The Source |Michelle Obama Speaks On Why She Didn’t Wear Braids While In The White House

Former First Lady Michelle Obama sat down with Grammy Award-winning Recording artists, Kelly Rowland and H.E.R, supermodel Winnie Harlow, Tina Knowles-Lawson, and moderated by Angie Martinez for an intimate discussion and to talk about her new book “The Light We Carry”  on Revolt’s original Special REVOLT x Michelle Obama: The Cross-Generational Conversation.  Obama dropped gems discussing everything from facing your fears to motherhood and the huge responsibility she carried with being the first lady.  It was like watching a conversation with your girlfriends, aunties, mama, and grandma all in one space.  But when the conversation turned to hair Michelle put an exclamation point in explaining our struggle with representation when it comes to hair from responsibility to hair care and the strategy behind deciding not to wear braids.   “With a platform comes the responsibility and I had to always be thoughtful and mindful of that” she states. ”I remember the second term when I cut bangs,  that was every story (in the media),  I’m talking about nutrition and the article leads with but her bangs….So you realize it’s a trade-off. She explains to the group. “It’s a strategic move and to be honest we were the first. First of all, and they got to get used to us (seeing people of color in the White House). Now I can show up with some braids and that’s all we talking about (in the media), when we did a fist bump with each other they turned that into a terrorist act. It’s just like who needs the hassle let me just straighten my hair and get health care passed.”  

Then Wilie Harlow asks the question that every girl who changes their look on a daily and manages a busy schedule “Was your hair damaged?” That is when Ms. Obama shared her biggest hair care secret. “I wore weaves, extensions, and I had protective styles because you get your hair done every day and sometimes twice a day and if you’re out jumping jax in the rain the things that I did it’s like nope, put some extensions in or I did all kinds of things.” She joked. “I mimicked what my hair was but I would not have any hair on my head if i straightened it as much as I had to.”

See the full interview HERE .