Black Hair Care

"Have you forgotten that once we were brought here, we were robbed of our name, robbed of our language. We lost our religion, our culture, our god...and many of us, by the way we act, we even lost our minds" is the quote so eloquently spoken by the late Khalid Muhammad on Public Enemy's track "Night of the Living Basehead"  from their album, "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back."

In this blog Ndogo, I too ask, "Have we lost our minds?"

What has taken place in hair care when people are in constant pursuit of hair styles and hair care practices that are not their own? What has taken place in hair care when something called a "natural" hair care movement is not moving? After all, if it grows from your scalp it is natural. Why are people going for this? Why are reports reflecting that Black women contribute every dollar to the billion dollar hair care industry that we only profit millions from? Why when their schools of cosmetology only include Black or White mannequins with straight hair to make curly? Why are people trying to tame the Afro? Why are people not wanting to care for the Afro? Why are people demanding acceptance of textured hair that has no choice but to be accepted? Why are people wanting a hairstyle that they can sleep on, wake up and do nothing to it? Why is it a Black, cultural or ethnic thing? Why is textured hair segregated from hair? Why do we have "ethnic" hair care aisles and hair care stores to shop from and they have "hair" care aisles hair care stores to shop from?

Answering these questions and talking about textured hair is far more taboo and dangerous than discussing AIDS, ISIS, cancer, trigonometry or debt and taxes. Why? Slavery. 

The beginning of bad hair care.

Yes, slavery. The effects of slavery are real in present day America. And no place is the effects of slavery more pronounced than in hair. The varying textures of hair in America is an overt admission everybody's connection to one another by way of physical and mental abuse at the hands of White slave owners. Nobody wants to go there. But, "there" is where we are! Somebody is going to have to admit that White men raped black women here in America. Somebody is going to have to admit that White men have always liked, loved and lusted after women of color before and during slavery. Somebody is going to have to admit that the varying hair textures are speaking. Textured hair says, Alkebulan; it says, "Africa!" Depending on your age or viewership, who can recall in 1977 when ABC-TV first aired "Roots?" Who can recall when Kunta Kinte was brought here in chains? Who can forget that savage vicious beating given to him from Massa to say his name was not longer Kunta Kinte, but Toby. We all watched as he was robbed of his name. He was robbed of his language. He lost his religion, his culture, His God...and he even lost his mind?" You know what else sticks out from that savage beating as he hung from the chains? His hair!  

As a cosmetologist, I witness first hand the impact of a "Kunta Kinte" beating via the loss of minds on thousands of predominantly African American and biracial miseducated and uneducated females as it relates to their hair. Many are not aware that their hair care practices and hair style desires. They have no clue as to why? They do not know why they wish to be tangle free. They do not know why they pray to the de-frizzing the Afro god to not make their hair so puffy. They beg to straighten the curls. They cry to curl the straight. Yell to lighten the black and fuss to darken the blonde. 

It all is a direct result of slavery. The slave owners were relentless in their pursuit to take away from us everything they could. This is not a perspective. This is a fact. And when a sect of Blacks displayed no desire to have anything to do with the imagery and care of hair like Whites, the Whites did not like that either. Black people would allow their textured hair to do what it would do naturally when it was not combed; lock. The Whites were so appalled, they called that hairstyle "dreadful." Hence, the phrase "dreadlocks." Umph, the nerve of them.

The impact of slavery is real. It can not get any more live and direct than KRS-One on stage at a hip-hop concert. No, my dears; the struggle is not real. There is no struggle when it comes to hair care for anyone of any race with any kind of texture on their hair. There is no struggle when many with textured hair search the internet for hours in search of a quick-fix to cleaning their textured hair or an easier method to styling their textured hair. There is no struggle when mothers want their daughters to automatically know how to care for their hair without allowing their daughter to share mirror and hygiene time with them in the bathroom/bedroom to show them how to do it. There is no real struggle when little boys know the intricate details of their mother's weave application. These little boys know where their mother's buy the hair from and at what cost. There certainly is no struggle when those with textured hair no longer want to even clean it. Instead, they want to replace soap with conditioners, oils or just plain old water. 

The movement?

Something is terribly wrong when a person convinces others of a movement in hair care called, "natural." Hair naturally grows from the scalp. Everybody knows that. Yet they are paying and watching to be told again. Something is terribly wrong when people profess to be doctors of trichology when it is clearly a certification for anyone who wants to pay for one. Something is wrong when consumers turn to YouTube for help with their hair as they sit in the waiting room of a hair salon to pay a hair stylist to do their hair. What is worse? When the hair stylist knows it. Something is wrong when the hairstylist gets angry with the customer for going to another salon. Something is wrong when the hairstylist demands full control of the customer's hair based on a school of thought called, "I have my license and you don't." No, my dear, this is not a movement or revolution. This is-Is. This is propaganda. This is learned helplessness. Not wanting to care for your hair is either a dislike of self, your hair or what it takes to care for and style your hair. Rather it is propaganda or learned helplessness; a dislike of self, hair or a dislike of what it takes to care for or style it; it all stems from slavery. 

To enslave a person, the slave master must physically and mentally hold and lock away a person as they rob that person of their identity and the connections to their identity. Upon being brought to the Americas in the 1600's, Africans were immediately robbed of both. The first thing slave owners did was physically maim and shave the heads of both women and men for one reason and one reason only; so they could not identify each other. 

Who's you daddy now?

White people had no such order in their culture. You see, our (Africans) hairstyles spoke. Of what, you ask? Our braided, wrapped, shaved, and locked hair spoke directly to our location in Africa and our position within a tribe. White people had no such order, pride and association within their culture. So what did they do to copy the Africans? Wigs. A la Louis the what's his name and ye old founding father, first president of the United States and lover of Black women, George Washington.  

To truly address textured hair, we are gonna have to address more than phenotypes, evolution theories and anatomy. It will require a level of awakening that only a rare few will want to see and explore in the 5th dimension.

We started this thing called "beauty."

Prior to slavery, only the deranged and grieved were excused for not combing their hair. Africans prided themselves in the varying cleaning, beautifying and grooming practices. The ancient practices of milk baths, hot oils, cocoa, shea and coconut butter, wig making, use of sea salts, earth salts, crystals, essential oils, plant and herb extracts and the use of clay from the earth to purify skin were all practices that were discovered and utilized by the Africans from all over before slavery was even a thought in the oppressors imagination. These cleaning, beautifying and grooming practices were passed down from generation to generation. Upon arriving in the America's, Africans were not allowed to wash, bath and clothe themselves. They were not allowed to do so until they were mentally and physically broken from their emotional, spiritual, cultural and physical ties to their culture.

By the time the slave owners and White America decided to allow us to do and show our hair; the effects of not being able to comb it and simply care for it had compromised the self-esteem and self-worth of millions of Black women and textured hair women for generations to come. Today, we are descendants of those enslaved. Some of us are descendants of those who were able to remember and pass down practices of hair care and hair styling; while some of us were not.

Today, there are many Africans and African Americans who live the tradition of kempt hair. I was brought up in a home who practiced the custom of knowing who was from whose family according to the style of their hair as our foremothers did prior to slavery. When I was a kid, I could walk into a home or store and often here someone say, "You must be Dean's daughter, your hair is always combed, neat and pretty!" or "You must be Ms. Louise grandbaby, cuz yo hair sure is pretty." I was brought up in a home where we were not allowed to answer the door if our hair was not combed. There were no terms of endearment for hair. Terms such as, "good hair, nice texture or baby hair" were not used. Instead, I was brought up, "Hair is good if you treat it good by way of cleaning it, combing it, braiding it or simply having it styled." 

What a euphemistic way to apologize for slavery.

Racism continues to be the scene stealer of slavery. We cover up and deny the generational and societal effects of slavery by blaming everything on racism. Naw bruh, no one is falling for the okey doke. The effects of slavery in America is real. You don't think so? Do not look at the color of a person's skin.  Do not look at their gender or religion. Do not look up their zip code. Forget about how much money they make. Just look at their hair; your hair. Rather you want to remember, forget the past, let it go or all get along; we are related in America by slavery. Forcing imagery and dominating what we see and hear can not smother what people are yearning to know about themselves and their hair. The truth. And something has to be done about it. Something has to be done about caring for textured hair regardless the race. And I am the person to tell it and offer real life solutions. Seeing as the racial lines are so blurred; the term race will probably be obliterated soon. But the blending of all humans reflects the love and lust of one another in more ways than the mere appreciation and inclusion of cultural diversity.

So, you can call this " is or it' whatever you want. Just don't call it, Black hair care.