Hair, Self Esteem, and Women’s Empowerment 2010…What’s Hair Got to do with It?

What’s hair got to do with self esteem and women’s empowerment?

Sandra Dubose-Gibson

When asked by moderator, Lauren Lake at the 2010 Women’s Empowerment Expo, what I thought was the #1 issue women are wrestling with as it relates to “good hair” and the “Hollywood Complex”, I offered a few points to ponder:

• We have to stop comparing ourselves to other women and instead uncover and accept our own unique beauty whether we have short hair, long hair or in my case, no hair at all.
• Understand that we were not made to look the same but we are each our own individual expression of the image and likeness of God and he does not make mistakes.
• No matter what physical changes we go through, know that our true beauty comes from our spirit within.
• We have to accept ourselves for who we are and what we look like because people are going to see us, the way we see ourselves.

While hair is an important attribute to a woman’s identity of beauty, there are many other non-physical traits of beauty in every woman that we must identify and appreciate.

Some times in life we may have experiences that will challenge our self esteem. It is easy to feel good about yourself when you are not dealing with circumstances beyond your control and you look the way you want to look. Just as it is easy to love someone when they are making you happy. The truth is revealed only through test and trials. Then and only then can we find out what we are really made of. This is why we need to cultivate a deeper understanding of self and a  broader perspective of beauty in ourselves and in others.

When we suffer through any unwanted physical changes, it is easy to just focus on the negative and forget about all of the positive things we have going for ourselves. I don’t care if the issue is hair loss, weight gain, a pimple or a crooked tooth. These imperfections seemingly take over our mirror and cause us to forget that our beauty is bigger than that one issue. I find that often times we are harder on ourselves than we are on others. If the people who we truly love had any of those issues, we would show them more compassion and acceptance than we do ourselves. This is a mindset we must work to change.

The Beauty Test: An exercise to Identify Physical and Non-Physical Beauty Attributes To Increase Self-Esteem

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the greatness we possess to shift our perspective from darkness to light. You don’t have to wait for someone else to acknowledge your beauty, give yourself a self esteem boost by taking this beauty test today. Make a list of your best attributes whether they are physical or non-physical. I am confident that you will find that there are many things to love about yourself and to be proud of. Own your own individual beauty and do not compare yourself to anyone else. You will do yourself a great disservice and miss out on the authentic beauty which is you. Here is a cheat sheet of my list to get you moving in the right direction.

A few of my Best Attributes

-  My sense of humor

-  My Kind Disposition

-  Sharing and Caring for Others

-  Curves to die for

-  A Beautiful bald head

-  Soft, smooth (hairless) skin

Identifying these attributes helps increase my self-esteem by keeping my eye on the prize, the true essence of me.

Please share a beauty attribute, or two, of yours from your Beauty test. Post your comments and give yourself a shout out. In doing so, you could help others identify the beauty they may have overlooked within themselves.