"Graphic Novel"

Selecting my graphic novel was challenging. I went upstairs to the fifth floor and followed their  Dewey Decimal Classification System. After I browsed shelf after shelf, I found the story Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers.

This morning, I woke up 30 minutes early to begin my 50 pages of reading. This story is about the coming of age of a young Black girl learning to love herself and her natural beauty. I picked this book up because it intrigued me. While I cannot relate to any aspect of Ebony's childhood, it pulled at my heartstrings, knowing that she also grew up spending time with her mother doing hair. Up until middle school, my mom managed my hair. She advised me and directed me to which products to use, to my head in her bathroom sink, and to her, detangling my hair with an emergency dreadlock remover. The page of my graphic novel that I found represents technology, or lack thereof, was a picture of Ebony, the main character, by the stove with her mother. 

Ebony felt out of place at her old school. She had gotten made fun of and called horrible names because of her appearance, and she wanted something to change. She wanted straight hair. Her mother did not have a hair straightener or flat iron, and in this period, no straightening tools were on the market to straighten her hair texture. So, her mother would take a few metal combs, set them on the gas stove, and meticulously straighten Ebony's hair with hot combs. 

The hot comb does not represent just Ebony's hair transformation or the pain her mother caused by burning her ear; it represents the empowerment she felt and symbolizes self-discovery. Through Ebony's story, I came to understand the power of embracing one's roots and celebrating the unique beauty that lies within.  The present-day hair-straightening technology serves as a reminder of the limitations women of color had in the past. In an era where stick-straight hair was idolized, Ebony's inability to access such tools highlights the lack of inclusivity in the beauty standard then and even the beauty standard now.