I have been so emotional watching the Olympics the past few days, especially the gymnastics competitions. I couldn’t help but get teary eyed on Tuesday night when our ‘Fab 5′ women’s gymnastic team took home the team gold in London! Instead of the world praising these young girls for all they have achieved, many are busy targeting a peculiar feature: their hair.

First up is Gabby Douglas, who nabbed the gold in the women’s individual All-Around earlier today. Reported by Huffington Post, individuals are critiquing Gabby’s hair, mainly because she is black. What I don’t see is what is wrong with it…Anytime I have seen her on the screen her hair is up, just like all of the other gymnasts. Since she is competing in high movement activities, it makes sense that her hair is secured properly on her head, which it always is.

Instead people are more worried about if she should make the choice ‘relax’ her hair like some black women do to make it less coarse, or leave it at a more thick texture. The real question here is why does this all matter? Let’s focus on how amazing of a gymnast this young girl is and less about if she is competing in a beauty pageant. She looks beautiful both with her hair up or down, and she is also only sixteen so let’s cut her a break.

Many of Gabby’s fans have been stepping up to knock the negative controversy, which seems to target her use of hair clips and gel. I’d love to know how else she is supposed to get her hair to stick?

This leads into another critique of all the Fab 5′s hair. According to a poll provided by Huffington Post, the world thinks our Olympic golden wonders wear their hair ‘too messily.’ Uh…what? I don’t care HOW those girls are wearing their hair, as long as they are kicking butt out in that gym and having a great time, I am happy! Their buns may not be the most pretty, but let’s focus less on that and how about on their gorgeous faces, bright smiles, and amazing gymnastics skills?

These negative comments just seem to be a bit too much. Who has that much time on their hands to start picking at teenage girls who have proven their worth to this country ten times over. They are hardworking young girls and deserve to be praised, not put down for something as ridiculous as a hairstyle.

Lovelies, what do you think of the American gymnast hair controversy? Do you think Gabby Douglas or any of her teammates should be changing the way they do their hair to please the critical public?

Images: Source