Being an African American woman, it is amazing to think that hair
plays such a large role in my life. When I was a baby, I had a lot of
soft curly hair that my mom struggled to deal with. One day she took me
to my aunt's hair salon so she could tame my beautiful curly mass of
hair. My aunt complied and put a chemical in my hair. I think it was a
new kind of relaxer, and all of my hair fell out. Needless to say, my
mom had a fit and my aunt never used that stuff again.
I was
just a baby so I didn't care what happened to my head. In fact, when I
heard that story, all I could do was laugh, but now that I'm thinking
about it, I would be mad if that happened again right now. My hair holds
memories of the different phases in my life. I went from four little
pigtails with flower barrette, to three pigtails, and occasionally
cornrows with beads. Then to two pigtails awaiting the day I could wear I
single ponytail like the big girls. When that day finally came, a
ponytail was nothing special and I wanted to wear my hair down like my
mom. Her hair was long and always beautiful.
Before the recent
months, I never reflected on all the things I do to my hair. I get
relaxers, I blow dry it and I flat iron it. I do everything I can to
keep it from being in its natural form. In my family, all the woman
straightened their hair. Because of that, I never wondered why I went
through all the trouble. Now that I think about it, beautiful hair in my
family is straight hair. The girls with the longest hair, most relaxed
and best styled hair are the prettiest.
In African American
culture, hair is one of the most important attributes - so important
that African American hair culture has become divided by two very
different ideas of "good hair." The most common type of "good hair" is
straight hair achieved by relaxers and weave. The other is tightly,
coiled "nappy" natural hair. The extreme ideals are fueling wars in our
own community.
Relaxers
Within the black community,
relaxers are commonly called perms. A relaxer is chemical treatment to
straighten hair at the roots. A relaxer is the best way to straighten
the tightly coiled hair that many African Americans have. The problem is
the damage a relaxer does to the hair and scalp. It's made of hazardous
chemicals. For some people, a relaxer does minimal visual damage to a
person's head. For others it dries the hair out, leaves chemical scabs
and ultimately eats away the hair.
Weave
Weave is
increasingly popular. The richest stars to poorest women in the hood
wear weaves. They do it for the straightness, the styles, the different
lengths (usually long) and different colors - all without altering their
real hair. The main problem with weaves is the cost. A good weave goes
for thousands of dollars, then the hair stylist hundreds more depending
the method and demand. This paper will not focus on weave, but weave is
such a large piece of the hair culture it must be mentioned.
Natural
Most women avoid their natural hair. African-American natural hair has
many variations. This is because A: not all African tribes have the
same type of hair; and B: there is so much mixing of races within the
community few are fully "African" American. Our natural hair can be the
tightest of nappy curls or the softest loose curls. Regardless of the
texture, it is always big. Natural hair is very versatile. You
can have a glorious mane, dreadlocks, braids of many styles, or even
flat iron it straight. All of the textures are harder to manage than
straight hair but natural women seem to be 'freer' than chemically
treated women.
Health
Many African American women are
the picture of bad health in America. The biggest problem is the love
for soul food; the sub-problem is the love of hair. "Benjamin [a female
African American surgeon], who has been criticized for being overweight
herself, recently told the New York Times: "Oftentimes you get women
saying, "I can't exercise today because I don't want to sweat my hair
back or get my hair wet." I hate to use the word 'excuse' but that's one
of them'" (Mitchell). A lot of women don't exercise because their hair
will be ruined. In middle school
and high school, so many girls walked when they should have run, lifted
10 pounds when they should have lifted 35 pounds, all in the name of
hair. Some girls even fail gym classes if swimming
is required. Other girls bring in their mothers to excuse them. Water
is hair's biggest enemy. It is a silly idea, but from a financial
standpoint, it makes sense. Depending on the style, relaxer or weave, it
could take anywhere from three hours to 12 hours to finish and cost
anywhere $70 to $4,000. Having a good head is better than a good body.
This being said a lot black women are upset that hair is used as an
excuse. There are overweight women with natural hair, and there are slim
women with straightened hair. Another argument is that wigs and weaves
can be used, so hair is hardly a reason to be inactive (Mitchell).
Also, relaxers leave damage on the scalp. Hydroxide compounds,
Hydrogen Peroxide, and Phosphoric Acid are common and dangerous
ingredients in relaxers. These chemicals break the protein bonds. Sodium
hydroxide and calcium hydroxide do the most hair damage. That is one
reason so many black women have short hair. These chemicals can melt
metals. Also, "the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a
branch of Department of Health and Human Services, acknowledges
'reports of cancer of the esophagus 15 to 40 years (after exposure),
caused by corrosion induced by sodium hydroxide.' These malignancies, it
says, 'were most likely the result of tissue destruction and scar
formation rather than a direct carcinogenic action of sodium hydroxide
itself'" (Singleton). Phosphoric Acid actually goes inside the body and
can harm internal organs.
Self-Esteem
The black
community largely agrees that straighter hair is better hair. There is
an inner struggle that won't allow for our natural beauty to be seen as
beautiful. It starts with little girls. They see their mothers,
grandmothers, aunts, classmates and celebrities with straight hair. So
they want it too. Some girls even get relaxers before they are two years
old. I was one. Fortunately, I didn't end up like a lot of little
girls. My hair didn't dry out and become short, nor do I have a negative
view of natural hair. I actually think the big curly look works well
with our facial features. However, even in the households where natural
hair is promoted young girls feel pressure, as well as curiosity, about
straightening their hair.
Erica Blerins, a hair stylist at Oh!
My Nappy Hair Salon, was raised in such an environment. She was a girl
with 'good' loose curls born in a family of women who had tight nappy
hair. 'Nappy' is an affectionate term for her, nappy simply means curly.
She didn't like that her hair was looser, she wanted to look more like
her mother. As she grew older, Erica's hair became bigger and longer and
harder to manage, so in high school she got her first relaxer. All her
friends were doing it so it seemed like a good idea. By the end of high
school she realized her was getting shorter, it was drier and wasn't
what she wanted and never had a relaxer again. It was not worth it for
her. I recently read an online article about the use of relaxers and one
woman, Galsene Wife, left a profound comment, "We have the only hair in
the world that can't be created, duplicated, bought, or sold but yet we
destroy it for the Eurocentric look…" (Black Girl With Long Hair.com).
Not all women do it for a Eurocentric look, Erica didn't and I don't;
but natural black hair is unique to only us, but is not valued by us.
How it Began
This hair battle is an unfortunate result of our past. When the slave
trades started and Africans were taken to the west, 'good hair' was not
used in reference to 'pretty hair.' Ayana Bird, a guest speaker on the Tyra Banks Show and author of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America,
says It was a survival term. Slaves with looser curls and softer hair
were in some way connected to the master; thus more likely to work in
the house and eventually be freed when the master died. Black people
with 'good hair' were more likely to survive. After slavery, 'good hair'
was still a survival term well over 100 years later. African Americans
with natural curly hair had a tougher time finding jobs, especially jobs
requiring a suit. The natural look isn't considered professional, so
African Americans (women especially) used relaxers and weaves to achieve
the professional look. Along with that, mainstream America constantly
said African Americans were ugly. It reached the point where most
African Americans believe that straightening their hair is the only way
to obtain some level of beauty. Because of this, many older generations
have a fear of natural hair. They suffered and found ways around natural
hair so the future generations could blend in society and be accepted.
Hair is not just decoration on our heads anymore. What should be a
simple extension of ourselves and self expression is now a tool to
formulate stereotypes of up-bringing, morals and beliefs. Somewhere in
time, we lost ourselves while searching for acceptance and familiarity.
Now as we continue to find ourselves, some choose to revert back to what
is natural for health and pride. For others of us straightening their
hair for the ease, the look, the comfort is the best thing to do.
Whichever hair choice an individual makes is ok as long as care and
health is the primary concern. Erica Blerins believes that as long as a
person has hair, they keep it clean, conditioned, and trimmed so the
hair is healthy it is good hair. "That is the real definition of 'good
hair.'
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