Just an article I ran across this evening. I have not finished reading it yet, but wanted to post it before I logged off.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-trice-31-aug31,0,4448314.column
When braiding hair, Frances Simmons' hands move like she's turning a tiny double-Dutch rope. Soon, the repetition gives way to intricate, linear locks that are almost mathematical in nature.
What she can do with braids is amazing, but for Simmons, hair isn't just an accessory. For the last 10 years, she has been going into Chicago public schools on a mission to educate young African-American girls on the importance of healthy hair and a healthy lifestyle, and how the two can be interwoven into an even healthier self-esteem.
"Teenage girls are getting relaxers and hair weaves and bad braid work -- and it's destroying their hair," said Simmons, 44, who's been braiding hair professionally for more than two decades. "You find that some girls won't go to school because of the aftereffects of a bad style. Some start to get failing grades, or they're acting out by being confrontational."
That may sound extreme because it's only hair, right? But for blacks, hair travails are deeply rooted in a sad history that too often has defined beauty by a white standard and divided locks into two camps: "good hair," which is naturally straight or curly, or "bad hair," which is naturally nappy or kinky.
Comedian Chris Rock has a new feature-film-length documentary coming out this fall called "Good Hair," examining how modern-day hairstyles affect black women and the black community. It's getting quite the buzz.
Simmons said that when she was growing up in the Austin neighborhood in the 1970s, a press and curl was all the rage, and it was not uncommon on a summer evening to see residents sitting on their porches braiding hair.
"Back in the day, if you had a bad relaxer that took your hair out, you had to cut it off and start over," said Simmons, who gave up relaxers more than nine years ago and wears her hair in a natural style (but with color added.) "Your mama had you going to school looking crazy, but that was the healthiest way to grow it back from a pinch of hair. But young girls these days don't want to start over."
In the past, Simmons has focused mostly on high school girls. But this school year, she'll include more elementary school girls. She said younger girls are feeling the pressure to have hairstyles that come from some type of a bottle or bag.
"You've got some mothers who are getting their kindergartners hair weaves or hair pieces," Simmons said. "It breaks your heart. All that weight on those tiny heads."
Simmons said many of the girls she talks to can't afford to go to professional salons. So they're giving themselves relaxers or coloring their own hair, oftentimes without their parents' permission. Some even glue in their own hair extensions.
"And by the time I see them, they have bald spots and they're losing hair around their hairline and they think it's normal and that's supposed to happen to hair," she said. "But it's not the natural shedding process at all."
Over the years, braided styles had been the fallback for those wanting to undo the damage done by chemicals or for working moms who don't have the time to do their daughter's hair every day. But some braiding has caused breakage. Simmons said that's because the hair isn't braided correctly and some stylists aren't trained to take care of the hair. In Illinois, stylists who braid aren't required to be licensed so training can be a crapshoot.
"You have to understand the texture of the hair and how much stress it can take and how to leverage the stress," she said. "If you're adding synthetic hair to add volume, you can't use the same weight on everybody. And when you take the braids down, you shouldn't have split ends and hair shouldn't be damaged."
On a recent afternoon, Simmons was braiding the hair of a 13-year-old girl whom she encouraged to shave the back of her hair because it had come out in patches after a bad perm. Simmons braided her hair into a bob hairstyle, using a technique she originated called wrap braiding, to hide the damage until it grows back.
"We've been taught not to love our hair and not to love ourselves," Simmons told the teen as she braided her hair. "We have to keep in mind that not everybody is going to have long hair or look like they just stepped out of a music video. Part of having healthy hair is accepting who we are and what we have."
[email protected]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-trice-31-aug31,0,4448314.column
When braiding hair, Frances Simmons' hands move like she's turning a tiny double-Dutch rope. Soon, the repetition gives way to intricate, linear locks that are almost mathematical in nature.
What she can do with braids is amazing, but for Simmons, hair isn't just an accessory. For the last 10 years, she has been going into Chicago public schools on a mission to educate young African-American girls on the importance of healthy hair and a healthy lifestyle, and how the two can be interwoven into an even healthier self-esteem.
"Teenage girls are getting relaxers and hair weaves and bad braid work -- and it's destroying their hair," said Simmons, 44, who's been braiding hair professionally for more than two decades. "You find that some girls won't go to school because of the aftereffects of a bad style. Some start to get failing grades, or they're acting out by being confrontational."
That may sound extreme because it's only hair, right? But for blacks, hair travails are deeply rooted in a sad history that too often has defined beauty by a white standard and divided locks into two camps: "good hair," which is naturally straight or curly, or "bad hair," which is naturally nappy or kinky.
Comedian Chris Rock has a new feature-film-length documentary coming out this fall called "Good Hair," examining how modern-day hairstyles affect black women and the black community. It's getting quite the buzz.
Simmons said that when she was growing up in the Austin neighborhood in the 1970s, a press and curl was all the rage, and it was not uncommon on a summer evening to see residents sitting on their porches braiding hair.
"Back in the day, if you had a bad relaxer that took your hair out, you had to cut it off and start over," said Simmons, who gave up relaxers more than nine years ago and wears her hair in a natural style (but with color added.) "Your mama had you going to school looking crazy, but that was the healthiest way to grow it back from a pinch of hair. But young girls these days don't want to start over."
In the past, Simmons has focused mostly on high school girls. But this school year, she'll include more elementary school girls. She said younger girls are feeling the pressure to have hairstyles that come from some type of a bottle or bag.
"You've got some mothers who are getting their kindergartners hair weaves or hair pieces," Simmons said. "It breaks your heart. All that weight on those tiny heads."
Simmons said many of the girls she talks to can't afford to go to professional salons. So they're giving themselves relaxers or coloring their own hair, oftentimes without their parents' permission. Some even glue in their own hair extensions.
"And by the time I see them, they have bald spots and they're losing hair around their hairline and they think it's normal and that's supposed to happen to hair," she said. "But it's not the natural shedding process at all."
Over the years, braided styles had been the fallback for those wanting to undo the damage done by chemicals or for working moms who don't have the time to do their daughter's hair every day. But some braiding has caused breakage. Simmons said that's because the hair isn't braided correctly and some stylists aren't trained to take care of the hair. In Illinois, stylists who braid aren't required to be licensed so training can be a crapshoot.
"You have to understand the texture of the hair and how much stress it can take and how to leverage the stress," she said. "If you're adding synthetic hair to add volume, you can't use the same weight on everybody. And when you take the braids down, you shouldn't have split ends and hair shouldn't be damaged."
On a recent afternoon, Simmons was braiding the hair of a 13-year-old girl whom she encouraged to shave the back of her hair because it had come out in patches after a bad perm. Simmons braided her hair into a bob hairstyle, using a technique she originated called wrap braiding, to hide the damage until it grows back.
"We've been taught not to love our hair and not to love ourselves," Simmons told the teen as she braided her hair. "We have to keep in mind that not everybody is going to have long hair or look like they just stepped out of a music video. Part of having healthy hair is accepting who we are and what we have."
[email protected]
