You might not use make up to hide your face but I know plenty, plenty, of women who do. So I think it’s safe to conclude that although it might not happen in your particular case, it happens. And whereas the issue of using make up might not be racially charged, it still applies to the same idea of altering one’s self to succumb to a certain standard of beauty. Once again, it might not apply to you but there are millions of women to whom it does apply

So understanding that you, as an individual, are not like these women who use make up to hide their features rather than enhance them, how could it be hard for you, or anyone else to, believe that there are black women that exist who relax their hair for reasons other than “self-hate” or a desire to emulate the beauty of white women? Why is that so difficult for people to fathom? Just as you said make up is worn by different races, different races also manipulate their hair. But only in the black community do you see people pointing fingers and trying to shame one another into wearing their hair this way or that way. And this is in the name of love and a longing for unity? That’s odd.