Lately I've been feeling really inspired when it comes to the concept of beauty for all types of women. This mood comes upon me with relative frequency as I've always been kind of a junkie for all things girly, being fascinated by all the trappings of womanhood from a very early age. My step-mom laments how embarrassing it was to take me to the mall as an 9 year old because, according to her, I would openly stare at all the teenage girls traipsing about and ask in a not-so whisper voice at what age I could wear my clothes like that, get shoes that tall, put on lipgloss that shiny, and of course, fit a bra that BIG! Though the story is understandably embarrassing when retold in front of, say the first serious boyfriend that you bring home from college, I stand justified in my childhood behavior as I think all little girls go through a stage of similar innocent memorization when in the presence of all the beautiful "big girls" that they will one day grow up to become. That fire for the feminine was rekindled when I came across one internet darling today: Solange Knowles.Since birth because she's the sister of Beyonce, but particularly since she did the "big chop" around this time last year, Solange has been the source of some pretty mean-spirited scrutiny. I first came across this photo of Solange on a blog that was actually making fun of her for her new hair. With faceless commentators attacking everything from her dress to the fact that her hair is actually a weave, I couldn't help but feel disappointed as it seemed that everyone was simply missing the point. To me at least, Solange looks undeniably beautiful in this shot. I see this beauty not just for what she is wearing or how her hair is styled or even because she is simply a pretty girl, but for the first time in her public life, Solange is exuding a look that is synonymous with how black women naturally look, and she herself recognizes it as beautiful.In fact, the above statement is what I love most about this so-called "natural hair revolution" for black women. When you think about it, Black people are the only people in the world who look like how we naturally look, for lack of a better way to say it. Instead of embracing our features as a wonderful, comparable type of beauty alongside the many other kinds along in the very broad beauty spectrum, for so long we have literally destroyed and suppressed that type of beauty in favor of other kinds of beauty that in reality, are no greater then that which we possess naturally.For years, black women have been chasing this:

...Which, if we're being honest here, is not nearly as attractive (even for the model on the box!) as the naturally straight hair it tries to emulate, in lieu of this:

or this...

or even this...

Source

...all of which, are infinitely healthier, more interesting, and more feature flattering than the look we're chemically altering our hair for. I don't want to harp on black women as if we are the only group of people who do this because we most certainly aren't, but I was utterly flabbergasted by the amount of vitriol Solange and other women who choose to represent this look receive, as if this type of beauty is not beautiful or is somehow unfeminine. As far as I'm concerned, nothing could be further from the truth.