I posted this reply on CurlyNikki's site in response to her
blog post about depiction of AA naturals in ads.
I've noticed the trend in ads/mainstream media for a while and am not surprised by it. What did surprise and hurt me was when I started researching hair care back in March/April and started coming across various popular natural hair care blogs. I had never played into the whole "good hair/bad hair" thing but after reading these blogs from start to finish I was thisclose to having a complex!
To me it seemed as though there was unabashed reverence for all things type 3 and maybe 4a. I got so sick of seeing 3s, some of whom were formerly relaxed, that when I would read them saying "I learned to accept my hair bc God does not make mistakes/I'm proud to wear the crown of my African Ancestors", I would think "GTFOOHWBS"! After a couple of days I calmed down bc I realized just bc someone is a 3, doesn't mean that they never received pressure to relax (this was a revelation to me).
However, even after I realized this I was still unsettled by the fact that 4s were so under-represented on these blogs. I even left a comment on one of my fave blogs telling her this. I think it's important to remember that many of the blogs are simply a reflection of our society. For example, if they feature AA models and most of AA models have 3/4a hair, then it is what it is - the blog author has to make a conscious decision to compensate for the disparity of the industry or else that disparity will be reflected, even exacerbated, on the pages of their blog. If they depend on reader submissions and most 4b/z's have been conditioned to think that people won't fawn over their hair or don't want to see it, than they'll be reluctant to submit. Commenters on Curly Nikki bought up the disparity you noticed and that's why she became proactive and posted several announcements
asking for more 4 types to make submissions.
As far as LHCF is concerned, there might be a
little more love for your run-of-the-mill 3 type but I've seen no shortage of love for 4 a/b/q/x/y/z who have thick, lush heads of hair.
ETA:
Glamazini is a very inspirational blog for afro-textured/type 4s. Hers is the type of blog I expected to be greeted with when I started researching natural black hair. I really had this conception of a plethora of popular black natural hair care blogs that revered 4b/z hair. Unfortunately, this isn't the case but we have to try to seek them out and support them if we want change.