afro-textured hair

Afro-textured hair, or kinky hair, is a human hair texture originating from sub-Saharan Africa. Each strand of this hair type grows in a tiny, angle-like helix shape. The overall effect is such that, contrasted with straight, wavy, or curly hair, afro-textured hair appears denser.

Terminology

English adjectives such as "woolly", "kinky", "nappy", or "spiraled" have been used to describe natural afro-textured hair. More formally, '' ulotrichous'' ("curly-haired", Greek , from 'woolly, fleecy' and 'hair') refers to afro-textured hair, its antonym being ''leiotrichous'' ("smooth-haired"). Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent in 1825 introduced the scientific term ''Oulotrichi'' for the purpose of human taxonomy.

In 1997, hairstylist Andre Walker created a numerical grading system for human hair types.
The Andre Walker Hair Typing System classifies afro-textured hair as 'type 4' (there are other types of hair, defined as type 1 for straight hair, type 2 for wavy, and type 3 for curly, with the letters A, B, and C used as indicators of the degree of coil variation in each type), with the subcategory of type 4C being most exemplary of the afro-textured hair. However, afro-textured hair is often difficult to categorize because of the many different variations among individuals. Those variations include pattern (mainly tight coils), pattern size (watch spring to chalk), density (sparse to dense), strand diameter (fine, medium, coarse), and feel (cottony, woolly, spongy).

Different genetic groups have observable differences in the structure, density, and growth rate of hair. With regard to structure, all human hair has the same basic chemical composition in terms of keratin protein content. Franbourg '' et al.'' have found that black hair may differ in the distribution of lipids throughout the hair shaft. Classical afro-textured hair has been found to be not as densely concentrated on the scalp as other follicle types. Specifically, the average density of afro-textured hair was found to be approximately 190 hairs per square centimeter. This was significantly lower than that of European hair, which, on average, has approximately 227 hairs per square centimeter.

Loussourarn found that afro-textured hair grows at an average rate of approximately 256 micrometers per day, whereas European-textured straight hair grows at approximately 396 micrometers per day. In addition, due to a phenomenon called 'shrinkage', kinky hair that is a given length when stretched straight can appear much shorter when allowed to naturally coil. Shrinkage is most evident when afro-textured hair is (or has recently been) wet. The more coiled the hair texture, the higher its shrinkage.

The shape of the hair follicle determines the hair's curliness. An individual hair's shape is never completely circular. The cross-section of a hair is an ellipse, which can tend towards a circle or be distinctly flattened. East Asiatic heads of straight hair are formed from almost-round hair follicles producing straight hair, and European hair follicle forms oval shapes which produce wavy hair. Afro-textured hair has a flattened cross-section and is finer, and its ringlets can form tight circles with diameters of only a few millimeters. In humans worldwide, East Asiatic-textured hair is the most common, whereas kinky hair is the least common. This is because the former hair texture is typical of the large populations inhabiting the Far East as well as the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Evolution

Robbins (2012) suggests that afro-textured hair may have initially evolved because of an adaptive need amongst humans' early hominid ancestors for protection against the intense UV radiation of the sun in Africa.Robbins, Clarence R. (2012) ''Chemical, Weird and Physical Behavior of Human Hair'', p. 181, The author argues that afro-textured hair was the original hair texture of all modern humans prior to the "Out-of-Africa" migration that populated the rest of the globe.

According to Robbins (2012), afro-textured hair may have been adaptive for the earliest modern humans in Africa because the relatively sparse density of such hair, combined with its elastic helix shape, results in an airy effect. The resulting increased circulation of cool air onto the scalp may have thus served to facilitate the body-temperature-regulation system of hominids while they lived on the open savannah. Afro-textured hair requires more moisture than straight hair and tends to shrink when dry. Instead of sticking to the neck and scalp when damp (as do straighter textures), unless completely drenched it tends to retain its basic springiness. The trait may have been retained and/or preferred among many anatomically modern populations in equatorial areas, such as Micronesians, Melanesians, and the Negrito, because of its contribution to enhanced comfort levels under tropical climate conditions. In rare cases, kinky hair may also be found in populations living under temperate climate conditions, such as indigenous Tasmanians.

History

Historically, many cultures in continental Africa developed hairstyles that defined status, or identity, in regards to age, ethnicity, wealth, social rank, marital status, religion, fertility, adulthood, and death. Hair was carefully groomed, as the social implications of hair grooming were a significant part of community life. Dense, thick, clean, and neatly groomed hair was something highly admired and sought after. Hair groomers possessed unique styling skills, allowing them to create a variety of designs that met the local cultural standards.

In many traditional cultures, communal grooming was a social event when women socialized and strengthened bonds with their families. Historically, hair braiding was not a paid trade. When men from the Wolof tribe (in modern Senegal and The Gambia) went to war they wore a braided style. A woman in mourning would either not "do" her hair or adopt a subdued style. Since the African diaspora, in the 20th and 21st centuries it has developed as a multimillion-dollar business in such regions as the United States, South Africa and western Europe. An individual's hair groomer was usually someone whom they knew closely. Sessions can include shampooing, oiling, combing, braiding and twisting, plus adding accessories.

For shampooing, black soap was widely used in nations in West and Central Africa. Additionally, palm oil and palm kernel oil were popularly used for oiling the scalp. Shea butter has traditionally been used to moisturize and dress the hair.

File:Tui Namosi, Kai Colo.jpg, Fijian chieftain (Tui Namosi) with natural kinky hair worn in an " Afro", circa 1865
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1988-054-09, Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Junge vom Stamm der Damara.jpg, Damara boy from Namibia (1897)
File:Fang du Haut-Ivindo (Gabon).jpg, Fang man from Gabon with asymmetrically styled hair (c. 1914)
File:Himba_(6486783567).jpg, Himba girl with afro-textured hair styled with otjize paste
File:Nuba woman Kau.jpg, Nuba woman in Sudan with micro-braided hair, 2008
File:Juv%C3%A9nal_Habyarimana_(1980).jpg, Juvénal Habyarimana, former president of Rwanda (1980)

United States

Trans-Atlantic slave trade

Diasporic Africans in the Americas have experimented with ways to style their hair since their arrival in the Western Hemisphere well before the 19th century. During the approximately 400 years of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which extracted over 20 million people from West and Central Africa, their beauty ideals have undergone numerous changes.

Africans captured as slaves no longer had the sort of resources to practice hair grooming that they had had when home. The enslaved Africans adapted as best they could under the circumstances, finding sheep-fleece carding tools particularly useful for detangling their hair. They suffered from scalp diseases and infestations due to their living conditions. Enslaved people used varying remedies for disinfecting and cleansing their scalps, such as applying kerosene or cornmeal directly on the scalp with a cloth as they carefully parted the hair. Enslaved field hands often shaved their hair and wore hats to protect their scalps against the sun. House slaves had to appear tidy and well-groomed. The men sometimes wore wigs mimicking their masters', or similar hairstyles, while the women typically plaited or braided their hair. During the 19th century, hair styling, especially among women, became more popular. Cooking grease such as lard, butter and goose grease, were used to moisturize the hair. Women sometimes used hot butterknives to curl their hair.

Because of the then-prevalent notion that straight hair (which, unlike kinky hair, is common in people of European origin) was more acceptable than kinky hair, many black people began exploring solutions for straightening, or relaxing, their tresses. One post-slavery method was a mixture of lye, egg and potato, which burned the scalp upon contact.

Politics of kinky hair in the West

Wearing kinky hair in its natural state today represents embracing one's natural self, and for some it is a simple matter of style or preference. In America during the 1960s, kinky hair was transformed into a revolutionary political statement that became synonymous with Black Pride & Beauty, and by default a fundamental tool in the Black Power Movement; " ir came to symbolize either a continued move toward integration in the American political system or a growing cry for Black power and nationalism." Prior to this, the idealized Black person (especially Black women) "had many Eurocentric features, including hairstyles." However, during the movement, the Black community endeavoured to define their own ideals and beauty standards, and hair became a central icon which was "promoted as a way of challenging mainstream standards regarding hair". During this time, afro-textured hair "was at its height of politicization", and wearing an Afro was an easily distinguishable physical expression of Black pride and the rejection of societal norms. Jesse Jackson, a political activist, says that "the way ewore ishair was an expression of the rebellion of the time". Black activists infused straightened hair with political valence; straightening one's hair in an attempt to 'simulate Whiteness', whether chemically or with the use of heat, came to be seen by some as an act of self-hatred and a sign of internalized oppression imposed by White-dominated mainstream media.

At this time, an African-American person's "ability to conform to mainstream standards of beauty astied to being successful." Thus, rejecting straightened hair symbolized a deeper act of rejecting the belief that straightening hair and other forms of grooming which were deemed 'socially acceptable' were the only means of looking presentable and attaining success in society. The pressing comb and chemical straighteners became stigmatized within the community as symbols of oppression and imposed White beauty ideals. Certain Black people sought to embrace beauty and affirm and accept their natural physical traits. One of the ultimate goals of the Black movement was to evolve to a level where Black people "were proud of black skin and kinky or nappy hair. As a result, natural hair became a symbol of that pride." Negative perceptions of afro-textured hair and beauty had been passed down through the generations, so they had become ingrained in Black mentality to the point where they had been accepted as simple truths. Wearing natural hair was seen as a progressive statement, and for all the support that the movement gathered, there were many who opposed natural hair both for its aesthetics and the ideology that it promoted. It caused tensions between the Black and White communities, as well as discomfort amongst more conservative African-Americans.

The style of kinky hair continues to be politicized in contemporary American society. "These issues of style are highly charged as sensitive questions about n individual'svery 'identity'." Whether an individual decides to wear their hair in its natural state or alter it, all Black hairstyles convey a message. In several post-colonial societies, the value system promotes ' white bias', and "ethnicities are valorized according to the tilt of whiteness— hichfunctions as the ideological basis for status ascription." In turn, in this value system, "African elements—be they cultural or physical—are devalued as indices of low social status, while European elements are positively valorized as attributes enabling individual upward mobility". This value system is reinforced by the systematic racism that was, and still is, often hidden from the public eye in Western society. Racism 'works' by encouraging the devaluation of self-identity by the victims themselves, and that re-centering of a sense of pride is a prerequisite for a politics of resistance and reconstruction.

In this system, "hair functions as a key 'ethnic signifier' because, compared with bodily shape or facial features, it can be changed more easily by cultural practices such as straightening." Racism originally "'politicized' inkyhair by burdening it with a range of negative social and psychological 'meanings'"—categorizing it as a problem. Ethnic difference that could be easily manipulated, like hair, was altered in order for ethnic minorities to assimilate into a dominant, Eurocentric society. Natural hairstyles, such as the Afro and dreadlocks, "counter-politicized the signifier of ethnic DE valorization, redefining Blackness as a positive attribute". By wearing their hair as it naturally grows, individuals with kinky hair were taking back agency in deciding the value and politics of their own hair. Wearing one's hair naturally also opens up a new debate: Are those who decide to still wear their hair straightened, for example, less 'Black' or 'proud' of their heritage, than those who decide to wear their hair naturally? This debate is an often-ongoing topic of discussion within the community. The issue is highly debated and disputed, creating almost a social divide within the community between those who decide to be natural and those who do not.

Emancipation and post-Civil War

After the American Civil War and emancipation, many African-Americans migrated to larger towns or cities, where they were influenced by new styles. The photos below show 19th-century women leaders with a variety of styles with natural hair. Others straightened their hair to conform to White beauty ideals. They wanted to succeed, and to avoid mistreatment including legal and social discrimination. Some women, and a smaller number of men, lightened their hair with household bleach. A variety of caustic products that contained bleaches, including laundry bleach, designed to be applied to afro-textured hair, were developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as African Americans demanded more fashion options. They used creams and lotions, combined with hot irons, to straighten their hair.

The Black hair care industry was initially dominated by White-owned businesses. In the late 19th century, African-American entrepreneurs such as Annie Turnbo Malone, Madam C. J. Walker, Madam Gold S.M. Young, Sara Spencer Washington and Garrett Augustus Morgan revolutionized hair care by inventing and marketing chemical (and heat-based) applications to alter the natural tightly curled texture. They rapidly became successful and dominated the Black hair care market. In 1898, Anthony Overton founded a hair care company that offered saponified coconut shampoo and AIDA hair pomade. Men began using pomades, among other products, to achieve the standard aesthetic look.

During the 1930s, conking (vividly described in '' The Autobiography of Malcolm X'') became an innovative method in the U.S. for Black men to straighten their kinky hair. Women at that time tended either to wear wigs, or to hot-comb their hair (rather than conk it) in order to temporarily mimic a straight style without permanently altering the natural curl pattern. Popular until the 1960s, the conk hair style was achieved through the application of a painful lye, egg and potato mixture that was toxic and immediately burned the scalp.

Black-owned businesses in the hair-care industry provided jobs for thousands of African-Americans. These business owners gave back strongly to the African-American community. During this time, hundreds of African-Americans became owner-operators of successful beauty salons and barbershops. These offered permanents and hair-straightening, as well as cutting and styling services, some to both White and Black clients. In this era, men regularly went to barber shops to have their beards groomed, and some Black barbers developed exclusively White, elite clientele, sometimes in association with hotels or clubs. Media images tended to perpetuate the ideals of European beauty of the majority culture, even when featuring African-Americans.

African-Americans began sponsoring their own beauty events. The winners, many of whom wore straight hair styles and some of whom were of mixed race, adorned Black magazines and product advertisements. In the early 20th century, media portrayal of traditional African hair styles, such as braids and cornrows, was associated with African-Americans who were poor and lived in rural areas. In the early decades of the Great Migration, when millions of African Americans left the South for opportunities in northern and midwestern industrial cities, many African Americans wanted to leave this rural association behind.

File:Cerca 1850 African American woman.jpg, African-American woman wearing styled textured hair. Photo taken c. 1850.
File:Ida B. Wells Barnett.jpg, Civil rights activist and suffragist Ida B. Wells in styled natural hair. Photo taken between 1870 and 1897.
File:Madame CJ Walker.gif, Successful entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker invented a method that relaxed textured hair. Photo taken c. 1914.
File:Btw 1885 1910 Young AfAm Woman Hat.jpg, A young African-American woman wearing styled textured hair. Photo taken between 1885 and 1910.
File:Btw 1885 1910 AfAm Children.jpg, Photo of African-American children taken between 1885 and 1910
File:1940 African American children Natchitoches Louisiana.jpg, African-American children with braided styles in Natchitoches, Louisiana, 1940
File:Eddie South violinist.jpg, Jazz musician Eddie South sporting a conk, or ''congolene'' hairstyle, 1946
File:Harriet Tubman.jpg, 19th-century African-American abolitionist Harriet Tubman with styled kinky hair
File:Bust portrait, woman with 'Afro' hair dressing. Tintype, sixth plate.jpg, African-American woman with afro hairstyle, c. 1880
File:Marie Lassus New Orleans 1860.jpg, African-American woman in New Orleans