At the risk of sounding extremely petty and clueless, I do find a phenomenon curious among many Black women. I've no idea if the author's hair is naturally straight, but many Black women I've encountered have spent an inordinate amount of time and money straightening their hair. To some extent, this could be taken as an assessment that European/White women's hair is more attractive than Black women's hair. Personally, I find such an idea ludicrous as I've always felt tightly curled hair was far more attractive than long, straight hair. I can't imagine ever having the chutzpah to ask directly, but I'd like to hear from Black women who do straighten their hair why they do that and if they don't think that at some level (perhaps even unconsciously) they are succumbing to the notion of White beauty by doing so.