It is against this endless circle of shame, humiliation, and the implied unacceptability of one’s own person that a small but significant number of black women have turned to the “natural hairdo”; no hot irons, no pressing combs, no oils, but a soft, black, gentle cloche of cropped velvet. The effect is engaging and feminine, and, in light of the above, so psychologically redemptive, that we can only wonder why it has taken them so long, and why even yet there are so few.