Chris Rock did a movie a few years ago and he asked the question, “What is good hair”. So really what is good hair? Is it hair that is in its natural form? Meaning there are no chemicals added to your hair to change or enhance the texture. Is it long straight hair or is it hair that can defy gravity? As black women myself my hair is part of my identity, it is part of my crown and glory. One day I can wear it in an afro, the next day I can braid it up, the following day I can wear it in a weave. All of the different things my hair allows me to do is why my hair is so important. There is a guy on social media, he and his daughter have changed what people use to believe about black hair; their natural hair is so long that people cannot believe that it is real. The debt about hair is something that black women in particular have been dealing with for centuries; but what is it about black hair that cause so much drama?
American first developed an obsession with black hair back during slavery. During slavery, slave’s hair was often removed; this would create a disconnection between the slave, their cultural and their identity. During slavery, black women did not have time to do their hair like she would have, back in Africa. Moreover the products she would have used in Africa are not available in America; as a result slave women would have to use things like butter and bacon grease to style their hair. The idea of good hair was also something that grow from slavery. Black women were made to feel and believe that their natural kinky hair was bad hair; while straight flowing hair similar to white women was considered good hair. It wasn’t until the 1900 when Madam CJ Walker developed revolutionized black hair care making her one of the first black women millionaire. In fact black hair care is a billion dollar industry that makes money off of black women wanting to change the texture of our natural hair. However black people all over the world are starting to understand how powerful their hair really is. Black hair can be worn in cornrows, black hair can defy gravity because of our afros, black hair can be worn in dreadlock, and black hair can be worn straight; Black hair can be done in weaves, black hair can be worn in high top and low tops; regardless of how black people wear their hair, if it does not reflect what white people consider to be beautiful, it will never be so. So why does white American hate black hair?
The effect of the idea of good hair was so embedded in American cultural that even after slavery ended, this idea flourish. Good hair became the prerequisite for entering certain schools, churches, social groups and business networks (www.thirstyroots.com), unfortunately this had not changes. In 2016, the 11th U.S. Circuit court of Appeals ruled that banning employees from wearing dreadlocks is not racial discrimination. The EEOC argued, that banning dreadlocks in the workplace does constitutes race discrimination because wearing the hair in the dreadlock form is physiologically and culturally associated with people of African descent (http://financialjuneteenth.com/banning-dreadlocks-workplace-not-discrimination/). My father is a Rastafarian, his dreadlocks are not only part of his religion, they are also how he identify with his cultural; dreadlock themselves are a symbol of power and strength. Moreover I was taught that our hair is our crown and glory, and we should never cut it. However this ruling make it clear that if you want to work for a certain company part of your racial identity should be changed. The same issue is happening in schools all over the world. In South African, the Pretoria High School for Girls, were told to chemically straighten their hair or they will not be able to attend class. Pretoria is a prestigious school that was historically only for whites. The students asks powerful question that I would like to have answered myself. Why are black people not allowed to enjoy their black heritage?
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/black-womens-hair-a-brief-history-1400-1900/
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/08/how-natural-hair-is-shamed/
http://financialjuneteenth.com/banning-dreadlocks-workplace-not-discrimination/
Tags: #AppliedSocialPsychology
I love that you incorporated hair, a physical appearance, in relationship to cultural differentiations among people. Being a girl myself, I understand the importance that is involved in maintaining good hair. Women spend thousands and thousands of dollars a year to style, color, cut, clean and maintain their hair according to the standard of beauty set by their culture. It’s a shame that in America the idea of beauty tends to follow the standard of the white women as it personally find it to be quite exhausting and boring in appearance. Personally, my hair is long, thick, straight and wont hold and curl if my life depended on it. So to me, black hair would be a dream, as I find it to be some of most beautiful hair in the world. You can style it in more ways than I can dream of.
Anyway, I often hear people say it is racist to identify people’s difference but I completely disagree with them. We don’t call red black or blue green. Red is red and blue is blue, neither is worse or better than the other, they are simply different. It should be the same with physical differences between the varying nationalities. Many studies have shown it is not just theoretical ideas that makes us difference. One essay on athletes stated that blacks are actually built to be better athletes than the average white male:
“It is well publicized that blacks have a higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers and higher levels of glycotic and phosphogenic enzyme activity levels, when diet and activity levels are controlled for, which would provide an advantage in explosive, short-duration muscular exertions.”
Another report explains that Chinese hair, dark and thick, is actually much more durable than most. “Individual strands of Chinese women’s hair are circular and wider and more resistant to breaking than the oval hairs of Western women” (Hays). The list could go on and on. The point is, we are all different, there is even variance among people from the same race. That is why no one has the same fingerprint or looks exactly the same. Whether it is a result of our heritage, genetics or even surgery; we are at the end of the day we are all unique. I think the problem is we need to stop identifying one difference as better or worse than the other and instead just realize they are different. If I like pink and you like blue I think its going to be okay.
Hays, Jeffrey. “ASIAN PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.” Home. Jeff Hays, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. .
Sailor, Steve. “Black v. White Physical Differences in Sports.” Steve Sailer: ISteve:. N.p., 20 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 Oct. 2016. .
Wow. What a great message. I never thought about hair as an identity. Your post was eye opening. I believe that there is a lot wrong with our world in that we judge so harshly about things we don’t understand. This made me think of when Gabby Douglas won a gold medal and all anyone could talk about was her hair. They took away from her amazing talent to bash her about her hair. The fact that she won a gold medal wasn’t enough? She is an absolutely amazing athlete.
I really enjoyed your post and I found it very informative. Thanks for sharing!
I found your post very thought provoking. I had no idea that there were companies banning certain hairstyles or schools banning or requiring certain hairstyles (I have however, seen schools create rules allowing natural hair colors). This is obviously defies constitutional freedoms. I was unable to tell from your post if the hair care product industry first marketed by Madam CJ Walker, was a positive point or a negative point related to the topic you are discussing. While she is a successful black woman, her products were developed to encourage women to make adjustments to their natural hair, which is what it seems you are stressing is of importance in many black cultures. I am curious to know if the use of hair products to “tame” or “style” natural hair is something frowned upon in certain cultures. Again, through provoking post! One who does not know the details of black hair care, would not know the struggles involved with maintaining the hair in a white culture. Thanks for the post!