Oppression And Hardships Of African American Hair

African American women's health, hair politics, and physical activities. Studies show that African American women tend to pay more attention to their hair instead of their health issues. Researches came up with a theoretical argument to figure out why hair matter for some women. They discover that hair presents a barrier to exercise in that the time and economic restrictions involved in maintaining a hairstyle post exercise for physical activity as prohibitive. This study provides some perception about the relationship between hair and health for African American women and suggests that extra attention is justified to address views about beauty ideals and hairstyles as a barrier to exercise (Versey, 2014, p. 2015)

Identity shows who the person is. However, an issue will show someone's identity. These days people creates somebody identity by their look, the way people act, the manner people speak. The identity is from family however people aren't able to believe that identity they decide their own manner. Identity comes from teams too. For an example, if you keep in unhealthy people company then your identity are counted as same as them. People can decide you same because of the cluster. Identity comes from society to that is analogous to the cluster. Therefore these days it will depend on upon who you hang around with (groups) and wherever you reside in your identity will come back from that in individual’s opinions. You’ll be able to produce your identity by yourself.

There has been a notable amount of conversation on the internet on the rebirth of the natural hair movement. Cherise Luter (2014) states that despite afros and the natural hair movement not being a new concept (i.e. the Black Power Movement), it has gone under what she calls a “refreshing change”. Furthermore, what used to be “I’m black and I’m proud”, has been replaced with “I’m me and I’m proud” (Luter 2016). So, what is the natural hair movement? It is defined as a movement where black women decide to not conform to the social norms of chemically altering their hair and wearing it in its natural, kinky, or curled state (Joignot 2015). The movement could also be considered as an outlet for black women to display their racial and cultural pride or to articulate their “political position (Brown 2014:297). However, simply the terminology “movement” is something that should be shocking to many. There is a great amount of historical context behind the continuous influence Eurocentric beauty ideals have had on black women for centuries. According to Nadia Brown (2014), Black natural hair throughout history has proven to be recognized as “either unintended or intended personal and political statements” (298). the beauty standard in Western society which praises European hair textures, has influenced many black women to be critical of other black women who choose to chemically straighten their hair, accusing them of being subservient to the dominant and pervasive racist

For a large part of the twentieth century, interracial couples on TV shows were few and far between. Given that anti-miscegenation laws (the laws against inter-breeding of people considered to be of different racial types) remained on the books of U.S. states well into the 1960s, entertainment executives deemed mixed couples too controversial for television. And even now, in current times, the majority of current films presuppose the abnormality of interracial intimacy, leaving little room for alternate stories of harmony. Many of today's films instead poke fun at interracial relationships and depict solely the difficulties faced, the awkward encounters, and the negative effects of participating in one.

Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair, investigates the notion of what good hair is. Dominant society views good hair as straight or essentially caucasian hair. This is not only problematic to the self-esteem and confidence of black women, but it can also cause black women to appropriate Asian culture. Black women unfortunately take advantage of Asian culture in search of what society believes is good hair. Many black women wear weaves in order to align to what society believes is good hair. However, when they buy this hair, they do not realize what Asians go through. Likewise, Asians who give up their hair do not know where or who this hair will be going to. Thus, this desire for good hair further perpetuates the lack of understanding that black

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

“Black Hair” by Gary Soto is a three stanza, free verse poem that observes the life of a young Mexican boy and his admiration for Hector Moreno, a Mexican baseball figure. The speaker is immediately identified as the young boy as he starts to reminisce about when he was eight years old. The boy goes on to talk about how he thought of himself at this age, as well as Hector and his parents. He would watch the baseball games and look up to Hector, copying him, and addressing how this win for Hector would be a win for him and all the “brown people”. The audience isn’t addressed as a literal part of the poem, so we can imagine it from a bird’s eye point of view.

The poem, “Black Hair,” by Gary Soto describes a childhood of a boy looking back on how he compared himself to his favorite baseball player’s. The speaker gives many rich images stating how the boy compares himself to the baseball players. The three vivid images that prodded out at me were, “I came here because I was Mexican” this is him comparing himself to a dark skin baseball player, “At eight I was brilliant with my body”, and “Growing sweaty in the presence of white shirts”.

They were taken from their home and forced to work as slaves in a place they have never seen before. They were dehumanized and ripped of their culture by getting their hair shaved or cut off, trying to make them forget where they came from and who they were. After having to work under the hot sun, in a field, they never had time to take care of their hair nor did not have the same products that they have always used, so they were forced to wear scarves and forget about taking care of their hair. Due to not being able to properly take are of their hair, African American women hair were mocked and turned into jokes, which lately turned into not being social acceptable due to their hair. Resulting in Madame C.J Walker creating a cream to turn their hair from kinky curls to bone straight. Fortunately, years later African American women waned a change and felt that their hair should not be hidden. Slowly but surely African American women started to follow this wave and started to become natural, but another obstacle stood in their way, learning what to do and getting ahold of the needed items. Social media was the only way to gain the information that was needed to learn how to properly take care of their hair. Without the use of social media, it would be difficult for African Americans to get the natural hair care products that they need because in major department stores, the sections for black hair is very vague and even if they did have the item one was looking for, it is usually not in stock. More research should be done to understand why is it still difficult in some areas, Nationwide, for African Americans to get access to the hair care products that they need but not the same for other hair types? The sales for natural hair products are growing online, yet still not occurring in stores. Why is

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

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.

Traditional shampoos are on the list of products to avoid if you are trying to grow and maintain healthy natural hair. Traditional shampoos use sulfates to cleanse hair and sulfates are extremely drying to natural hair. Since the health of natural hair depends largely on how moisturized it is, the types of cleansers are avoided by many naturals. There are many alternate cleansers including mud washes, co-washes and sulfate free shampoos.