Natural Hair, Don't Care!
Natural hair is a part of a black woman’s identity which she battles with from childhood to adulthood. For centuries she has been wearing her hair to fit into European standards of beauty. This standard is having long, straight, silky hair which she tries to obtain by sewing in weaves, using home perm kits which use chemicals to break down the bonds of her hair, and apply heat with of up to 230 degrees with electrical straighteners. She has damaged and unappreciated her natural kink by switching from perm kit to perm kit, from Dark and Lovely to Botanicles. Thinning, breaking and burning her hair to achieve the ‘good hair’ look.
Now she is throwing the shackles of straighteners and perms off and beginning to embrace her natural hair without the use of chemicals or heat. From Youtube Vloggers from across the globe to websites, there is more information for the maintenance of kinks and coils for her to understand and explore the versatility of her hair.
Black Lives Matter is a current movement which has influenced the natural hair trend as a symbol of power and unity. She is not alone.
Natural hair has evolved and changed throughout history. In the 1800s as a slave she used bacon grease and butter as hair conditioners. One huge impact on black hair was by Madame C.J Walker’s hair care products and the popular press and curl style in the late 1800 and early 1900s this was followed by George E. Johnson in 1954 where he launched a male home perm and later a female one is launched. Since the beginning black hair has rapidly evolved and many styles were invented from cornrows to afros to dreadlocks.
There have been moments in history, similar to now, where the way a black woman wore her hair went against European standards of beauty and she begun to embrace her own. In the 1960/70s during the Black Panther movement and Civil Rights Movement she wore her hair in a picked-out afro with the inspiration of the activist Angela Davis as a symbol of power and that ‘Black is Beautiful’.
Ariane Williams, Editor in Chief of Black Naps said “More and more women are being educated about the benefits of going natural. Seeing beautiful heads of healthy natural hair on bloggers and vloggers plays a significant influential role.. Also when you go to the store there is more of a focus on natural/curly hair products than there are for women with chemically processed hair. Natural products are what is in high demand. There are many that go natural because they realize they have never seen their hair in its raw and natural state making them curious to see what it's like. With natural hair having more of a presence, this makes them more curious to learn about their hair. Women are seeing proof that they can have beautiful, healthy, natural hair. I believe the embrace of natural hair will be around for quite some time.”
In a recent study in 2013 by Mintel it was shown that there was a decline in the purchase of perms in the USA by 28% since 2008. A survey was completed on 10 black women with nearly 70% saying they currently wear or have worn their hair natural, 53% have worn braids, and 41% have worn locks.
The Afro-Caribbean hair care market is valued at £427 million and estimated to rise to £475 million by 2017 according to ThinkEthnic. This money comes from a variety of products, one of the most popular products is weave. Weaves are made all over the world with the most popular countries being India, Brazil, Malaysia and Peru. These are the different types of bundles of hair which she sews into her hair. There have been many documentaries on the million-pound business of weaves such as Chris Rock’s ‘Good Hair’ documentary in 2009 and Jamelia’s ‘Whose Hair Is It Anyway?’ documentary on BBC in 2008. There has been a huge impact on the black hair care market by the natural hair movement, with recent rise in the purchase of moisturisers, conditioners and shampoos to grow, maintain and define her kinks. She is now doing it herself with DIY hair care at home from LOC methods to Apple Cider Vinegar washes.
Nikita Singh, Sales Assistant at Juliet’s Hair and Cosmetics, Harlesden said “I think because natural hair is so versatile women switch between natural and weaves often. You can never predict how a woman will do her hair as she can change it as often as once a week. I have a regular customer who comes in every 2 weeks to buy weaves, Xpressions (hair used for braids or twists) and some days she comes in for perm. Its truly amazing to see.”
Many black girls do not perm their hair until the average age of 8 and at the age of 16 the experimenting with weaves, wigs and braids begin. It is not until her late 50s does she again go completely natural. So does natural hair come with age?
Temi Adedoyin, a natural hair blogger, London said “I wasn’t allowed to perm my hair until I was 13 and after I permed it I realized I wanted to stay natural. I was definitely influenced by TV and other black girls that straight silky hair is the way forward and it was damaging to the hair that grew out of my head. I feel like the natural hair movement is such a powerful message to little black girls because the need to get straight hair starts from so young. If I could tell my younger self one thing it would be to love the hair from my roots.”
Many celebrities have also influenced the way she wears her hair. Celebrities such as India Arie, Lauryn Hill, Viola Davis, Lupita N’yongo and Solange Knowles have all worn their natural hair publically and encourage others to do the same. Solange Knowles has ahad the biggest impact as previously seen with weave she has decided to change her image to influence the trend.
Her hair builds her identity which she can change every week though she can not change the curl pattern which grows from her roots, causing her to deal and begin to love what she has been given. Affecting market sales, confidence and the legacy of her kinks and coils.
“Remove the kinks from your mind, not your hair” is a famous quote by Jamaican journalist Marcus Garvey for a black girl to embrace her natural hair and its kinks and coils.
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