One mom is speaking out against a teacher’s note she received about the amount of oil in her daughter’s hair, which has me scratching my head. Not everyone understands the dynamic of caring for curly hair, but whatever happened to respecting others.
Let me preface by saying that moisture is key to maintaining kinky curly hair, especially during colder months. So I was completely shocked when I read about this teacher having an issue with how much her student’s hair was being moisturized.
She sent a note home to the little girl’s mom, Tionna Norris, advising her not to put too much coconut oil in her daughter’s hair.
Norris took to social media and shared a photo of Amia’s beautiful curls along with the teacher’s note.
“I understand the necessary of coconut oil on Amia’s hair, but please do not use as much. The children were complaining that her hair “stinks.” If you have to apply this daily — please do so lightly, so the kids don’t tease her. Thank you for understanding,” the note read.
Norris followed up with this caption,
“*applies the same amount of coconut oil* y’all gone feel that black girl magic. Sincerely, unapologetically black mom. P.s. Coconut oil has no stinky smell.”
Now the teacher is probably feeling “that black girl magic” after Norris’s status update. Let’s face it; we’ve spent so many years adapting to European standards just to fit in. The pressure has left our hair and our spirit damaged as a result. It’s sad that this little girl has to endure this at such an early age.
According to Norris, Amia is the only black student in her class.
“This is why I make it a point to keep her hair natural and tell her yes she’s different and it’s magical,” she wrote on Facebook.
Since sharing her story on Facebook, the picture has gone viral and has people speaking out against the teacher’s note.
Some have chimed in saying that the teacher should give a lesson on bullying. Others said that coconut oil doesn’t have a strong odor. Norris has even taken it one step further.
She and her fiancé later had a meeting with the school’s director to further discuss the issue. As it turns out, Amia’s teacher, a Russian native, was the sole complainer. The students never said anything about Amia’s hair.
The Chicago mom later followed up with another Facebook post, where she spoke about how the incident made her feel.
“It was just something the teacher was not used to and thought it was heavy,” she wrote. “Do I still believe the teacher didn’t have ill intentions? Not for a second because the way she tried to talk to me about how she thought my daughter smelled (… she is the only person who felt that way) was absolutely and totally unacceptable, but Amia is deftly my child, her clap back will always be REAL!”
I don’t know what pisses me off more – the fact that the teacher lied saying that students were complaining about the little girl’s hair or that she felt the need to say something about the coconut oil in her hair in the first place. It’s a cowardly and insensitive move, any way you slice it.
It’s just so unfortunate that this is the outcome of not understanding different cultures. It doesn’t take an expert to know that caring for curly hair is different from caring for straight hair. When it doubt, do your research. All this teacher had to do was google how to care for black hair.
It also makes me sad that she could have potential caused friction between Amia and her classmates. Most importantly, the teacher could have affected her self-esteem.
Fortunately, Norris is a mom who is willing to speak out against this teacher who complained about her daughter’s hair. She’s also making it her mission to teach Amia that her naturally curly hair is beautiful.
As a mom to biracial kids, I know first hand how much moisture is needed to care for our curls. My kinky curly texture is always thirsty for moisture enriched products as well.
As temperatures get colder, more moisture is required. I also apply coconut oil pretty much everyday and I can honestly say that it doesn’t have a strong odor.
This teacher clearly doesn’t know what she’s talking about. If I were to ever get a teacher’s note like this, I’d do the same thing. Thank goodness the school officials decided to discipline the teacher. This type of discrimination is simply not okay.
What would you do if you received a teacher’s note complaining about your child’s hair?
