By Evelyn Lamelle ShawStudent ID: 494039

Course: Media Production SkillsCourse Number: 15PANH050

Tutor: Ricardo LeisaolaDate: April 22, 2013

African Hair through the ages - cultural and political expression

HistoryHair has always been an important part of adornment in African cultures. It denoted class, status, and wealth, over the years it has become intricately tied to identity, beauty and politics.

Historically, the difference of black hair texture has symbolized the inferiority of black people in the minds of some whites and even some blacks.Naturally kinky hair was viewed as dirty, unkempt and unattractive into the mid-20th century.In the 1960s and later, as blacks began to reclaim natural styles, afros, braids and dreadlocks were associated with political radicalism in dominant American culture to the extent that some black women were threatened with the loss of their jobs for wearing braids to the workplace.Over the years, black women (and men) have turned to numerous products and processes in an attempt to tame their locks into looks more fitting for American society – from twists and ties to pomades and gels to straightening combs and chemical relaxers. Tiya Miles – CNN.com

Photos by J.D. Okhai Ojeikere

RELAXERS, WEAVES AND EXTENSIONS

Relaxing: Chemically and permanently straightening hair becomes fashionable in spite of the damage this can cause. Products flood the market, even for kids.

Weaving: A hair weave is human or artificial hair utilized for the integration with one's natural hair. Weaves can alter one's appearance for long or short periods of time by adding further hair to one's natural hair or by covering the natural hair all together with human or synthetic hairpieces. (Wikepedia.org) (usually sewn or glued)

Mainstream Media

Straight hair along with lighter skin became the beauty ideal. From ages

as young as 6, girls began the process of chemically straightening

their hair. The longer and straighter, the better.

Happy and Nappy

Angela Davis, Black Panther Activist

In the 1970’s the afro made a comeback and was seen as revolutionary and resistant to mainstream culture. Black Panther activist Angela Davis was at the forefront of this movement of self-acceptance. This did not last long. By the 1990’s weaves, extensions and straighteners were back as the most popular choice of styles.

In the noughties, natural hairstyles returned as more black women embraced their natural curls. But the transition from long and straight to short and curly is a difficult journey and involves serious introspection of self. Many books, films and you tube clips have been created to assist with this process.

Hair ResourcesTransitioning - a documentary by Zina Saro-Wiwa about returning from chemically straightened to naturally curly hair http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/05/31/opinion/100000001579773/transition.html

After medalist Gabby Douglas was criticized

on social media about her hairstyle (2012)

“Many [black women] don’t work out or learn

to swim because of their relaxed hair. It’s

something that needs to be talked about

because it really is costing us our health.” 1996

Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes

BLACK HAIR IN THE MEDIA

Is Your 'Natural' Hairstyle Preventing

You from Getting a Job?

Forbes – 3/11/2013

Fact Box

The chemicals found in common African-

American hair products are known as

estrogen and endocrine-disrupting chemicals

or EDCs. Although comprehensive research is

ongoing, many of these chemicals are

believed to be linked to reproductive effects

and birth defects, breast cancer, heart

disease, cognitive disorders, premature

puberty and altered immune function, to

name a few. (newamericamedia.org)

1400s - Europeans trade on the west coast of Africa with people wearing elaborate hairstyles, including locks, plaits and twists.

1800s: Without the combs and herbal treatments used in Africa, slaves rely on bacon grease, butter and kerosene as hair conditioners and cleaners. Lighter-skinned, straight-haired slaves command higher prices at auction than darker, more kinky-haired ones. Internalizing color consciousness, blacks promote the idea that blacks with dark skin and kinky hair are less attractive and worth less.

BLACK HAIR TIMELINE

adapted from (Naturallycurly.com)

1865: Slavery ends, but whites look upon black women who style their hair like white women as well-adjusted. “Good” hair becomes a prerequisite for entering certain schools, churches, social groups and business networks.

1880: Metal hot combs, invented in 1845 by the French, are heated and used to press and temporarily straighten kinky hair.

1900s: Madame C.J. Walker develops a range of hair-care products for black hair popularizing the press-and-curl style. She is criticized for encouraging black women to look white but becomes a millionaire.

1920s: Marcus Garvey, a black nationalist, urges followers to embrace their natural hair and reclaim an African aesthetic.

1954: George E. Johnson launches the Johnson Products Empire with a “permanent” hair straightener for men. A women’s chemical straightener follows.

BLACK HAIR TIMELINE

ctd.

Madame CJ Walker

Using hot comb to straighten

1962: Actress Cicely Tyson wears cornrows on the television drama “East Side/West Side.”

1966: Model Pat Evans defies both black and white standards of beauty and shaves her head.

1968: Actress Diahann Carroll is the first black woman to star in a television network series, “Julia.” She is a darker version of the all-American girl with straightened, curled hair.

1970: Angela Davis becomes an icon of Black Power with her large afro.

1971: Melba Tolliver is fired from the ABC affiliate in New York for wearing an afro while covering Tricia Nixon’s wedding.

1977: The Jheri curl explodes on the black hair scene. Billed as a curly perm for blacks, the ultra-moist hairstyle lasts through the 1980s.

BLACK HAIR TIMELINE

ctd.

Actress Cicely Tyson

Bo Derek takes cornrows across the color lines

1979: Braids and beads cross the color line when Bo Derek appears with cornrows in the movie “10.”

1980: Model-actress Grace Jones sports her trademark flat-top fade.

1988: Spike Lee exposes the good hair/bad hair light-skinned/dark-skinned schism in black American in his movie “School Daze.”

1990: “Sisters love the weave,” “Essence” magazine declares. A variety of natural styles and dreadlocks also become more accepted.

1997: Singer Erykah Badu poses on the cover of her debut album “Baduizm” with her head wrapped, ushering in an eclectic brand of Afrocentrism.

BLACK HAIR TIMELINE

ctd.

Erykah Badu

Grace Jones

1998: Carson Inc., creator of Dark & Lovely acquires the black-owned beauty company Johnson Products of Chicago in 1998. L’Oreal purchases Carson two years later and merges it with Soft Sheen.

1999: “People” magazine names lock-topped Grammy award-winning artist Lauryn Hill one of its 50 Most Beautiful People.

2001: Rapper Lil’ Kim wears a platinum blonde weave, while singer Macy Gray sports a new-school afro. Some black women relax, some press, and others go with natural twists, braids and locks.

2006: Baltimore Police Department’s new, more rigid professional appearance standards prohibit such hairstyles as cornrows, dreadlocks and twists. These natural hairstyles are deemed to be “extreme” and a “fad” by the department.

BLACK HAIR TIMELINE

(Naturallycurly.com)

Lauryn Hill

. 2007: MSNBC Radio Host Don Imus loses his job when he calls the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team “some nappy-headed hos.”

2006: Black hair-care is a billion-dollar industry.

2008: “The New Yorker” draws heat when a cover photo portrays Michelle Obama with an Afro and an AK 47 machine gun and and Barack Obama in a turban doing the fist bump. Many felt the cartoon reinforces negative stereotypes about both Muslims and natural hair.

BLACK HAIR TIMELINE

(Naturallycurly.com)

2009: Comic Chris Rock unveils his movie “Good Hair” at the Sundance Film Festival, exploring the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m-4qxz08So

BLACK HAIR TIMELINE

(Naturallycurly.com)

Watch ‘Good Hair’ Trailer

MUSICAL INFLUENCES

2005 - Singer India Arie launches hit single ‘I am not my hair’ liberating countless Black women to wear their hair as they choose.

“Good hair means curls and waves, bad

hair means you look like a slave….”

“I am not my hair, I am not my skin, I am

the soul that lives within…”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_5jIt0f5Z4

Janet Jackson

Beyonce

The Supremes

Alicia Keys

Lauryn Hill

In the last 10 years there has been a return to natural hairstyles and a move towards self acceptance as we Black women were made without any chemical alterations. Those who choose to use relaxers are also less and less being looked down on by those who choose to go natural. The debates about hair texture still continue and some will never change their beliefs that straight hair makes you more acceptable to society but at least there has been some shift in the minds of Black women. We now have a good mix of celebrities with different hair types that young Black girls can look up to. We still remain our own worst critics.

CONCLUSION