The hair industry is one of the most lucrative and controversial for black women around the world. How we style it if we straighten or go natural it's been all about the hair! Lately the craze has been the locked look be it free formed loc's, sister-locks, or rasta locks there is a growing nation of loced and happy nappy heads arising. In the roaring twenties you know the flapper era sista's were pressing that hair so straight it would look like black glass.
The fear of looking like an African or not fitting in or just not wanting the tight kinky coil of the natural crown was more then enough reason to do something about it. Madam C.J. Walker and her hot comb was the first miracle and then a few decades later the relaxer was born! Chris Rock's movie "GOOD HAIR" is a perfect rendition of what we as black women go through all in the name of "GOOD HAIR"
In this blog you will find my personal journey and the journey of others like me who have chosen to free our selves and go natural or loc it up with out the terror and task of weave or relaxer. This article is one I found to be interesting.
July 23, 2008|By Charisse Jones Special to CNN
Historically, long, straight tresses -- along with pale, white skin -- defined beauty in the United States. Black women, our complexions the hues of a cocoa rainbow and our hair often kinky and short, didn't fit the Eurocentric ideal, and we were made to feel less soft, less lovely, less womanly.
Hair became a thing that we obsessed over, searing it into contrition with hot combs and lye, and assigning it the attributes of good (straight/wavy) and evil (naturally nappy.) Indeed, Madam C.J. Walker, a black woman widely regarded as America's first black female millionaire, earned her fortune devising products and techniques that made our hair "behave."
But while black women may spend the equivalent of a small nation's gross domestic product getting our hair woven, twisted, or permed, it is not sheer vanity that drives us. Rightly or wrongly, the broader world sometimes sees our hair as a window into who we are. Right or wrong, hair does matter. And as Michelle Obama, a black woman who may become the next first lady, undergoes scrutiny, some African-Americans believe there is no better time than now to examine how black women are frequently prejudged and mischaracterized.
Check out the links and product reviews along with hot topics on the journey to nappiness and add your view but please be kind keep in mind that for some this is still a touchy subject. If you are natural by all means give some feed back about your journey if you are still wondering about the trek to nappiness venture into the blogs and webzines and get informed!
In this blog you will find my personal journey and the journey of others like me who have chosen to free our selves and go natural or loc it up with out the terror and task of weave or relaxer. This article is one I found to be interesting.
July 23, 2008|By Charisse Jones Special to CNN
Historically, long, straight tresses -- along with pale, white skin -- defined beauty in the United States. Black women, our complexions the hues of a cocoa rainbow and our hair often kinky and short, didn't fit the Eurocentric ideal, and we were made to feel less soft, less lovely, less womanly.
Hair became a thing that we obsessed over, searing it into contrition with hot combs and lye, and assigning it the attributes of good (straight/wavy) and evil (naturally nappy.) Indeed, Madam C.J. Walker, a black woman widely regarded as America's first black female millionaire, earned her fortune devising products and techniques that made our hair "behave."
But while black women may spend the equivalent of a small nation's gross domestic product getting our hair woven, twisted, or permed, it is not sheer vanity that drives us. Rightly or wrongly, the broader world sometimes sees our hair as a window into who we are. Right or wrong, hair does matter. And as Michelle Obama, a black woman who may become the next first lady, undergoes scrutiny, some African-Americans believe there is no better time than now to examine how black women are frequently prejudged and mischaracterized.
Check out the links and product reviews along with hot topics on the journey to nappiness and add your view but please be kind keep in mind that for some this is still a touchy subject. If you are natural by all means give some feed back about your journey if you are still wondering about the trek to nappiness venture into the blogs and webzines and get informed!
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