African-American hair
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African-American hair or Black hair refers to hair types, textures, and styles that are linked to
Color and texture
Color
Black hair is the product of an inherited genetic trait. The most studied black hair gene is
Texture
African-American hair comes in a range of textures, but the most common hair type is curly with lots of volume.[5] This curly quality is the product of the shape of the hair follicles.[5] More circular-shaped follicles cause hair to grow straighter, while more curly hair is caused by more elongated, oval-shaped hair follicles.[5] Hair follicles can also affect the thickness of hair strands.[5] African hair is seen to be much thicker and more dense meaning that the hair follicles are larger.[5] Density represents the amount of hairs that grow from the head, with denser hair resulting from more hairs growing closer together from the scalp.[5] An individual with high-density hair creates a fuller appearance of curls.
A protective oil called sebum is produced from the scalp to strengthen hair follicles, which helps to keep hair from becoming dry and brittle.[5] A significant amount of oils are produced but with the curly quality of the hair the oils can not be distributed from root to end easily.[5] Without proper moisturizing, hair can become brittle and result in breakage.[5]
History
African origins
Since the beginning of African civilizations, hairstyles have been used to convey messages to a greater society. Before boundaries divided Africa into states and countries through colonization, the continent was divided into kingdoms and clans.[6] Within these kingdoms and clans, different hairstyles could "indicate a person's marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, wealth, rank," surname, health status, geographic origin and the clan to which they belonged.[7][8] A Wolof man's braided beard could indicate that he was preparing for war.[9] In the Himba tribe, dreadlocks worn down in front of a female's face was a sign that she was going through puberty, while dreadlocks tied at the back of the head were worn by women seeking marriage.[7] Erembe headdresses signified new mothers and married women.[7] In Yoruba culture, people braided their hair to send messages to the gods.[7] As the most elevated part of the body, hair was considered a portal for spirits to pass through to the soul.[10] According to a 20th-century study, the Yoruba often shaved the heads of newborns as a marker of each individual arising from the spirit world. A person's head was shaved again at death to signal the individual's return to the spirit world.[11]
Hair maintenance in traditional Africa was a time-consuming process that aimed at creating a sense of beauty and honoring its spiritual power. According to author Sylvia Arden Boone,[10]
A woman with long thick hair demonstrated the life force, the multiplying power of profusion, prosperity...a green thumb for raising bountiful farms and many healthy children.
Hair was considered divine due to its position at the top of the head, and to allow someone to touch it meant you could trust them.[7][12] Therefore, hair maintenance was only entrusted to relatives and hairdressers for fear of enemies bringing ill-will to the person in need of hair care.[10] The hair maintenance process could last anywhere from hours to days and involves “washing, combing, oiling, braiding, twisting, and/or decorating the hair.”[13] The Himba people, for example, styled dreadlocks using ground ochre, goat hair, butter and hair extensions.[7] Hair that was clean and neatly braided or arranged with adornments such as beads or shells was a sign of vitality, whereas unkempt and dirty hair signified affliction.[14]
Black Hair during slavery and a historical view of afro-textured hair
Due to
The shaved head was the first step the Europeans took to erase the slaves’ culture and alter the relationship between the African and his or her hair... [it] stripped them of a lifeline to their home and a connection to their people. Their language was taken away and they were unable to identify with others from their tribe.
Once their hair began to grow back, many enslaved people did not have the time or the tools to properly maintain their hair, and it became tangled and matted as a result.[20][21] Enslaved people worked every day of the week, lived in poor conditions and faced the risk of head lice and ringworm.[16] To protect themselves from the sun, dirt, and scalp afflictions, women repurposed unwanted fabrics into hair scarves or kerchiefs (especially if they worked outdoors), while men who worked outdoors wore sun-hats with their hair cut short or completely shaved off.[22]
In describing runaway enslaved people in wanted ads, slaveowners proved that many enslaved people were able to style and maintain their hair after it grew back.[23]
...some slaves wore their hair long and bushy on top and ...others cut it short, or combed and parted it neatly, or shaved it at the back or at the front, or trimmed it to a roll. An African American's hair might be closely cropped on the crown but left long elsewhere; it could be tied behind in a queue, frizzed, combed high from the forehead, plaited, curled on each side of the face, filleted, cut in the form of a circle on the crown, knotted on top of the head, or worn bushy and long below the ears.
Men and women were often given similar clothing to wear and labor tasks to complete, so to achieve a more feminine appearance and differentiate themselves from the men, some women ironed their hair to make it sleek.[24] They also wrapped their hair by brushing it and binding small sections of it with a material such as thread or cotton to prevent knotting.[24] This technique, known as "wrapping" or "threading", shaped the hair into a curl pattern that women kept protected under a scarf or kerchief while working, and took down for special occasions such as church service or weddings.[25][26]
Plaits, braids and cornrows were the most convenient hairstyles to keep their hair neat and maintained for a week.[27] Enslaved people who worked indoors were forced to wear their hair in one of those styles or a style similar to that of their slaveowner if they did not cover their hair with a scarf, kerchief or wig.[28][27] By the early 19th century, Sunday was legally declared a day of rest and religious observation, and on Sundays, enslaved people braided each other's hair using the grease or oil they had available, such as butter or goose grease.[27] They used wool carding tools to detangle their hair, kerosene, and cornmeal to cleanse the scalp. Fats, oils and eggs were used as conditioner.[27][29] Enslaved people in North America named cornrows for their resemblance to rows of corn in a field.[30] (In Central and South America and the Caribbean, enslaved people called the style "canerows" because of its resemblance to sugarcane fields.[30]) Braid patterns became symbols for freedom, and different styles and patterns were used as guides to plantations, resembling roads and paths to travel or avoid.[31]
Racial attitudes among White people in 17th and 18th century America held a negative connotation of the
After slavery
After slavery was abolished in the United States, negative attitudes about the appearance of Black Americans and derogatory terms for afro-textured hair persisted into the
Once upon a time there lived a Good Fairy whose daily thoughts were of pretty little boys and girls and of beautiful women and handsome men and of how she might make beautiful those unfortunate ones whom nature had not given long, wavy hair...
One of
For some African Americans, the notion of
...hair straighteners marketed by white companies suggest to blacks that only through changing physical features will persons of African descent be afforded class mobility within black communities and social acceptance by the dominant culture.[38]
— Noliwe M. Rooks
To straighten their hair, African-American women used a hair product and wide-bristled pressing or hot comb, a metal tool that was heated in an oven or on a stove before it was passed through the hair.[48][49] It later would be massed produced in a more simple, self-heating form[50] It could take hours to complete the straightening process, and because of the high temperature of the hot comb, burning and damaging the hair or skin were always high-risk.[39][48] Because it easily absorbs moisture, afro-textured hair straightened with a hot comb can quickly return to its tightly coiled state if exposed to too much moisture, such as rain or humidity.[48][51] African-American men typically wore their hair relatively short, and they avoided passing a hot comb through their hair, because it was more difficult and dangerous to do so.[52]
From the early to mid-20th century, conking was a popular style for African-American men, and required the use of a chemical treatment known as a relaxer or perm, which achieved longer-lasting straightening results.[48] The practice of using a relaxer began during slavery, when enslaved men covered their hair in axle grease to straighten and dye it.[27] Before the late 1960s, there were no publications that explained how to straighten afro-textured hair with chemicals. The earliest chemical straighteners caused severe hair breakage and dyed the hair red,[52] so it was not until the mid-20th century that relaxers became a popular and longer-lasting alternative to hot combs for African-American women. Both men and women coated their hair with a strong acid that stripped the outer layer and altered the shape of the hair shaft, causing it to "relax" or straighten,[48] and the longer the chemical was left on the hair, the straighter the hair would become. If left on the hair too long, the relaxer could burn the scalp and cause sores to form.[49]
Civil Rights era
The Afro, which hit its stride in the 1960s, was an expression of pride, connection, power, revolution and differentiation. The Afro first gained popularity with performers, artists, activists, youth and nationalists.[53]
Young people who did not adopt this trend were for the first time judged and subject to "blacker-than-thou" policing by their peers.[54] African-Americans began to use their hair as a way to showcase a link to their African ancestors and Blacks throughout the diaspora.[54] The Afro, in conjunction with the Civil Rights Movement, was helping to define black identity.[54]
Some artists used their actual hair as an expression of art.[55] In David Hammons's American Costume, he pressed his own body onto paper to create an image of what being African-American means and looks like.[55] He crafted the hair on the work by applying fingerprints to the paper.[55]
Young Black Americans were ‘froing their hair in great numbers as a way to emulate the style of the Black Panthers and convey their racial pride.
In relation to hair, the time between the 1970s and the 1990s could be described as open and experimental. "Despite occasional political flare-ups, individual choice would increasingly dictate African-American hairstyles in this era"
Popular culture
Natural Hair Movement
African-American culture has increasingly embraced natural hair through the
"Good hair"
"Good hair" is a phrase used in some Black communities to describe the perceived prestige of straight or loosely curled hair, (especially when genetically influenced by non-African ancestry) in contrast to
The term's circulation within the Black community in the North America has an uncertain origin. Artist
Facial hair
Maintaining facial hair is more prevalent among African-American men than in other male populations in the U.S.[70] In fact, the soul patch is so named because African-American men, particularly jazz musicians, popularized the style.[71] The preference for facial hair among African-American men is due partly to personal taste, but also because they are more prone than other ethnic groups to develop a condition known as pseudofolliculitis barbae. The condition is commonly referred to as razor bumps, and due to the condition, many prefer not to shave.[72]
Styles
Popular African-American Hairstyles in pop-culture include:[8]
- Afros
- Cornrows
- Bantu knots
- Box braids
- Dreadlocks
- Twists
- Waves
In
Discrimination of black hair, although less likely than women, also affected African American men in their workplace. In the case of Thornton V Encore Global,[74] Jeffery Thornton, a Black male sued his former employer Encore Global denying him a job as a technical supervisor after working for the company for four years.[74] An unnamed hiring manager at Encore told Thornton that he needed to first trim his locks off his ears, eyes and shoulders to land the gig, court documents state.[74] This case was monumental because it was the first time someone has accused an employer of violating California's CROWN Act since the legislation took effect in January 2020.[75]
In 2014, the United States Army implemented a ban on predominantly Black hairstyles.[76] The ban includes dreadlocks, large cornrows and twists.[76] The rationale for this decision is that the aforementioned hairstyles look unkempt, with kempt hair being implicitly defined as straight hair.[76] African-American women in the Army may be forced to choose between small cornrows and chemically processing their hair, if their natural hair is not long enough to fit a permitted hairstyle.[76]
Discrimination in schools
It is not uncommon for an African American student to be discriminated against because of their hair in school. Black students are disciplined at a significant higher rate than their non-Black counter-parts, and are disciplined because their natural hair styles are deemed not appropriate or distracting by their schools dress code.[77]
African-American students are also discriminated against while participating in school sanctioned sports. In 2018, African American wrestler Andrew Johnson was told by his white referee, Alan Mahoney, that he needed to cut his dreads or forfeit his match.
Crown Act
On March 18, 2022, the United States House of Representatives passed the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair) Act, an act aiming to protect individuals from hair based discrimination in the workplace.[79] The bill forbids race-based hair discrimination at the federal level, notably when the hair style or hair texture being discriminated against is particularly tied to a culture or race.[79] The act states that:
In a society in which hair has historically been one of many determining factors of a person's race, and whether they were a second class citizen, hair today remains a proxy for race.[79] Therefore, hair discrimination targeting hairstyles associated with race is racial discrimination.[79]
This protects workers from discrimination related to popular African-American styles such as afros, cornrows, Bantu knots, and Dreadlocks[79] Similar acts had already been introduced and passed in several U.S. states including California, New York, Colorado, New Jersey, New York City, Virginia, Washington, Illinois, and, Maryland.[80]
See also
- Black is Beautiful
- Brown Paper Bag Test
- Colorism
- Discrimination based on hair texture in the United States
- High yellow
- Passing (racial identity)
- Pencil test
- Plaçage
- Protective hairstyle
References
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