Afro-textured hair, or kinky hair, is a human hair texture originating from
sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
. Each strand of this hair type grows in a tiny, angle-like
helix
A helix () is a shape like a corkscrew or spiral staircase. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is formed as two intertwined helic ...
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
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, from 'woolly, fleecy' and 'hair') refers to afro-textured hair, its antonym being ''leiotrichous'' ("smooth-haired").
Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent
Jean-Baptiste Geneviève Marcellin Bory de Saint-Vincent was a French naturalist, officer and politician. He was born on 6 July 1778 in Agen ( Lot-et-Garonne) and died on 22 December 1846 in Paris. Biologist and geographer, he was particularl ...
in 1825 introduced the scientific term ''Oulotrichi'' for the purpose of
human taxonomy
Human taxonomy is the classification of the human species (systematic name ''Homo sapiens'', Latin: "wise man") within zoological taxonomy. The systematic genus, ''Homo'', is designed to include both anatomically modern humans and extinct vari ...
.
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
Keratin () is one of a family of structural fibrous proteins also known as ''scleroproteins''. Alpha-keratin (α-keratin) is a type of keratin found in vertebrates. It is the key structural material making up Scale (anatomy), scales, hair, Nail ...
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
The scalp is the anatomical area bordered by the human face at the front, and by the neck at the sides and back.
Structure
The scalp is usually described as having five layers, which can conveniently be remembered as a mnemonic:
* S: The ski ...
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
In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...
, 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
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The t ...
as well as the indigenous peoples of the Americas
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
.
Evolution
Robbins (2012) suggests that afro-textured hair may have initially evolved because of an adaptive need amongst humans' early hominid
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the ...
ancestors for protection against the intense UV radiation
In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes:
* ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...
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
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
. 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
The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan.
Ethn ...
, Melanesians
Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in a wide area from Indonesia's New Guinea to as far East as the islands of Vanuatu and Fiji. Most speak either one of the many languages of the Austronesian language fam ...
, and the Negrito
The term Negrito () refers to several diverse ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands. Populations often described as Negrito include: the Andamanese peoples (including the Great Andamanese, the On ...
, because of its contribution to enhanced comfort levels under tropical climate
Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F) or higher in the cool ...
conditions. In rare cases, kinky hair may also be found in populations living under temperate climate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...
conditions, such as indigenous Tasmanians
The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and ...
.
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
A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strande ...
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
The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were ...
, 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
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
and Central Africa
Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Co ...
. Additionally, palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced fr ...
and palm kernel oil were popularly used for oiling the scalp. Shea butter
Shea butter (, , or ; ) is a fat extracted from yellow the nut of the African shea tree (''Vitellaria paradoxa''). It is ivory in color when raw and commonly dyed yellow with borututu root or palm oil. It is widely used in cosmetics as a ...
has traditionally been used to moisturize and dress the hair.
File:Tui Namosi, Kai Colo.jpg, Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...
an chieftain
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...
(Tui Namosi
The ''Tui Namosi'' is a chiefly title held by the Paramount Chief of Namosi Province on the main island of Viti Levu
Viti Levu (pronounced ) is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji. It is the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and hom ...
) with natural kinky hair worn in an " Afro", circa
Circa is a word of Latin origin meaning 'approximately'.
Circa or CIRCA may also refer to:
* CIRCA (art platform), art platform based in London
* Circa (band), a progressive rock supergroup
* Circa (company), an American skateboard footwear com ...
1865
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1988-054-09, Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Junge vom Stamm der Damara.jpg, Damara boy from Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
(1897)
File:Fang du Haut-Ivindo (Gabon).jpg, Fang
A fang is a long, pointed tooth. In mammals, a fang is a modified maxillary tooth, used for biting and tearing flesh. In snakes, it is a specialized tooth that is associated with a venom gland (see snake venom). Spiders also have external fa ...
man from Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...
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
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
with micro-braided hair, 2008
File:Juv%C3%A9nal_Habyarimana_(1980).jpg, Juvénal Habyarimana
Juvénal Habyarimana (, ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until 1994. He was nicknamed ''Kinani'', a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible".
An eth ...
, former president of Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
(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
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the te ...
well before the 19th century. During the approximately 400 years of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and ...
, 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
Carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passing the fibres between differentially moving surfaces covered with ...
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
A disinfectant is a chemical substance or compound used to inactivate or destroy microorganisms on inert surfaces. Disinfection does not necessarily kill all microorganisms, especially resistant bacterial spores; it is less effective than s ...
and cleansing their scalps, such as applying kerosene
Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning " wax", and was re ...
or cornmeal
Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) or a cell membrane ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', ...
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 slave
A house slave was a slave who worked, and often lived, in the house of the slave-owner, performing domestic labor. House slaves performed largely the same duties as all domestic workers throughout history, such as cooking, cleaning, serving meals, ...
s had to appear tidy and well-groomed. The men sometimes wore wigs mimicking their masters', or similar hairstyles, while the women typically plaited or braid
A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strande ...
ed their hair. During the 19th century, hair styling, especially among women, became more popular. Cooking grease such as lard
Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.[Lard]
entry in the ...
, butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condim ...
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
Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to:
*Scien ...
was a mixture of lye, egg and potato, which burned
Burned or burnt may refer to:
* Anything which has undergone combustion
* Burned (image), quality of an image transformed with loss of detail in all portions lighter than some limit, and/or those darker than some limit
* ''Burnt'' (film), a 2015 ...
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
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
." 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
Black Pride in the United States is a movement which encourages black people to celebrate African-American culture and embrace their African heritage. In the United States, it was a direct response to white racism especially during the Civi ...
and the rejection of societal norms. Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senato ...
, 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
In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought. Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes ma ...
.
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
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagoni ...
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
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries bet ...
'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
Dreadlocks, also known as locs or dreads, are rope-like strands of hair formed by locking or braiding hair.
Origins
Some of the earliest depictions of dreadlocks date back as far as 1600–1500 BCE in the Minoan Civilization, one of Europe ...
, "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
Agency may refer to:
Organizations
* Institution, governmental or others
** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients
** Employment agency, a business that ...
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
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
and emancipation
Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...
, 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
Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...
. 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
Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1869 – May 10, 1957) was an American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. She is considered to be one of the first African American women to become a millionaire. In the first three decades of t ...
, Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the '' G ...
, 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
Anthony Overton Jr. (March 21, 1865 – July 2, 1946), was an American banker and manufacturer. He was the first African American to lead a major business conglomerate.Harvard Business School. American Business Leaders of the Twentieth CenturyAnth ...
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
Burned or burnt may refer to:
* Anything which has undergone combustion
* Burned (image), quality of an image transformed with loss of detail in all portions lighter than some limit, and/or those darker than some limit
* ''Burnt'' (film), a 2015 ...
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 salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and medical spas.
Beauty treatments
Massage for the body is a ...
s and barber
A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...
shops. 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
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
, adorned Black magazines and product advertisement
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
s. 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 area
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descr ...
s. In the early decades of the Great Migration, when millions of African Americans left the South
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
for opportunities in northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a r ...
and midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
ern 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
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the '' G ...
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
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 slaves, including family and friends, u ...
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 in 1860 with styled kinky hair
File:Fats Domino018 cropped.JPG, Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...
with natural kinky hair
Scholars debate whether hair-straightening practices arose out of Black desires to conform to a Eurocentric standard of beauty, or as part of their individual experiments with fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...
s and changing styles. Some believe that slaves and later African-Americans absorbed prejudices of the European slaveholders and colonizers, who considered most slaves as second-class, as they were not citizens. Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharp say that they believe the preference for Eurocentric ideas of beauty still pervades the Western world.
Rise of Black pride
African-American hair has been through many different cycles. Slavery played a major role in the ups and downs of the pride that African-Americans take in their hair. "Everything I knew about American history I learned from looking at Black people's hair. It's the perfect metaphor for the African experiment here: the price of the ticket (for a journey no one elected to take), the toll of slavery, and the costs remaining. It's all in the hair. Like Jamaica Kincaid
Jamaica Kincaid (; born May 25, 1949) is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St. John's, Antigua (part of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda). She lives in North Bennington, Vermo ...
, who writes only about a character named Mother, I've decided to write only about hair: what we do to it, how we do it, and why. I figure this is enough", said Lisa Jones in an essay titled ''Hair Always and Forever.''
Cheryl Thompson writes, "In 15th-century Africa, hairstyles were used to indicate a person's marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, wealth and rank within the community (see Byrd & Tharps, 2001; Jacobs-Huey, 2006; Mercer, 1994; Patton, 2006; Rooks, 1996). For young black girls, Thompson says, "hair is not just something to play with" – it is something that sends a message, not only to the outside public but also a message on how they see themselves. "In the 1800s and early 1900s, nappy, kinky, curly hair was deemed inferior, ugly and unkempt in comparison with the flowing, bouncy hair of people from other cultures", says Marcia Wade Talbert in ''Black Enterprise
''Black Enterprise'' is a black-owned multimedia company. Since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African-American businesses with a readership of 3.7 million. The company was founded in 1970 by Earl ...
''. Chemical relaxers increased in demand throughout the 1800s and 1900s. These relaxers often contained sodium hydroxide
Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions .
Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic base and al ...
( lye) or guanidine hydroxide which result in hair breakage, thinning of the hair, slowing of hair growth, scalp damage and even hair loss, according to Gheni Platenurg in the article, "Black Women Returning to Their Natural Hair Roots".
In the United States, the successes of the civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
, and the Black power and Black pride movements of the 1960s and 1970s, inspired African-Americans to express their political commitments by adopting more traditionally African styles. The Afro hairstyle developed as an affirmation of Black African heritage, expressed by the phrase, "Black is beautiful." Angela Davis
Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...
wore her Afro as a political statement and started a movement toward natural hair. This movement influenced a generation, including celebrities like Diana Ross
Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups ...
, whose Jheri curl
The Jheri curl (often spelled Jerry curl or Jeri Curl) is a permanent wave hairstyle that was popular among African Americans during the 1980s and early 1990s. Invented by the hairdresser Jheri Redding, the Jheri curl gives the wearer a glossy, ...
s took over the 1980s.
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0804-0757, Berlin, 10. Weltfestspiel, Demonstration, Angela Davis, Walentina Tereschkowa.jpg, Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
activist Angela Davis
Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...
wearing an Afro in 1973
File:Billy Preston.jpg, African-American musician Billy Preston
William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...
in 1974
File:RichardLawsonBlackFist.JPG, Movie screenshot of actor Richard Lawson in ''Black Fist'' (1975)
File:Johnny Guitar Watson 1977.JPG, African-American guitarist Johnny "Guitar" Watson
John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording caree ...
in 1977
File:Short afro 1979.jpg, African-American woman with short Afro in 1979
File:Charley-Pride 1981.JPEG, African-American country music singer Charley Pride in 1981
Since the late 20th century, Black people have experimented with a variety of styles, including cornrows
Cornrows are a traditional style of braids in which the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to make a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often done in simple, straight lines, as the term implies, but they ...
, locks, braiding
A braid (also referred to as a plait) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing two or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strande ...
, hair twists and short, cropped hair, specifically designed for kinky hair. Natural hair blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...
s include Black Girl Long Hair (BGLH), Curly Nikki and Afro Hair Club. With the emergence of hip-hop culture and Jamaican influences like reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
music, more non-Black people have begun to wear these hairstyles as well. A new market has developed in such hair products as "Out of Africa" shampoo.
The popularity of natural hair has waxed and waned. In the early 21st century, a significant percentage of African-American women still straighten their hair with relaxers of some kind (either heat- or chemical-based). This is done despite the fact that prolonged application of such chemicals (or heat) can result in overprocessing, breakage and thinning of the hair. Rooks (1996) argues that hair-care products designed to straighten hair, which have been marketed by white-owned companies in African American publications since the 1830s, represent unrealistic and unattainable standards of beauty.
Sales of relaxers took a great fall among African-American women from 2010 to 2015. Many African-American women gave up relaxers to go back to their natural roots. Celebrities like Esperanza Spalding
Esperanza Emily Spalding (born October 18, 1984) is an American bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, and a Soul Train Music Award.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Spalding ...
, Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe Robinson (; born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, rapper and actress. She is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as to her own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. Mon� ...
and Solange Knowles have worn natural hair looks. During the same time period, the number of natural-hair support group
In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...
s has increased. "I see a lot of women who have started to accept themselves and their hair".[Shropshire, Terry (2015-04-02]
"Black Hair Relaxer Sales are Slumping Because Of This"
atlantadailyworld.com "They're encouraging their children to start accepting themselves. This is entirely new", according to Terry Shrosphire in the article "Black Hair Relaxer Sales are Slumping Because Of This". Research has shown that relaxer sales dropped from $206 million in 2008 to $156 million in 2013. Meanwhile, sales of products for styling natural hair continued to rise. Chris Rock
Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best come ...
's documentary ''Good Hair
''Good Hair'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Jeff Stilson and produced by Chris Rock Productions and HBO Films, starring and narrated by comedian Chris Rock. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2009, ''Good ...
'' has shown what many women go through to achieve the "European standard" of hair. " Weaves that cost thousands of dollars and relaxers that take way too much time. Black woman has finally decided that it was simply too much", according to the documentary.
Modern perceptions and controversies
Black hairstyles have been utilized to promote the idea of African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
identity. There have been numerous events in history that have shown disapproval of Black hair styles.
In 1971 Melba Tolliver, a WABC-TV
WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neig ...
correspondent, made national headlines when she wore an Afro while covering the wedding of Tricia Nixon Cox
Patricia Nixon Cox ( Nixon; born February 21, 1946) is the elder daughter of the 37th United States president Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, and sister to Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
She is married to Edward F. Cox and is the mother of Chri ...
, daughter of President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
. The station threatened to take Tolliver off the air until the story caught national attention.
In 1981 Dorothy Reed, a reporter for KGO-TV
KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's ABC network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, KGO-TV ma ...
, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco, was suspended for wearing her hair in cornrows
Cornrows are a traditional style of braids in which the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to make a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often done in simple, straight lines, as the term implies, but they ...
with bead
A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under ...
s on the ends. KGO called her hairstyle "inappropriate and distracting". After two weeks of a public dispute, an NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&n ...
demonstration outside of the station, and negotiations, Reed and the station reached an agreement. The company paid her lost salary, and she removed the colored beads. She returned to the air, still braided, but beadless.
A 1998 incident became national news when Ruth Ann Sherman, a young White teacher in Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland ...
, introduced her students to the 1998 book ''Nappy Hair'' by African-American author Carolivia Herron. Sherman was criticized by some in the community, who thought that the book presented a negative stereotype (although it won three awards), but she was supported by most parents of her students.
On April 4, 2007, radio talk-show host Don Imus
John Donald Imus Jr. (July 23, 1940 – December 27, 2019), also known mononymously as Imus, was an American radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. His radio show, '' Imus in the Morning'', was aired on various sta ...
referred to the Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
women's basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
team, who were playing in the Women's NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
Championship game, as a group of "nappy-headed hos" during his '' Imus in the Morning'' show. Imus's producer Bernard McGuirk compared the game to "the jigaboo
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
s versus the wannabes", alluding to Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
's film ''School Daze
''School Daze'' is a 1988 American musical comedy-drama film, written and directed by Spike Lee, and starring Laurence Fishburne (credited as Larry Fishburne), Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell. Based in part on Spike Lee's experience ...
.'' Imus apologized two days later, after receiving widespread criticism. CBS Radio canceled Don Imus's morning show a week after the incident on April 12, 2007, firing both Imus and McGuirk.
During August 2007, ''The American Lawyer'' magazine reported that an unnamed junior ''Glamour Magazine
''Glamour'' is today an online women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. For many years a traditional hard-copy magazine, it was founded in 1939 and first published in April 1939 in the United States. It was originally called '' ...
'' staffer gave a presentation on the "Do's and Don'ts of Corporate Fashion" for Cleary Gottlieb, a New York City law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to ...
. Her slide show included her negative comments about Black women wearing natural hairstyles in the workplace, calling them "shocking", "inappropriate", and "political". Both the law firm and ''Glamour Magazine'' issued apologies to the staff.
In 2009, Chris Rock
Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best come ...
produced ''Good Hair
''Good Hair'' is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Jeff Stilson and produced by Chris Rock Productions and HBO Films, starring and narrated by comedian Chris Rock. Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2009, ''Good ...
'', a documentary film which addresses a number of issues pertaining to African-American hair. He explores the styling industry, the variety of styles now acceptable in society for African-American women's hair, and the relations of these to African-American culture.
The Kenya
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, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
n model Ajuma Nasenyana has criticized a trend in her native Kenya that rejects the indigenous Black African physical standards of beauty in favour of those of other communities. In a 2012 interview with the Kenyan broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats.
Description
Many broadsheets measure roughly ...
the ''Daily Nation
The ''Daily Nation'' is the highest circulation Kenyan independent newspaper with 170,000 copies.
History
The ''Daily Nation'' was started in the year 1958 as a Swahili weekly called ''Taifa'' by the Englishman Charles Hayes. It was bought ...
'', she said,
seems that the world is conspiring in preaching that there is something wrong with Kenyan ladies' kinky hair and dark skin ..Their leaflets are all about skin lightening, and they seem to be doing good business in Kenya. It just shocks me. It's not OK for a Caucasian to tell us to lighten our skin ..I have never attempted to change my skin. I am natural. People in Europe and America love my dark skin. But here in Kenya, in my home country, some consider it not attractive.
In November 2012, the American actress Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (; née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show '' Red Table Talk'', for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. ''Time'' name ...
defended her daughter Willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...
's hair on Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
after the girl was criticized for an "unkempt" look. "Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be", the actress said.
In 2014, Stacia L. Brown relates her story of feeling anxious about how her hair was styled prior to walking in for a job interview in her article, ''My Hair, My Politics.'' Stacia begins her story describing her “Big Chop”, a phrase used to indicate cutting off the relaxed or processed hair. A couple months after her big chop, she entered the Job market and she became very nervous about how her hair would appear to job interviewers. Luckily, none of the interviewers acknowledged her hair in a discriminating way. Stacia later discussed the first appearance of “the bush” in being a political statement and related it to her situation, worried that her hair could be seen as a "professional liability". Then she made a comparison between her natural hair, which is easier to style, and her relaxed hair, which is more accepted. Stacia also incorporated examples of workplace discrimination toward Black hair styles. She recalls how, "the Congressional Black Caucus took the U.S. military to task for its grooming policies, which barred cornrows, twists, and dreadlocks."(Brown 17) Stacia follows up with another example from the same year in which the Transportation Security Administration has "come under fire for disproportionately patting down black women's hair—especially their Afros."(Brown 17) She continues saying how, "It's a practice TSA only agreed to stop a few months ago, when the agency reached an agreement with ACLU of Northern California, which had filed a complaint in 2012."(Brown 17)
The perception of kinky hair, in the eyes of one with this hair type, may prefer to style their hair in a way that accentuates their racial background or they may conform to a more European hair style.
In 2016, the article, ''Beauty as violence: ‘beautiful’ hair and the cultural violence of identity erasure'', discussed a study that was conducted at a South African University using 159 African female students. They had to look at 20 pictures of various styles of afro-textured hair and categorized these styles as one of four types: African Natural Hair, Braided African Natural Hair, African Natural Augmented Braid, and European/Asian Hairstyles. The results showed that "only, 15.1% of respondents identified the category of African natural hair as beautiful."(Oyedemi 546) Braided natural hair had 3.1%, braided natural augmented hair had 30.8%, and European/Asian hair had 51%. Toks Oyedemi, author of this article, speaks on these findings as, “evidences the cultural violence of symbolic indoctrination that involves the perception of beautiful hair as mainly of a European/Asian texture and style and has created a trend where this type of hair is associated with being beautiful and preferable to other hair texture, in this instance, natural African hair."(Oyedemi 546) This article, shows the unfortunate and telling truth of how African girls feel about their own hair, a perception that demonstrates a lack of self acceptance.
This perception is reversed in another experiment, this time performed in the United States.
Published in 2016, the article entitled, ''African American Personal Presentation: Psychology of Hair and Self Perception'', gave the rundown of an experimental procedure conducted in America, using data from five urban areas across the country and females ages 18–65. A questionnaire was administered which determined how "African American women internalize beauty and wearing of hair through examination of locus of control and self-esteem."(Ellis-Hervey 879) The results showed a positive correlation between high internal locus of control and wearing hair in its natural state. American women have a feeling of empowerment when it comes to wearing their natural hair.
In 2019, the California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.
The ...
unanimously voted to pass the CROWN Act, a law that would prohibit discrimination based on hairstyle and hair texture. This was followed in coming years by similar laws in New York, New Jersey, Washington, Maryland, Virginia, and Colorado. In 2022, a similar law, the CROWN Act of 2022
The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act of 2022, known as the CROWN Act of 2022, is a bill in the United States Congress intended to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyle and hair texture by clarifying that such discri ...
, was passed in the US House of Representatives.
In other diasporic African populations
File:Teacha_Dee_-_Full_Profile_(_Safari_Hat_)_White_Background_(Feb_2016).jpg, Man with dreadlocks
File:Portugal dread man.jpg, Man with dreadlocks
File:Rasta de breña.jpg, Afro-Peruvian Rastafarian
File:Toni Morrison 2008-2.jpg, Toni Morrison
Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...
, Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
–winning American author, with dreadlocks
During the 19th century, throughout the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, the teachings of Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...
n political leader Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...
encouraged an active rejection of European standards of beauty. The resulting Rastafari
Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control o ...
movement of the 20th century has maintained that the growth of freeform dreadlocks
Dreadlocks, also known as locs or dreads, are rope-like strands of hair formed by locking or braiding hair.
Origins
Some of the earliest depictions of dreadlocks date back as far as 1600–1500 BCE in the Minoan Civilization, one of Europe ...
is related to spiritual enlightenment
Used in a religious sense, enlightenment translates several Buddhist terms and concepts, most notably '' bodhi'', '' kensho,'' and '' satori''. Related terms from Asian religions are '' kaivalya'' and ''moksha'' (liberation) in Hinduism, '' Ke ...
, largely informed by the Biblical Nazirite
In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or a nazarite ( he, נָזִיר ''Nāzīr'') is one who voluntarily took a vow which is described in . "Nazarite" comes from the Hebrew word ''nazir'' meaning "consecrated" or "separated". Those who put themselves ...
oath. The Rastafari movement has been so influential in the visibility and subsequent popularity of dreadlocks, throughout the Caribbean and in the global African diaspora, that the term "rasta" has become synonymous with a dreadlocked individual. Today, dreadlocks are common among Afro-Caribbeans and Afro-Latin Americans.
Styling
Over the years, natural hair styles and trends have varied from media influences and political climates. The care and styling of natural Black hair has become an enormous industry in the United States. Numerous salons and beauty supply stores cater solely to clients with natural afro-textured hair.
The Afro is a large, often spherical growth of afro-textured hair that became popular during the Black Power movement. The Afro has a number of variants including " afro puffs" (a cross between an Afro and pigtail
A woman with long pigtails and braids.
In the context of hairstyles, the usage of the term pigtail (or twin tail or twintail) shows considerable variation. The term may refer to a single braid, but is more frequently used in the plural ("pi ...
s) and a variant in which the Afro is treated with a blow dryer to become a flowing mane. The " hi-top fade" was common among African-American men and boys in the 1980s and has since been replaced in popularity by the 360 waves and the Caesar haircut.
Other styles include plaits or braids, the two-strand twist, and basic twists, all of which can form into manicured dreadlocks if the hair is allowed to knit together in the style-pattern. Basic twists include finger-coils and comb-coil twists. Dreadlocks
Dreadlocks, also known as locs or dreads, are rope-like strands of hair formed by locking or braiding hair.
Origins
Some of the earliest depictions of dreadlocks date back as far as 1600–1500 BCE in the Minoan Civilization, one of Europe ...
, also called "dreads", "locks" or "locs", can also be formed by allowing the hairs to weave together on their own from an Afro. Another option is the trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from ot ...
ed "Sisterlocks" method, which produces what could be called very neat micro-dreadlocks. As well as faux locs, a type of synthetic dreadlock which is obtained using extensions.
Manicure locks—alternatively called salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon ( ...
locks or fashion locks—have numerous styling options that include strategic parting, sectioning and patterning of the dreads. Popular dreadlocked styles include cornrows
Cornrows are a traditional style of braids in which the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to make a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often done in simple, straight lines, as the term implies, but they ...
, the braid-out style or "lock crinkles", the basket weave and pipe-cleaner curls. Others include a variety of dreaded mohawks or lock-hawks, a variety of braided buns, and combinations of basic style elements.
Natural hair can also be styled into "Bantu knots", which involves sectioning the hair with square or triangular parts and fastening it into tight buns or knots on the head. Bantu knots can be made from either loose natural hair or dreadlocks. When braided flat against the scalp, natural hair can be worn as basic cornrows
Cornrows are a traditional style of braids in which the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to make a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often done in simple, straight lines, as the term implies, but they ...
or form a countless variety of artistic patterns.
Other styles include the "natural" (also known as a "mini-fro" or "teenie weenie Afro") and "microcoils" for close-cropped hair, the twist-out and braid-out (in which hair is trained in twists or braids before being unravelled), "Brotherlocks" and "Sisterlocks", the fade, twists (Havana, Senegalese, crochet), faux locs, braids (Ghana, box, crochet, cornrows), Bantu knots, bubbles (where hair elastics are used to hold the hair and create bubbles), custom wigs and weaves or any combination of styles such as cornrows and Afro-puffs.
A majority of Black hairstyles involve parting the natural hair into individual sections before styling. Research shows that excessive braiding, tight cornrows, relaxing, and vigorous dry-combing of kinky hair can be harmful to the hair and scalp
The scalp is the anatomical area bordered by the human face at the front, and by the neck at the sides and back.
Structure
The scalp is usually described as having five layers, which can conveniently be remembered as a mnemonic:
* S: The ski ...
. They have also been known to cause ailments such as alopecia, excessive dry scalp, and bruises on the scalp. Keeping hair moisturized, trimming ends, and using very little to no heat will prevent breakage and split ends.
File:Isah Eliakwu 2011.jpg, Nigerian football player Isah Eliakwu
File:India.arie.jpg, Grammy-Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
winning American artist India.Arie, also known for singing about kinky hair in her award-winning song "I Am Not My Hair
"I Am Not My Hair" is a song by American soul and R&B singer–songwriter India.Arie from her third studio album, '' Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship'' (2006). Written by Arie, Shannon Sanders, and Drew Ramsey, it was released as the album ...
"
File:Cornrows by David Shankbone.jpg, Man wearing cornrows
File:Afro 2 cropped by David Shankbone.jpg, Dancer at the Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...
File:Darlan Cunha.jpg, Afro-Brazilian actor
Darlan Cunha
File:Mae Carol Jemison.jpg, Mae Jemison
Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. Je ...
, American physician and NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
astronaut, wearing a short natural Afro
File:Luciana Mello (cropped).jpg, Brazilian singer and professional dancer Luciana Mello
Luciana Mello (born January 22, 1979) is a Brazilian singer and professional dancer.
Mello began her musical training early in life, taking voice and dance lessons. As a child, she sang in choirs and later performed in Musical theatre, musicals ...
File:Afro Colombianos by Alejandra Quintero Sinisterra.png, Afro-Colombian children
File:Teodoro F Sampaio.jpg, Brazilian engineer Teodoro Fernandes Sampaio
File:Afro by David Shankbone.jpg, American woman
File:The Bellrays-1.jpg, Lead singer Lisa Kekaula
Lisa Kekaula (born July 31, 1967) is the lead singer of American "rock 'n' soul" band The Bellrays.
Early years
Kekaula was born to an African-American mother, Linda and Native Hawaiian father, Alan Kekaula in Los Angeles, California, although ...
of the rock band The Bellrays
The Bellrays (also capitalized as The BellRays) is an American rock group that combines garage rock and punk with soul music, founded in Riverside, California in 1990 by vocalist Lisa Kekaula and guitarist Bob Vennum. They have been with several ...
File:Ayesha Quraishi 2005.jpg, Swedish artist Ayesha Quraishi
File:Luiza helena de bairros.jpg, Afro-Brazilian politician Luiza Helena de Bairros
File:Boney M Bobby Farrell 2006.jpg, Boney M
Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...
performer Bobby Farrell
Roberto Alfonso Farrell (6 October 1949 – 30 December 2010) was an Aruban dancer and singer. He was the male member of the 1970s pop and disco group Boney M.
Biography Birth and early life
Farrell was born and raised on the island of Arub ...
, 2006
File:Larissa Luz 2.jpg, Afro-Brazilian singer Larissa Luz
File:Lenny Kravitz cropped 2010.jpg, Singer Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk.
Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male R ...
File:DonaldGloverMar10.jpg, Actor/musician
Donald Glover
Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glov ...
File:Fijian mountain warrior, Kai Colo.jpg, A Fijian ( Melanesian) mountain warrior
File:Great Andamanese RIALA 1890.jpg, Riala, a Great Andamanese Negrito
The term Negrito () refers to several diverse ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands. Populations often described as Negrito include: the Andamanese peoples (including the Great Andamanese, the On ...
Aka-Kede tribe singer and interpreter in the 1890s
See also
* Afro
*Artificial hair integrations
Artificial hair integrations, more commonly known as hair extensions, hair weaves, and fake hair add length and fullness to human hair. Hair extensions are usually clipped, glued, or sewn on natural hair by incorporating additional human or syn ...
(Hair weaves)
*'' Bad Hair''
* Conk
*Cornrows
Cornrows are a traditional style of braids in which the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to make a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often done in simple, straight lines, as the term implies, but they ...
*Dreadlocks
Dreadlocks, also known as locs or dreads, are rope-like strands of hair formed by locking or braiding hair.
Origins
Some of the earliest depictions of dreadlocks date back as far as 1600–1500 BCE in the Minoan Civilization, one of Europe ...
* Hair iron
*''Hair Like Mine
''Hair Like Mine'' is a 2009 photograph by Pete Souza of a five-year-old child, Jacob Philadelphia, touching the head of Barack Obama, then president of the United States. He invited Philadelphia to touch his hair after the boy asked whether O ...
''
*Hair loss
Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scar ...
(Alopecia)
* Hair straightening
* Hair twists
* Hi-top fade
*Hot comb
A hot comb (also known as a straightening comb or pressing comb) is a metal comb that is used to straighten moderate or coarse hair and create a smoother hair texture. A hot comb is heated and used to straighten the hair from the roots. It can b ...
*Jheri curl
The Jheri curl (often spelled Jerry curl or Jeri Curl) is a permanent wave hairstyle that was popular among African Americans during the 1980s and early 1990s. Invented by the hairdresser Jheri Redding, the Jheri curl gives the wearer a glossy, ...
* Natural hair movement
* Nubian wig
* Polish plait
* Relaxer
* Waves (hairstyle)
*Woolly hair
Woolly hair is a difficult to brush hair, usually present since birth and typically most severe in childhood. It has extreme curls and kinks and occurs in non-black people. The hairs come together to form tight locks, unlike in afro-textured hai ...
, an unrelated condition
Notes
References
*
*
*
* Interview by Dr. Victoria Holloway-Barbosa from the documentary on Black hair, '' My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage''.
*
*
*
*
* Walker, A (1997). ''Andre Talks Hair''. New York: Simon and Schuster.
External links
*
*
Image of a woman modeling a hairstyle inspired by the 50s, 1972.
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...
, University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...
.
Image of a woman modeling a straightened, short hairstyle by Mitch Pasqualie, 1972.
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...
, University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...
.
Image of a woman modeling a short and curly hairdo by hair stylist Eddie Mitchell, 1972.
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...
, University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...
.
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Articles containing video clips
Human hair