can’t run their fingers through a woman’s natural hair. But what both men and women fail to realize is that the relaxer a.k.a “creamy crack” that is used to get the straight look is more dangerous than its worth. Having both a physical and social effect, relaxed hair vs. natural hair is becoming an epidemic among African Americans.

Physically, the ingredients that are used to make relaxers are capable of burning through an aluminum soda can. With that statement alone, who really wants this product to be placed on their scalp, the barrier that protects their brain? According to Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention “Lye relaxers contain sodium hydroxide; no-lye relaxers contain calcium hydroxide and guanidine carbonate; and “thio” relaxers contain thioglycolic acid salts” (2007). Sodium Chloride is a chemical known for breaking down things. According to SC Johnson Family Company, Sodium Chloride is a common ingredient found in the product Drano which is used to unclog drains (2009). Why...