New York Times Article on Black Hair

[keriplz]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/fashion/27SKIN.html?_r=1

The same decades long debate, but I found it interesting nonetheless. Just wanted to share. I think I might use this article for my Mass Media class.

 

[Sugarshoc]

I just read this this morning and it is interesting. I have yet to listen to the audio clips.

 

[cutiebe2]

could you copy and post? I don't have nytimes subscription

 

[ceebee3]

Here you go



Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics

By CATHERINE SAINT LOUIS

SILKY straight hair has long been considered by many black women to be their crowning glory. So what if getting that look meant enduring the itchy burning that’s a hallmark of many chemical straighteners. Or a pricey dependence on “creamy crack,” as relaxers are sometimes jokingly called.

Getting “good hair” often means transforming one’s tightly coiled roots; but it is also more freighted, for many African-American women and some men, than simply a choice about grooming. Straightening hair has been perceived as a way to be more acceptable to certain relatives, as well as to the white establishment.

“If your hair is relaxed, white people are relaxed,” the comedian Paul Mooney, sporting an Afro, says in the documentary “Good Hair,” which won a jury prize at the Sundance film festival and comes out in October. “If your hair is nappy, they’re not happy.”

The movie, made by Chris Rock, explores the lengths black women go to get long, straightened locks, from a $1,000 weave on a teacher’s salary to schoolgirls having their hair chemically relaxed.

In the face of cultural pressure, the thinking goes, conformists relax their hair, and rebels have the courage not to. In some corners, relaxing one’s hair is even seen as wishing to be white.

“For black women, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” said Ingrid Banks, an associate professor of black studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “If you’ve got straight hair, you’re pegged as selling out. If you don’t straighten your hair,” she said, “you’re seen as not practicing appropriate grooming practices.”

Anyone who thought such preconceptions were outdated would have been reminded otherwise by some negative reactions to the president’s 11-year-old daughter, Malia Obama, who wore her hair in twists while in Rome this summer. Commenters on the conservative blog Free Republic attacked her as unfit to represent America for stepping out unstraightened.

Although legions of black women in America straighten their hair (including Michelle Obama), hair salons specializing in natural styles have proliferated, and more black women are working with their virgin hair. Many wear their twists, locks or teenie-weenie Afros (known as TWAs) with an attitude — proud to have not given in to the pressure to straighten hair. In “Good Hair,” Nia Long, the actress, describes the conventional wisdom that straightened hair is more desirable: “There’s always a sort of pressure within the black community, like ‘Oh, if you have good hair, you’re prettier or better than the brown-skinned girl that wears an Afro or the dreads or the natural hairstyle.’ ”
For some, the battle lines are drawn.

But in recent interviews, a number of people of color expressed a weariness with the debate. They asked, essentially: Why can’t hair just be hair? Must an Afro peg a woman as the political heir to Angela Davis? Is a fashionista who replicates the first lady’s clean-cut bob really being untrue to herself?

“I am who I am regardless of how I wear my hair,” said Tywana Smith, an owner of Treasured Locks, a Web site devoted to upkeep for relaxed and natural hair. “I want my kids to be seen for who they are, not for how they wear their hair,” she added. “Whether they walk down the street with twists or braids, they aren’t making any other statement other than ‘Today I felt like twists.’ ”

Assumptions about the motives for straightening or wearing hair natural aren’t as easy to make as they once were. During the last presidential campaign, Noliwe M. Rooks, the associate director of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton, had many conversations about what it meant when the hair of Sasha and Malia Obama was pressed straight. “Unlike earlier times,” the conclusion wasn’t “clearly she had sold out, or she’s saying straight hair is better,” Professor Rooks said. “There’s a complexity to who we are now. There wasn’t an easy answer to why.”
Afua Adusei-Gontarz, 30, of Brooklyn, wore her hair natural for five years in a French braid, two-strand twists or a puffy ponytail. But she doesn’t think those looks made her more authentically black. “If you have natural hair, you’re considered more real, or in touch with your African-ness,” said Ms. Adusei-Gontarz, an assistant editor at Columbia University Press.
She rejects that thinking: In Ghana, her older relatives relax their hair — as she does now but for convenience — and “it’s more the newer generations who have natural hair.”

Last year, sales of home relaxers totaled $45.6 million (excluding Wal-Mart), according to Mintel, a market research firm, a figure that has held steady in recent years. So many African-American women use relaxers or a hot comb to get a straight look temporarily that not doing so can require courage. Online where black women discuss hair, commenters may support the natural look for strangers but don’t adopt it, said Professor Rooks, the author of “Hair Raising: Beauty, Culture, and African American Women.” I’m not brave enough, they write — it’s so wonderful that you can accept yourself as you are.

The “good hair” issue has almost always skewed toward women. Black men with highly textured hair have long had a convenient, socially acceptable option: a close trim. Many black women get into the habit of relaxing hair as girls — when the choice is made by their mother or another relative — so changing the status quo as an adult can be difficult.
For many people no matter their race or hair texture, accepting yourself “as you are” is a high bar. The history of beauty is one of dissatisfaction and transformation: brunettes become blondes; white women get their curly hair Japanese-straightened. To go from short to shoulder-length and back again, celebrities from Britney Spears to Queen Latifah use weaves, which require a stylist to sew or to glue someone else’s hair into tracks on the scalp.

So why, asks Brian Smith, who runs TreasuredLocks.com with his wife, Tywana, is a hairstyle a “political or social statement” primarily among African-Americans? He has had customers implore him to stop giving hair-care advice to people who use relaxers because “you’re helping these women sell out.” But he and his wife, who now twists her hair herself after years of relaxing it, don’t take sides.

The term “natural” is itself problematic, said Professor Banks, the author of “Hair Matters: Beauty, Power, and Black Women’s Consciousness.” She recently spent 14 months in black-centric salons in five cities researching a future book. Natural hair salons don’t offer chemical straightening or weaves. But she found “a great deal of coloring in natural hairstyling, thereby challenging the ‘chemically free’ label.”

Oddly, Patricia Gaines, the founder of Nappturality.com, a pro-natural Web site, points out that dyeing one’s Afro puffs or double-strand twists blond isn’t viewed as conforming to a Euro-centric look. “It’s never been about color with black women,” she said, referring to the tint of one’s hair. “If it’s blond hair and it’s nappy, it’s still nappy.” (A term she uses proudly, though some use it as a slur.)

For Professor Banks, making a choice is crucial, not the resulting hairstyle. “If a black woman makes a choice to relax her hair, or to cut all her hair off, or just do nothing to it, it’s empowering to make that choice,” she said, noting that black women on plantations didn’t have that luxury.
Shayna Y. Rudd, of Washington, wore a past-her-shoulders weave to have a better shot at the Miss America title. She said an adviser gave her two choices: imitate Beyoncé’s long luscious look or Jada Pinkett Smith’s flowing mane. “I couldn’t be who God wanted me to be,” Ms. Rudd, 24, said ruefully. “I didn’t win. My spirit was crushed.”

She has since sworn off relaxers and extensions; instead, she occasionally presses her tight-curled hair and slicks it into a bun, which is what she did earlier this month when she won the title Miss Black USA. (She bested 28 other contestants, only 3 of whom wore their hair natural.) “Don’t buy into anyone else’s standard, set your own,” Ms. Rudd said.

 

[SweetSpirit86]

Very interesting article, but like you said...a time-old topic. I love to read these because I like knowing how others think about things outside what is already in my head. Like an extension to my own mental confirmation.

When I went natural, it wasn't all "Oh em gee, relaxers are the devil!! Anyone who uses them isn't black!" For me, it was more...I'm tired of these chemicals, and it never occurred to me that my hair COULD be worn it's natural state. It's always been "Girl, them roots look ROUGH! You KNOW you need to slap a relaxer on 'em!" So I did. My DD is 7 years old, and from the day she was born, I swore not to put chemicals on her head. Why is it that I could make such a hefty decision for her without blinking, but I couldn't do so for myself?

I've spent the past 7 years asking myself this, but I didn't have the guts to do something about it until 3 months ago. I don't feel relaxers in themselves are so much the problem with our people so much as the mentality that (outside hair boards) comes with it. Natural hair needs to be "fixed." It is "unacceptable," or "unprofessional." Bite me. What comes out of my scalp is fine how it is as long as I take care of it. If a woman so chooses to relax her hair because it is convenient for her, that's her business.

For me? If I ever relax again, it will be because I prefer to wear my hair straight 90% of the time, and do not wish to subject my hair to constant heat/manipulation to achieve this look. It will -not- be because I do not know how to care for my natural hair, which is what I still believe is part of the main consensus for relaxed women.

 

[MonPetite]

Beating a dead horse, much?

 

[30something]

Nice article! I like that the article mentions that people are getting weary of this debate, I'm weary with the debate also. I never seen an article about black hair care, that actually took a note to this.

 

[Sugar]

Beating a dead horse, much?

That poor horse is never gonna get a chance to rest in peace...

 

[naijamerican]

I really don't see this as beating a dead horse. Perhaps it is here in the LHCF community, and that's because we're already a self-selected group who is interested and invested in bettering the health of our hair. But for many women of color in the real world, hair - regardless of the state it's in - is an issue fraught with internal conflict, tension, etc. Personally, I think this was a well-written article and I like the fact that they included such a wide variety of opinions in it.

 

[Bunmi]

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

 

[aquajoyice]

What is even more interesting is reading the responses that some of the readers posted. I posted one and began reading others and there are a lot of people that identify this as a human issue and not just a "black thing". One white woman gives examples in her own life about dyeing and perming her hair to achieve a certain look because she didn't like her own hair. And that this is true for all not just one race. It's really good reading

 

[FluffyRed]

bumping to read later

 

[naijamerican]

bumping to read later

I am so mad at that image. Please, please stop the madness.

Please!!!

 

[bludaydreamr]

Very interesting article, but like you said...a time-old topic. I love to read these because I like knowing how others think about things outside what is already in my head. Like an extension to my own mental confirmation.

When I went natural, it wasn't all "Oh em gee, relaxers are the devil!! Anyone who uses them isn't black!" For me, it was more...I'm tired of these chemicals, and it never occurred to me that my hair COULD be worn it's natural state. It's always been "Girl, them roots look ROUGH! You KNOW you need to slap a relaxer on 'em!" So I did. My DD is 7 years old, and from the day she was born, I swore not to put chemicals on her head. Why is it that I could make such a hefty decision for her without blinking, but I couldn't do so for myself?

I've spent the past 7 years asking myself this, but I didn't have the guts to do something about it until 3 months ago. I don't feel relaxers in themselves are so much the problem with our people so much as the mentality that (outside hair boards) comes with it. Natural hair needs to be "fixed." It is "unacceptable," or "unprofessional." Bite me. What comes out of my scalp is fine how it is as long as I take care of it. If a woman so chooses to relax her hair because it is convenient for her, that's her business.

For me? If I ever relax again, it will be because I prefer to wear my hair straight 90% of the time, and do not wish to subject my hair to constant heat/manipulation to achieve this look. It will -not- be because I do not know how to care for my natural hair, which is what I still believe is part of the main consensus for relaxed women.

ITA. I stopped relaxing for the the very same reason, and found the site because of my lack of knowledge. I think it probably was one of the best things I have done for myself. Thanks for your comment!

I am so mad at that image. Please, please stop the madness.

Please!!!

LMAO!

 

[Sugar]

I really don't see this as beating a dead horse. Perhaps it is here in the LHCF community, and that's because we're already a self-selected group who is interested and invested in bettering the health of our hair. But for many women of color in the real world, hair - regardless of the state it's in - is an issue fraught with internal conflict, tension, etc. Personally, I think this was a well-written article and I like the fact that they included such a wide variety of opinions in it.

I think its well written, but I seem to keep running into this same discussion online and IRL almost every few days on messageboards, list servs, with my sorority sisters, facebook, etc. To me hair is just an accessory and not a political statement or an expression of my culture/race. So these discussions and articles are like beating a dead horse for me.

 

[JinaRicci]

I find the article interesting.

I think these discussions are still relevant particularly since we have a Black family in the White House- representing America yet people actually consider the natural hair styles of that Black family's little girls as not representative of America!!! erplexed In the same way, we also need to keep pushing for racial/ethnic equality even though we have a Black President right.

Some people w/in the Black community may not need to keep talking about this... that's understandable. They're in a different place after dealing with this for such a long time. But it seems that for the vast majority of the American public, this needs to continue to be addressed... worthy of a NY times feature.