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It is great to see the British swimmers doing so well at the Olympics. In the leadup to the Games, one of the stories that caught my attention was black female swimmers denied the opportunity to wear hair caps better suited for black hair. Yesterday, I had one of those father/daughter conversations that every black dad dreads but perhaps the theologian in me secretly hoped for. My 15-year-old asked me if she could relax her hair. Relaxing African Caribbean hair means applying chemicals to loosen the strands until the whole mass of hair becomes completely straight. Black women have been straightening their hair for decades. Back in the 1950s, my mother used the iconic 'hot comb.’ In the 1980s, my sisters and several male friends spent an inordinate amount of time at the hairdresser to achieve the 'wet look' effect -- making black hair feel wet and curly. I spoke to my daughter from a position of weakness… and strength. I was hesitant as a man about offering my opinion, even to my daughter who was anxious to hear it. For centuries, men have imposed aesthetic standards on women as a means of controlling women's bodies. My position of strength came from working experience as a theologian. Having supervised several postgraduate research students on subjects of black aesthetics, I am very aware that in order to understand my daughter’s motivations there were several questions to consider. The European idea of beauty is pervasive. Black feminist thinkers argue that Eurocentric standards of beauty are imposed on all women, but for black women, having to "look European" comes at the expense of disparaging curly black hair. There was also the long-term health question. Research published this month in The Oxford Carcinogenesis Journal reveals a staggering increased cancer risk for black women who apply specific black hair relaxing chemicals for a prolonged period. The less obvious question was about the theology of the body. The Bible's Doctrine of Creation is an unequivocal affirmation of the equal value of all bodies, including all hair textures. But there is also a downside to the interpretation. The Scriptures have also been used to undermine black beauty. In the Old Testament, for instance, only a few of the modern translations of the Song of Solomon replace the less obvious conjunctive 'but' with the more commonly acceptable 'and' so that the Song begins with an affirmation of the female subject. Translated accurately she is "dark and beautiful." My daughter wryly suggested that she would think about my questions and admitted that it was nice to be reminded that ultimately there were more objective standards of beauty to consider.