Good Hair Project

Body image is an important concept in many adolescent and young adult minds. To have a positive body image is to know that you are beautiful. To be beautiful is to reach the standards of beauty in society. However, society is constantly changing those standards as time goes by. Many young men and women strive to reach the positive, even if it means their health, money, and mind. They have the media, such as magazines to thank for these wonderful standards.

The encouragement to focus on physical appearance has been an all-time buzz in our society, and with it comes the possible significant increase in negative body image. While some of us think that ideal body image are only women's issues, men—turn out—have body image issues too! Just like women, men are bombarded with “perfection” blueprint as well. Media, advertisements, and professional sports create a compelling and toxic mix of messages, assaulting men with ideal body images of young, fit and muscular professional athletes and male models with bulging muscles and six-pack abs. Enough to make an average Joe feels like an average old and fat Joe. This dilemma is what men go through based on Ted Spiker's article, How Men Really Feel About Their Body.

When researching online for issues about body image, one can definitely find articles concerning young women. Of course, when hearing about body image issues, one can only think of anorexia, obesity, and low self-esteem. However, a body image problem is not just an issue affecting young women; it’s actually an issue that is also affecting young men. Over time, a growing number of young men have been showing issues with their body image. This is mainly due to the way media portrays men in television shows, movies, and advertisements. Because of this, it leads to low self-esteem, peer pressure, and over exercising among young men. Low self-esteem can be caused by having the feeling of being inferior to everyone and always having the mindset

My goal for this project, was to develop a professional hairstyle that would help me in one of my career as a cosmetologist. Additionally, to also learn new things and make my clients happy. I love doing hair, which sometimes gives me a true sense of achievement. I also wanted this project to be a great experience and have fun.

It seems that the media’s portrayal of women has negatively affected the body image of The Wykeham Collegiate senior school girls. The media has a negative effect on the youth of today, primarily amongst the female population when it comes to how young girls and women regard

A women’s image has been a controversial subject which has sparked numerous debates and various reforms to be enacted. However, these reforms and laws have only been developed by men, a patriarchal figure who decides what is considered wrong or right for females within society. Many of their decisions have impacted the female image and altered society’s perspective on what a female “should” look like instead of accepting their image for who they are. In short, men decide what is appropriate for women, not women. These decisions range from body image, health, and even a women’s future. The majority of men will decide the fate of women such as who they will marry and how they will be treated. With these aspects affecting the lives of women on

Whenever I reunite with childhood friends, I am always told that my hair was the most memorable part of me. This was hair that was yanked left and right, along with my head, forcibly being led by my Asian grandmother who commanded the brush to tear apart each and every knot. These were mornings where Yiey bathed me and frustratingly mumbled in her native language with each brush stroke. I’d grimace and grow teary-eyed as she mercilessly mauled through random sections of my hair in attempt to swiftly tie it into a ponytail. It was routine for Yiey to prepare me for school every morning, minutes before it was time for me to leave for school.

“Body image” can be defined as the way someone perceives their body and assumes that’s how others perceive them. The concept of body image can be seen as a great concern, from society’s affects through the media, social and peer pressure, to health issues and the actions taken due to body image shaming. Over time, the “ideal” body image has evolved into an idea that is simply unrealistic and unattainable.

In this study, participants will be recruited from the University of Arkansas’ Registered Student Organization database programs, community organizations, and University of Arkansas e-mail database. An e-mail with the study’s supposed purpose, participant criteria, and contact information will be sent to 3,000 randomly selected university e-mail accounts to recruit potential participants. Additionally, an e-mail containing the same information will be sent to any Registered Student Origination that identifies as a Native American group or club to be shared with the originations members. Lastly, posters and flier containing the same information will be

I was confused as to why so many girls wore their hair in a fashion that I thought was “knappy”. Months go by, I see so many black girls cutting off their processed ends to start over with their natural hair. July 1, 2015 the girl [I] who once hated her hair because it wasn’t white enough for her chopped every single strand of her off until only curls were left. Over a year later and the curls in my hair continuously remind me that I am beautiful just the way I was born to

India Arie was one of the artists referenced to a room filled with students because of her bold but relatable message when she sang “Good hair means curls and waves, bad hair means you look like a slave. At the turn of the century it's time for us to redefine who we be. You can shave it off like a South African beauty, or get it lock like Bob Marley, you can rock it straight like Oprah Winfrey if it’s not on your head it's what's underneath and say, hey, I am not my hair.” The discussion of hair is relatable to everyone because it is something we all have to deal with in our life. However, Blacks in particular have struggled with accepting their hair as it is because Black hair does not fit the description of what the media projects to be beautiful or professional. Instead, the media tells Black women that the more European your hair looks or you look, the more beautiful you are.

Modern day stigmas and norms force men and women to put forth a lot of attention on their bodies. These societal demands create insecurities, and lead to various troubles in people such as eating disorders, addictions, or even suicide. Many advertisements create rude images towards women, insulting their intelligence and self-esteem. In Marge Piercy’s poem “Barbie Doll” (1971), a girl described is healthy and smart, but becomes engulfed in her self-image when a classmate points out “You have a great big nose and fat legs” (6). It is important that we become aware of this negative culture and how it affects men, women, and children. A few intellectuals have written pieces on this subject to bring awareness to the public. Jeam Kilbourne is all about connecting male and female roles in advertisements to social problems. Immergut further analyzes how our culture cultivates a world in which men must be more high-maintenance towards their bodies in order to adhere to social norms. Psychologists Sara Cahill and Alexander J. Mussap conducted a study to see people’s emotional states change after exposure to ideal body images and same-sex models and report their findings. Linda Smolak tells of children’s premature concerns about their own bodies based on her own research. These writers display the toxic culture we live in today, and how hurtful it is to society.

When faced with fabricated images of beauty on magazines and billboards, the average everyday person begins to objectify themselves, leading to feelings of self consciousness and humiliation. Now imagine, that with all the different types of medias nowadays there are scantily clad men/women everywhere. Covers with photoshopped images of “perfection” have now become the new norm and society is feeling the pressures to keep up. The average American walks past and sees about 3,000 advertisements per day, which can do a number on healthy everyday individuals let alone people who are considered “overweight” by society’s standards. This research paper will talk about the results of a body image survey, comparing and contrasting why female vs male answers are different and how the rest of the world (outside of oakmont) is reacting to body image controversy. The students and faculty of Oakmont Regional High School, much like the rest of America, have a distorted sense of body image, due to the media and the photoshopped models that adorn their ads.

On December 22, 2013 I decided to cut off all of my hair. In the natural hair world, it 's called “the big chop” when you cut off all of your unhealthy hair due to either flat ironing or perming, so that new healthy hair comes in the way it was meant to grow out of your head. I followed through on December 28th, barely telling anyone what I was going to do. I had just went natural so I had a huge afro, but it was unhealthy. Little did I realize, how much cutting off my hair was going to change my life. On America’s Next Top Model, they always cut off “the pretty girl with the long hair” hair! So that is what I wanted to do, something I felt like I needed to do. But after, I was rushed with what seemed like a whole new life, People’s reaction’s, feeling like I needed to wear a hijab in order to feel okay, the whole nine. I went into a complete culture shock. But one thing I do remember, is one of my old classmates commentary on my hair after someone had just tried to crack a joke on it. She was wearing a headcovering, and silently she understood why I did what I did, she didn’t need to ask me why because she just knew. It took me a long time to understand what cutting my hair truly did to me as a black woman. Reclaiming my natural hair texture was an amazing thing. For years black women were told that their natural hair was not good enough, so what did they do? They created inventions in order to alter their hair. Made complete new things that now ALL races

In today’s society, men and women both have views that are considered “normal” to the general public imposed on him or her to some degree. Although women’s prejudices are more commonly discussed, it is important to note that men also face the same preconceptions. In the essay, “Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body,” Susan Bordo talks about these typical presumptions of men as she explores body gender roles through the use of ads and real life examples in her essay. The text stated, “Women may dread being surveyed harshly - being seen as too old, too fat, too flat-chested - but men are not supposed to enjoy being surveyed period. It’s feminine to be on display.” In other words, the role of gender in the ways images of the body is designed and presented has been forced into the mindset of people from a young age. Bordo contradicts this point in her writing by repeatedly arguing that this form of gender stereotype should be removed as a whole and that men should be able to present their body without judgments as well.