African American Hair Research

Are you transitioning from relaxed to natural hair? Do your locs need help? If so, you'll need stylist with specialized knowledge and skills. Traditional hair salons often lack the skills to work with natural hair. Fortunately, salons catering to natural hair are springing up everywhere and Loc'n Twist is Florida's newest. Loc'n Twist's founder, Davis Vaught, compared pricing for natural hair services in the region. He then realized that his community did not have easy access to the grooming services and that service fees were high. By opening Loc'n Twist, Vaught brings grooming that projects pride, dedication and a self-knowledge that opens doors to opportunities to the community. The shop serves men and women with complete barber and hair care services.

b. Men normally just stick to one hair style unlike women who change their hair styles a lot.

It is apparent from the black female actresses that Chris Rock interviewed, like Nia Long, that black women are not aware of what Asian women go through in order to provide black women with straight hair. During this scene, it is revealed that many Indian women often give up their hair for religious purposes. However, this is not always the case. Some Indian women are often subjected to having their hair cut off and stolen. This is how black women in the United States are getting their hair, and it is unfortunate that some Indian women are being victimized in order to help black women assimilate to Western ideologies. Therefore, black women are appropriating the Asian culture whether they know it or not. They are trying to obtain this straight hair that society has deemed as good hair. Thus, they are not considering what Asian women or Asian workers are going through in order to get them this hair. However, I cannot completely blame black women for victimizing and appropriating Asians. This appropriation is the result of society convincing black women that their hair is not good enough. Hence, societal notions of what good hair looks like causes black women to lose self-confidence in their natural

African American women have different types of hair. For example hair can either be course, fine, and medium textures. The way hair is determined its by circumference and the condition of the cuticle. Fine texture has a small circumference and closed cuticle. Coarse hair it has much larger circumference and the cuticle is much more open. They are often broken down into different types of hair such as African Caribbean, Asian, and Caucasian (European). African Caribbean is usually displayed as a tightly curled and often very dark. “African Caribbean hair is almost kidney shaped when seen in cross section.” (Anoymous, 2013) This type of is usual damage easily. Asian hair is usually “often straight and has a tendency to be lank.” They come in variety of colors for example a dark to medium brown. It usually is thick and strong. Then you have Caucasian or European which can be straight, wavy or curly. They are usually from a dark to medium brown and it also can be thick and strong. “The texture of hair can be vary significantly according to hair color and racial type” (Anoymous, 2013, p. 1)

hair and is extremely damaging to the hair and from personal experience can lead to permanent scarring and scalp irritation to name a few. Since Black women are apart of the “mass” that McCombs and Shaw reference in their theory, they are also consuming these images and have no other way to think about themselves. This puts more pressure on Black women to want to assimilate to Eurocentric standards of beauty which has a direct effect on their self-esteem as discussed in the very popular documentary ‘For Dark Girls’ where Black women discussed their struggles with trying to achieve this Eurocentric standard of beauty.

Most African American women get their hair advice from low class salon who are self-taught. Low class salons have no knowledge of black women's natural hair texture nor natural hair styles that will protect their hair to keep it from breaking off. These salons use hair relaxer products on their African American clients because it is a fast process and are able to quickly move on to the next client. However, African American woman does not have the option to choose between a relaxer or a protective hair style when dealing with these salons, As a matter of fact, The New York Times mentions, plenty of salons are educating themselves on natural hair styles. “Many wear their twist, locks or teenie-weenie Afros”,” proud to have not given in to the

As an African American hair plays a vital role in our society. The ideal of Black hair is one that allows you to explore your inner feelings, attitudes and sense of style through the facet of hair. However, this freedom of expression becomes questioned as you try to pursue a professional career. As an African American woman pursuing a career in the field of broadcast journalism, your freedom of expression through hair is often limited by corporate policy. By pursuing a career in this field and attaining my first internship in a top 10 market. I have already faced some challenges. Due to the fact that I was only an intern, I did not receive pressure from corporate level to change my look. However, I placed internal pressure on myself to assimilate to white culture standard of “professionalism” by straightening my hair for an intern newscast. I decided to elongate my naturally, kinky curly hair in order to fit the bill of a typical news anchor. Who declared black hair of any style to be unprofessional?

The topic of beauty standards and body image is a pressing matter regularly discussed in today’s society. However, the concept of black beauty (those of African descent), both its internal and external components, has yet to be explored thoroughly. I aim to discover the motives of black women who wear protective styles—wigs, weaves, and braids. Do black women in the Syracuse area wear protective styles as a physical protective style to shield their natural hair from the harsh and sporadic environment or do they wear it for psychological reasons to shield their emotions from the harsh critics and scrutiny that black women face in a Eurocentric environment? This study is done with the purpose to bring to light the opinions of black women, whose feelings are frequently ignored and undermined in our society. In

Since the early 1900s, Black women have had a fascination with their hair. More explicitly, they have had a fascination with straightening their hair. The need to be accepted by the majority class has caused them to do so. Though the image of straight hair as being better than coarse hair still hasn’t left the Black community, there has been a surge of non straight hairstyles since the nineteen sixties. Wearing more natural hairstyles, which ironically enough include ‘weaves’ and ‘hair extensions’ has been considered to be more empowered and more enlightened. However, this image comes with a price, and though it appears the ‘natural’ hairstyle movement has advanced Black women, it has actually set

You can cut in any heading for afros.Trim an afro's level conservatively. You can even the afro out with shears later on, yet you can't regrow a nearby trim.Level out any harsh or uneven patches on your subject's head. For close hair styles, be arranged to apply a touch of weight. Evacuate the gatekeepers, and after that lower the scissors' lever totally. Begin at one side of your subject's hairline, and after that trim to alternate sides. Attempt to abstain from trimming more than two millimeters once more from your subject's hair line. Take after the bend of your subject's head, as you trim, to get the hairline a round

In today’s society, we live in a heavily social media world that blurs The lines between heritage and trends. The question often arises if someone is solely trying to imitate something without paying homage to other or stealing it without giving the entitled background of where it originated from. What caused these hairstyles that are rooted from Africa to somehow be manipulated and transition to America. The alteration affects the way we view appropriation and what is considered to be a personal identity of a specific background. Our personal identity is connected to the folkloric aspect of traditional customs that are passed on for generations to generation. Having the customs gives people a sense of roots to grow from and always have something to apply in their daily life. It’s important to have something to look onto for guidance having folkloric customs of tradition Africa hairstyles gives that to African American people.

Hair is an aspect of identity many women are made to confront. It is a projection of how a woman would like to be perceived and who she believes she is within her society. Black women in America face an interesting dilemma when it comes to hair. When African slaves were brought to America, they were confronted with the Eurocentric ideal of beauty, which, in addition to pale skin and Anglo Saxon facial structure, also included straightened hair. As time progressed, black people sought new ways to assimilate. Throughout the course of time many hair straightening agents such as straightening irons, perms, and hair extensions have been used to help aid black people in mimicking the hairstyles of the socially accepted white standards. More

In the late 1960s, the Afro hairstyles became a political statement, announcing, “I am black and proud” and challenged white aesthetics. This movement asked Black people to show their natural beauty without shame, spreading to the world that black is beautiful (BlackHistory.com). However, two decades later, this statement has slowly faded away and has been replaced by fake hair weaves and hair straightening chemical creams. Today, African Americans spend over half a trillion dollars on hair care and weaves, more than any other racial group. Majority of African American women do not feel the need to wear their hair naturally, and choose to chemically straighten their hair (Johnson & Bankhead, 2014).

Hair modification is a century old tradition for all ethnicities. The focus of this research paper will be the benefits of natural hair versus relaxed hair within the African American hair community. My position on this issue is that the natural state of hair is inherently better than the processed relaxed state of hair, even though African American women continue to relax their hair the outcome may be extreme.

Over the course of the last few years the volume of information on how to take care of black hair has grown exponentially. Social media has provided us with easy access to this information and in response black hair has become the rave. Having African American hair is an exciting journey. It’s a marathon and not a sprint so no matter how long you’ve had your black hair in its natural state you will continue to learn and mature in the ways you take care of it. Here are the top 5 things you absolutely need to know about caring for black hair.