It's Not Just About Hair: The Painful Truth

Initially, I started this blog to promote natural hair and help other naturalistas discover their confidence to embrace themselves. We've talked about topics from frizz control to homemade hair regimens and while I hope you have been able to take away something from my posts there is one thing that everyone should know. This recent Natural Hair Movement isn't just a fad, like any other movement it has a painful past that has led to this uprising. There are countless stories, including my own experience (click here), that describe the harsh realities of living with natural hair in the US. It's not merely about how to style and what products to use, women of ethnic backgrounds have been influenced by society to have a negative perception of their natural hair texture. Ethnic women, specially black women, have adapted alterations of their natural hair to reflect this countries' ideal standard of beauty as Eurocentric. This representation of Eurocentric beauty as the ideal standard has excluded ethnic women's distinguishing features and has created a remarkable history of struggle and self-hatred. In the US, we try to evade the very topic that has led our country to much turmoil, but slavery plays a major role in this harsh reality. The notion of Eurocentric beauty doesn't begin or end with hair alterations, it extends to skin bleaching. While skin bleaching is depicted as the more extreme effect of self-hatred it goes hand to hand with chemical hair straightening. These ideals haven't naturally grown into society, they've been advertised by the media and to a certain degree have brainwashed us. The negative implications of ethnic textured hair have been implanted in us for years and this movement is the strive to break those barriers.

Early 20th century advertisement for bleaching cream

• Slavery. In the 1800s slaves were sold at auctions, priced by their physical appearance. The light-skinned, straight-haired slaves were sold at higher prices than the darker, coily/kiny-haired ones. This distinction between the two types of slaves known as "house-slave" vs "field-slave" internalized by blacks promoted that having coily/kinky hair and darker skin was less attractive and valueless.
• Hair alterations. In the late 1800s Annie Turnbo Pope Malone invented metal hot combs that were used to press and temporally straighten kinky hair. Her protege Madame C.J. Walker improved the invention by widening the teeth of the comb and started her own line of hair care products. Years later in the early 1900s, a German hairdresser Charles Nessler invented a chemical to permanent alter hair texture (perm) which would later be referred to as relaxers.

One of the first advertisements for relaxers

Looking back in history it is evident where it all began. While still promoting the Eurocentric beauty ideal, advertising reached many different mediums. In the 1959, Barbie emerged as young girls' idol of beauty with her long blonde hair and blue eyes. Eight years later Francie, the first black doll was introduced with Barbie. Unfortunately, Francie lacked any real ethnic characteristics other than her skin tone. It took Mattel 21 years to release the first black Barbie. Mattel isn't the only one guilty of the under-representation of ethnic woman. Television shows, movies, and magazines have continued this trend in generalizing beauty with this Eurocentric identity. It has been a long time coming for the Natural Hair Movement and it is with great hope that these biases will vanish.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that every woman who choses to alter her natural hair has self-hatred. We all do it for different reasons, some consciously and others unconsciously. It's important to know that your features are what distinguish you as a woman and embracing them in their natural state is true confidence. We should uplift each other and inspire the upcoming generations to set their own standards. Don't allow others to define who you are and decide what's significant about your appearance. Whether its' long, short, curly, kinky, wavy, or straight love your hair because its' YOUR hair and YOUR power!

Signing off, a true naturalista.