History of African Hair Care

[Fhrizzball]

I saw this on Youtube and thought to share. It's a documentary 6 parts series called 400 years without a comb and shows African/African-American haircare from well the last 400 years or so. It's interesting in a historical kind of way. Though the Hawaiian shorts threw me off a bit. They probably were on a low budget with their outfits.

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

 

[likewtr4chklit]

I'm watching now.

 

[Nonie]

It's a really nice documentary. I posted it in a thread where folks were discussing the word "nappy" and while the word doesn't bother me, the documentary did help me understand why having "nappy hair" was not something to be proud of back in the day. Really shed light on a topic that is so misunderstood.

 

[Kurlee]

i liked it. I'm glad that they addressed the obsession with boys cutting their hair down. I think it's a big problem that goes unnoticed. It's not just a preference. Any time a black boy/man grows his hair out, unless it's a certain texture, everyone will have something negative to say as if it's ugly.

 

[angellike]

i really like this doc. i wish they would remake it with a better budget, it really opened my eyes

 

[Fhrizzball]

Yea. It was real informative. Shame it cut off in the middle. Alot of the hair techniques were really innovative and I had no clue sulphur can prevent lice but apparently that's one natural remedy for it.

And I agree with it being a shame when black men have to cut their hair low. It's either that or they loc it and even that has a length limit in society.I When I see men with loose natural hair it's beyond awesome, double if it's in something other than a picked out afro.

 

[lizzyb168]

I watched this last week. It was real informative but i was quite saddenend at all the things the black race in america was put through because their hair wasn't seen as 'adequate'.

 

[Dellas]

1) If Mammy was not a field slave and only field slave are the darkies why is she portrayed as dark?
2) Thanks for this. I did not know the origins of why we used hair wraps/ties on our head. I do wonder the difference between the African comb and European comb?**ooh, I see now...the pick.
3) Why is the black mother to blame for the teaching of their kids that lighter is better? It is hard for me to believe that this was all "her" fault. I think males, females,etc... had to have some culpability?
4)Applying Sulfur to the scalp? sounds familiar
5) Now I know why we used all that grease.
6) blacks invented the straightening comb.
7)Black authority figures less lenient with darkies
8) Black man responsible for relaxers and used that to appeal to the ladies?
9) Marriage was the way out of bad hair. Ok, this is still practiced today.

http://www.ferris.edu/JIMCROW/mammies/

The mammy caricature was deliberately constructed to suggest ugliness. Mammy was portrayed as dark-skinned, often pitch black, in a society that regarded black skin as ugly, tainted. She was obese, sometimes morbidly overweight. Moreover, she was often portrayed as old, or at least middle-aged. The attempt was to desexualize mammy. The implicit assumption was this: No reasonable white man would choose a fat, elderly black woman instead of the idealized white woman. The black mammy was portrayed as lacking all sexual and sensual qualities. The de-eroticism of mammy meant that the white wife -- and by extension, the white family was safe.

The sexual exploitation of black women by white men was unfortunately common during the antebellum period, and this was true irrespective of the economic relationship involved; in other words, black women were sexually exploited by rich whites, middle class whites, and poor whites. Sexual relations between blacks and whites -- whether consensual or rapes -- were taboo; yet they occurred often. All black women and girls, regardless of their physical appearances, were vulnerable to being sexually assaulted by white men. The mammy caricature tells many lies; in this case, the lie is that white men did not find black women sexually desirable.

The mammy caricature implied that black women were only fit to be domestic workers; thus, the stereotype became a rationalization for economic discrimination. During the Jim Crow period, approximately 1877 to 1966, America's race-based, race-segregated job economy limited most blacks to menial, low paying, low status jobs. Black women found themselves forced into one job category, house servant.

 

[Kurlee]

Yea. It was real informative. Shame it cut off in the middle. Alot of the hair techniques were really innovative and I had no clue sulphur can prevent lice but apparently that's one natural remedy for it.

And I agree with it being a shame when black men have to cut their hair low. It's either that or they loc it and even that has a length limit in society.I When I see men with loose natural hair it's beyond awesome, double if it's in something other than a picked out afro.

everyone gets on women about their "self-hatred", but no one talks about all these men who "hide their hair", by getting a hair cut every two seconds, unless their hair is 3a. That and how people chastise men who do grow their hair to "fix" themselves and look "professional" or put together. Just reinforcing the nonsense

 

[Nonie]

everyone gets on women about their "self-hatred", but no one talks about all these men who "hide their hair", by getting a hair cut every two seconds, unless their hair is 3a. That and how people chastise men who do grow their hair to "fix" themselves and look "professional" or put together. Just reinforcing the nonsense

About men cutting hair...I don't view that in the sense that there's self-hatred involved. In the culture I grew up in, men just didn't grow long hair. Long hair is a woman's crown of glory so it wasn't cool to have long hair as a dude. Instead it was cut because it looked neat. I posted in another thread where JayZ's hair looked a mess that I preferred that if he wasn't going to comb it, to keep it short and I pointed out that it's not because his hair is that texture that it looked so horrible. He just didn't groom it. (Not sure whose idea it is that that looks cute, but it doesn't.) To prove that it's not his texture--coz many were excusing his unkempt hair saying he can't help the way it looks --I posted a photo of the same dude with combed hair which looked neat and groomed. Then I showed a photo of his hair cut short which also looked neat. So to me short hair on a guy has nothing to do with self-hate (It might for some); but for the most part, long hair on a man was never the norm to me so I see nothing odd about guys cutting their hair short. I don't think of it as self-hate. I think of it as being practical. Unless you're metrosexual, most guys I know do not want to spend hours in front of a mirror making sure every hair is in place, so a short hair cut makes looking neat and tidy easy to accomplish.

I also want to point out that I think there's more depth than just self-hate in the case of women not being happy with 4B hair. I think ignorance on how to deal with natural hair in general and unfamiliarity with it because over the years some families have only ever worn relaxed hair, makes it a thing to be afraid of. Add to that the facts portrayed in that movie, where 4B hair could just not be fixed because there were no tools to fix it...and it's almost as if a morbid dread was ingrained in us so much that we almost don't believe that things have changed and that we do now possess methods to deal with the hair.

I also think some folks give 4B hair a bad name when they don't groom it in ways that bring out the best in it. Trying to make 4B hair do things that aren't the norm for it, can leave it looking ugly and therefore further make others not want to be associated with it. Since type 3 hair has been worn naturally more extensively in the West than the 4's, that look is more familiar and more easily accepted by "the judges" of what's fashionable and cool, and so folks try to mimic type 3 hairstyles on hair that doesn't really behave the same and sometimes the results are less than pretty. And in the end instead of it being seen in its own right and beauty, it's seen as a failed attempt at looking a certain way. I think as type 4 hair becomes more and more appreciated for its uniqueness and people start to understand how to care and style it, it'll lose the negativity associated with it.

 

[Kurlee]

About men cutting hair...I don't view that in the sense that there's self-hatred involved. In the culture I grew up in, men just didn't grow long hair. Long hair is a woman's crown of glory so it wasn't cool to have long hair as a dude. Instead it was cut because it looked neat. I posted in another thread where JayZ's hair looked a mess that I preferred that if he wasn't going to comb it, to keep it short and I pointed out that it's not because his hair is that texture that it looked so horrible. He just didn't groom it. (Not sure whose idea it is that that looks cute, but it doesn't.) To prove that it's not his texture--coz many were excusing his unkempt hair saying he can't help the way it looks --I posted a photo of the same dude with combed hair which looked neat and groomed. Then I showed a photo of his hair cut short which also looked neat. So to me short hair on a guy has nothing to do with self-hate (It might for some); but for the most part, long hair on a man was never the norm to me so I see nothing odd about guys cutting their hair short. I don't think of it as self-hate. I think of it as being practical. Unless you're metrosexual, most guys I know do not want to spend hours in front of a mirror making sure every hair is in place, so a short hair cut makes looking neat and tidy easy to accomplish.
I guess it depends on what you are exposed to. I'm not talking long hair down your back, but just hair even 2 to 3 inches is seen as "inappropriate". "Other" men cut their hair too, but it is at least a few inches long. Most black men have internalized the idea that they are "unkempt" if their hair is not cut almost bald low and it's become the norm. I find it sooooo unattractive and when I listen to some of the convos in the barbershops, the conclusion I came to is that most feel that unless you have "good" hair, it looks "better" cut and girls like it that way. Something about that doesn't sit well with me.

I also want to point out that I think there's more depth than just self-hate in the case of women not being happy with 4B hair. I think ignorance on how to deal with natural hair in general and unfamiliarity with it because over the years some families have only ever worn relaxed hair, makes it a thing to be afraid of. Add to that the facts portrayed in that movie, where 4B hair could just not be fixed because there were no tools to fix it...and it's almost as if a morbid dread was ingrained in us so much that we almost don't believe that things have changed and that we do now possess methods to deal with the hair.
I totally agree with that. People are soooooooooooooooo willfully ignorant about how to care for their hair unless it is relaxed. That annoys me because the same people who are soooooo anti-natural and want to say it's not that serious are the same ones who fawn over long hair, "good hair" and want to buy the latest growth potion.

I also think some folks give 4B hair a bad name when they don't groom it in ways that bring out the best in it. Trying to make 4B hair do things that aren't the norm for it, can leave it looking ugly and therefore further make others not want to be associated with it. Since type 3 hair has been worn naturally more extensively in the West than the 4's, that look is more familiar and more easily accepted by "the judges" of what's fashionable and cool, and so folks try to mimic type 3 hairstyles on hair that doesn't really behave the same and sometimes the results are less than pretty. And in the end instead of it being seen in its own right and beauty, it's seen as a failed attempt at looking a certain way. I think as type 4 hair becomes more and more appreciated for its uniqueness and people start to understand how to care and style it, it'll lose the negativity associated with it.

responses in red

 

[Nonie]

I watched this last week. It was real informative but i was quite saddenend at all the things the black race in america was put through because their hair wasn't seen as 'adequate'.

But you have to understand that it wasn't seen as below par without reason. The combs that were available in the West had fine teeth that couldn't pass through our coils. So it's not just the shape of a the comb, it's also the spacing of the teeth. Without a proper comb, our hair could not be groomed. That left it looking bad--something that if you knew the history of African hair, you'd understand was very uncomfortable for our people. They always wore their hair very well-groomed so even they were not comfortable to wear it in public uncombed. They had been stripped of a lot of dignity and now even a simple thing as grooming themselves was not possible. I know how I am when too ill to take care of my hair and just leave it to its own devices: I usually cannot leave home without covering my head. It has nothing to do with what other people think. I, myself, do not feel good about myself when something about me doesn't look right to me. So by the same token, our people must've felt a bit of the shame that comes from knowing you don't have to look like this and that you can look better...but having no way to do what you need to do to fix the problem.

It's like when someone misunderstands something about you and looks down on you because they do not get you--especially someone more superior than you. And if you haven't got a voice to explain yourself, you're left feeling angry and somewhat embarrassed and helpless. After a while, whatever it is that you did that got you labeled as useless or ignorant or incompetent becomes to you something you want to distance yourself from, so that the powers that be can consider you "improved". All the while, a part of you wishes you had a platform to explain yourself. After a while, you stop caring anymore as you realize no one cares to know your point of view and just decide to never ever be yoked with whatever normal thing you did that made you be deemed "odd". You might also warn other newcomers that doing A can make you be thought as B so you advise them that they're better off just sticking to C like everyone else.

 

[Nonie]

I guess it depends on what you are exposed to. I'm not talking long hair down your back, but just hair even 2 to 3 inches is seen as "inappropriate". "Other" men cut their hair too, but it is at least a few inches long. Most black men have internalized the idea that they are "unkempt" if their hair is not cut almost bald low and it's become the norm. I find it sooooo unattractive and when I listen to some of the convos in the barbershops, the conclusion I came to is that most feel that unless you have "good" hair, it looks "better" cut and girls like it that way. Something about that doesn't sit well with me.

You may be right about people with hangups, but I remember growing up with two brothers and when their hair was about 2 inches long, it was more work to keep it looking neat. First they hated to be bothered with combing it, and my dad would not let them go to school with uncombed hair so mornings were just stressful. Secondly, one of them was very tender-headed and so a comb was a torture tool. Having hair shorter than a centimeter was more his cup of tea because he could just brush it and it'd look combed. I can't tell you how much they enjoyed not having to deal with their hair in the morning. (And BTW, everyone we knew had hair like ours. We didn't grow up around good hair/bad hair talk so this had nothing to do with texture. In fact, as I mentioned before, my mom was so tickled when she came to the US two years ago to find out that Type 3 hair is coveted because "we dislike it so much back home". Not sure who "we" is (her generation?)...but I know when I was back there I really didn't care one way or another. I wasn't aware about texture to make a decision one way or another when I was growing up, except the one time I was doing a biracial friend's hair and it would not obey my styles but would just flop all over the place. I remember secretly feeling sorry for her and wondering if she was sad she had such difficult hair. My hair and my brothers' was what's normal to me, and we didn't hate it. We just liked it neat.

Also, I have received a few PMs asking me how I get my afro to be so round. Type 4 hair looks neat to me when combed out, and if you are trying to comb it into an afro, sometimes you have to pat it, comb it, pat it, etc...to get it to look just so. I don't know many guys who have time for all o' dat, so if a guy with 4B hair doesn't want to do all of that, and then thinks he will just wash his hair and towel dry and fluff it out with fingers like say a 3 could and expect to get a pass, then I'm sorry, he needs to cut his hair coz even I will agree that his hair's a mess. It has nothing to do with me hating on his texture. I keep singing praises of Bernie Mac's afro coz THAT is a well-groomed 4B head. He deserved to wear hair that long coz he kept it neat and combed. Not every type can get away with just a shake and go.

 

[Mizz Diamonds]

1) If Mammy was not a field slave and only field slave are the darkies why is she portrayed as dark?
2) Thanks for this. I did not know the origins of why we used hair wraps/ties on our head. I do wonder the difference between the African comb and European comb?**ooh, I see now...the pick.
3) Why is the black mother to blame for the teaching of their kids that lighter is better? It is hard for me to believe that this was all "her" fault. I think males, females,etc... had to have some culpability?
4)Applying Sulfur to the scalp? sounds familiar
5) Now I know why we used all that grease.
6) blacks invented the straightening comb.
7)Black authority figures less lenient with darkies
8) Black man responsible for relaxers and used that to appeal to the ladies?
9) Marriage was the way out of bad hair. Ok, this is still practiced today.

http://www.ferris.edu/JIMCROW/mammies/

The mammy caricature was deliberately constructed to suggest ugliness. Mammy was portrayed as dark-skinned, often pitch black, in a society that regarded black skin as ugly, tainted. She was obese, sometimes morbidly overweight. Moreover, she was often portrayed as old, or at least middle-aged. The attempt was to desexualize mammy. The implicit assumption was this: No reasonable white man would choose a fat, elderly black woman instead of the idealized white woman. The black mammy was portrayed as lacking all sexual and sensual qualities. The de-eroticism of mammy meant that the white wife -- and by extension, the white family was safe.

The sexual exploitation of black women by white men was unfortunately common during the antebellum period, and this was true irrespective of the economic relationship involved; in other words, black women were sexually exploited by rich whites, middle class whites, and poor whites. Sexual relations between blacks and whites -- whether consensual or rapes -- were taboo; yet they occurred often. All black women and girls, regardless of their physical appearances, were vulnerable to being sexually assaulted by white men. The mammy caricature tells many lies; in this case, the lie is that white men did not find black women sexually desirable.

The mammy caricature implied that black women were only fit to be domestic workers; thus, the stereotype became a rationalization for economic discrimination. During the Jim Crow period, approximately 1877 to 1966, America's race-based, race-segregated job economy limited most blacks to menial, low paying, low status jobs. Black women found themselves forced into one job category, house servant.

Exactly it was create to also keep the white eives happy and ignorant too Becasue all those light babies were coming from somewhere. The house slave Mammy is all lies.

Taken from my fav blog Abagond
http://abagond.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/the-mammy-stereotype/

The ugly truth is that they were:

• thin, because they barely got enough to eat;
• young, because only one in ten ever saw age 50;
• light-skinned, a daughter of rape;
• desirable to white men and therefore raped;
• utterly powerless,
• extremely unhappy.

And most likely had bad teeth too since the rest of the stereotype is such a lie

 

[mscocoface]

I see no one still has the last part of Video PT6.

For it to end I married a light skin man, my mother married a light skin man is just weird.

 

[Mizz Diamonds]

It was a good doc considering the budget and all I also felt they left out some things but good thing there were more documentaries made like "My Nappy Roots" and of course the book HairStory.

 

[LadyRaider]

Well... we are a pretty smart people. The video ends with the guy who made or at least paid for the video (or his daddy) bringing a "pic" from Africa.

I'm thinking my forefathers would have made a pic before 1965 if that was the answer to all his/our problems.

 

[LadyRaider]

This dude used to call me Aunt Jemima when I was in high school. He is now Railroad Commissioner in Texas. If you are in Texas don't vote for him. Lol.

 

[yaya24]

Thanks for sharing. I will watch the YT videos tonight

 

[awhyley]

^^^ Ditto, I'm subscribing in the hope that this thread continues.

 

[hillytmj]

Isn't Willie Morrow a millionare black hair care product guru? Since he's created several chemical products for black hair, I'm surprised to see him take a large role in this type of film.

 

[dachsies_rule!]

Wow, i had never heard of using axle grease or homemade relaxers on hair! It seems very painful and i'm sure without something to neutralize the lye, the hair and skin was damaged.