The Clean on Dirt

I absolutely love blogging. I love the excuse to read, research and learn. I love to take the information I read about and share it with others. Blogging is pretty cool! Blogging gives writers a chance to share their love of reading and writing for the sheer delight of it. I'm gonna use my love of reading to share with you a little bit about the truth on dirty hair.

Dirty hair is a very very touchy topic. As a matter of fact, talking about dirty or unclean, anything can be difficult. However, when you work in a business that requires you to clean and be clean, guess what? You can do it! So, here goes the clean on dirt.

Now, this blog is not limited to or is focused on women of color and women with textured hair only. But-ter-umm, the practice of not washing hair for weeks to months at a time is a practice that is predominantly used by women of color and women with textured hair. Why? Well, my research leads me to the answer that slavery is the culprit. Damn it! I know.

Kemsit, Nubian Queen of Kemet Pharaoh Mentuhotep II
(2061-2019 B.C). Queen Kemsit having 
her hair beautified by her servants.

Slavery is always going to be more difficult talk about than other topics because it evokes pain on the descendants of slaves and the descendants of the colonizers (thank you Shuri of Black Panther for bringing light to the word). There is nothing good about slavery. The effects of slavery have stained America forever and there is no way of avoiding the topic whenever America is discussed in the past, present or future. Unfortunately, even when it comes to dirty hair, the topic of slavery is responsible for yet another difficult topic in the making of America.

Now, getting to the point of dirty hair. It is to my understanding as a cosmetologist, there is a school of thought that has been passed down in some cultures of African American families and families of people with textured hair (some people with textured hair do not consider themselves Africans or descendants from Africa. But that is another blog) that textured hair should not be cleaned as often as people who do not have texture. The other school of thought is...the less texture (curly, kinky, wavy or Afro) one has in their hair, the more "they" can wash their hair. As an African kid raised in America, I was raised to shampoo and condition my hair weekly or more, especially during the summer when we went swimming. And my hair looked like Chaka Khan on steroids when I was a kid! So that captures a just a few scenarios around cleaning textured hair.

Well, the practice of not washing textured hair frequently is not a good one. It is no secret that when one of the most inhumane conquistador of all times, Christopher Columbus explored the sea to find the shortest route from Europe to Asia, he obviously had no sense of direction or what he was doing because he ended up in America. History tells us that according to his own journal in his own writing that he enslaved 6 natives on the first day upon them welcoming him and his cronies on their island. He wrote, "they make good servants." And within 60 years, that crook and his cronies physically enslaved thousands of Africans and killed some 250,000 indigenous people (Tainos)  with guess what? Rape, torture, lynching, disease and you guessed it, FILTH.  And from there, the White lie that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 to discover America began. To think some 526 years later, the American world leader proudly summons masses of people to do what? "Make America great again." Meaning?

Understand that when the slave trade began, they did not do so with slaves. No, Boo Boo Kitty, they did so with Africans who were stolen and captured. When they stole the Africans, they did what any typical thief does when they steal, they take what they need. And typical of any thief, they do not bring other things along that are of no use to them in the selling of their stolen items. Just ask any thief. When a person steals clothes, they don't steal the soap powder and the iron to care for the stolen goods. When a thief steals a car, he does not steal the gas to fuel it or the garage door opener to park it. No, he takes whatever he deems of value to sell on the black market. That was slavery. Slavery was not only about stealing Africans, it was very much about selling Africans as slaves. The slaves were not things; they were African people who were moms, dads, teachers, priests, chiefs, daughters, sons, grandmas, mathematicians, architects, scientists, doctors and more. So, when the Europeans stole these Africans from their homes to enslave them for sale for labor, trust me when I tell you, African hair care was not on the roster and neither was their soap.

Alata Samina or Ose Dudu a.k.a black soap

Soap was not on the roster because Europeans did not use it. We know that Greeks love to claim the fame of every damn thing. Let the Greeks tell it they are responsible for geometry, history, numbers and writing. That is not true. Claiming and owning or starting are three different things. When you read the history of cleaning (even on the internet), Google and the peeps who do that thing called "algorithms" would have the average scroller to believe that the Greeks invented and set the standard on civilization, including cleaning some time during the era of 300 BCE. And you know what? They're right. But guess what else those algorithms capture? If you search for it the right way? They reveal that meanwhile back in ancient Kemet (Egypt) on the Nile between the period of 9000 BCE to 300 BCE, way before the Roman Empire, Africans were hunting, gathering and growing their own food. They had dynasties, spirituality, writing and pyramids. They were sustaining on their own. It was the Greeks, Romans and Persians who entered into Egypt for help. They were in the "Dark Ages" the Medieval times. They had very little going on and needed help desperately.  Oh and soap may I unapologetically add! African and African American scholars such as John G. Jackson, Cheikh Anta Diop, Dr. Ben Yosef Johchannan, Dr. John Henrik Clarke and Anthony T. Browder, are writers on the history of ancient Kemet who all attest in their books that the birthplace of mankind and the start of civilization  began in the interior of Africa along the Nile Valley.

It is imperative for all people, regardless of age, sex, race, nationality, and texture of hair to know that cleanliness began in Africa. No such practice of not cleaning self and hair is in the history or practice of Africans and people with textured hair. Not cleaning hair as needed is a practice forced on enslaved Africans by Europeans slave masters and colonizers alike. Unfortunately, enslaved Africans were forced to drop and disown their lineage and lifestyle as Africans. They were demoted to labels and titles such as Negroes, Blacks, people of color and minorities.  As a result of that kind of mind control, rape and physical abuse that the enslaved Africans endured caused a "loss" of mind and their ability to identify with their homeland and lifestyle as Africans for hundreds of years afterwards to the present moment of me typing this blog.

Thus began the tragic practice and belief that descendants from enslaved Africans now called Blacks, people of color and minorities can not wash and comb our hair like Whites or people with less texture in their hair. In addition to creating soap, varying excavations of ancient ruins reveal that Africans even carved and made combs out of animal bones and wood. Today many believe that "Goody,"  "Diane," and "Dupont" invented combs. They did not.

The iconic ‘fist’ comb from the
1970s and a 5500 year old
comb from Abydos Egypt.
Taken at the origins of
the afro comb exhibition.
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 2013

Now we know that Europeans did not civilize the world as we know it.  Nor are they the creators and soap. We can now reveal just how the ancient Africans along the Nile created soap. Simple, they did so with the use of essential oils, plants, flowers, and vegetables! Soap in different parts of Africa is also known as Ose (black) Dudu (soap), Du Du Osun, Alata Samina, and Anago Samina. These different names for soap were the original cleansing products of choice for ages to follow. These soaps were not only for cleansing the body, they were also used for cleaning hair. Just as they were good for both during ancient times, they are also good for both now. Nothing against Dove, Caress, Lever and the likes; but Africans invented soap.

Again, the practice of washing hair and scalp every two weeks or months on out, is one that got its origins from slavery. Our ancestors from Africa knew the power of little and tiny; hence microbes. They knew bacteria was harmful and could kill, so cleaning was vital and essential. Cleaning the body along with the hair and scalp is something that is done daily, to three, or to once a week. The choice, of course, is yours. It is your body and your hair. You are free to do as you please.

Understand, that if you are touting yourself as a person who enjoys the freedom of "natural hair" and textured hair, as well as a person who enjoys the freedom of letting it (hair) be; do so in the knowing that "natural hair" is not limited to people of color or people with textured hair; it is everyone and everybody who has a scalp or and hair. This blog points to the interior of Africa along the Nile is where mankind started and where the African diaspora began. Understand that the scalp and every texture of hair need to be cleaned within 7 days. Failure to do so results in advanced hair loss, hair damage, hair breakage, balding and thinning. It also increases the financial gain of every hair care company you can imagine.

Co-washing, washing hair every two weeks, washing hair every month, dirt makes hair grow, and growing dandruff are simply more myths and lies planted in the heads of the descendants of European slave owners and colonizers. Unknowingly, the enslaved Africans passed the lies and practice to their children out of igorance and necessity. Washing hair with soap and water is the most popular way to clean hair. However, it is not the only way. You can also clean your hair and scalp with essential oils or an antiseptic using a cotton ball or white face cloth daily to control the growth of bacteria on the scalp and hair.

That is "the clean" on "the dirt" about hair.  The lies of Blacks and people with textured not having to wash their hair weekly or waiting every two weeks to clean their hair and scalp is not the way of us as a people according to history before slavery. It is nothing to brag and tout about as a practice of status, class, decorum, and hygiene for anybody regardless the race. What it is, is a preference. If that is your preference, it is your preference. The clean on dirt is not to make America great again by not washing your hair.

Love, peace and hair grease!

Nappy Hair

Stereotype. 

Is it me, but do you ever reflect back on those pivotal moments when you had those "A-ha Moments" in learning that were very fascinating? I still have them to this very day. When I was in the 6th grade, I was full of excitement to learn how to use different words to express myself. 

In reminiscing, nothing quite tickled my fancy that I can recall, like learning the word, "stereotype." Now, if my memory serves me correct, which it doesn't as I age, I recall thinking the word stereotype meant some kind of stereo. I just knew my guess could not be wrong. After all, I knew what a stereo was and I knew what type meant; so how could I have went wrong on that word? Boy, was I wrong. 

Since learning what stereotype meant, I've come to realize that it is just as real at 48 years old as it was at 11 years old. If it has been a while since you've read the definition of stereotype, let me refresh you. As defined in Websters, "stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing."

Being a hairstylist, stereotyping, unfortunately, is very commonplace. For example, it is not uncommon for a hairstylist to assume that a person is black if they have brown skin with textured hair. I highly recommend licensed hairstylists to do a thorough consultation. A consultation gives the professional  a chance to get to know the customer first before they even touch their hair. It is the consultation that reduces the likelihood of stereotyping. 

Artificial hair.

In no place do I see stereotyping like I see it in the hair industry. Stereotyping has moved from the eyes to the thoughts, to the pages and now to the computer screens worldwide. Words and images of "natural hair" being predominantly associated with women of color regardless the location. As a matter of fact, stereotyping is also changing the meaning of words. Stereotyping promotes the ignorance that "natural hair' is textured hair for Black girls and women. Funny, what about boys and men?

Yep, it's that bad. I was in the salon the other day and my new guest asked, "What is your take on natural hair? I notice in all that I read about you, you shy away from that word." I responded, "Well...if it grows from your head, it's natural." She was like, "Oh." I told her that I was not trying to be funny or not sensitive. I told her that I was being professional. In being professional, it is in one's best interest to avoid stereotyping. I doubt any customer I serve would find me credible if I asked if they had "natural" hair as I touch it or implied it wasn't natural because it was chemically altered. To me, that would not be professional. To me, that would be stereotyping.

For the record, a wig or weave in any fashion is the only hair that is not natural. It is sewn onto some sort of netting, weft or is attached to the natural fibers growing from your scalp in many ways from gluing, to sewing, to clipping them in, fusing and the likes.  Seriously, not much of hair styling can take place without some hair. Except In the many cases of people who can not grow hair, is on medication that causes them to lose their hair or for those who simply shave it off because they don't want any hair; then no hair it is. They may opt for a wig in the many ways they can be made. 

Natural hair! 

Natural hair is hair that grows from the scalp in the varying textures of curly, kinky, wavy, straight and Afro. Everybody of the same race or within the same family does not have the same hair. Natural hair is not a black thing. Textured hair is most certainly not a black thing. Natural hair that is chemically altered via straighteners, texturizers or hair color REMAINS natural. Just because it is altered does not mean that it is not natural. It means your hair is altered. Promoting altered hair as anything but natural is like saying, "If you wear makeup, earrings or put clothes on; you are not natural." 

For the record, hair is a pliable resilient fiber that you can safely do many things to alter it. Hair's chief purpose is adornment because adorning yourself is innate. The unknown desire to be cute or alter your appearance (hair included) is natural as scratching an itch! To be exact, they still have not found any scientific or biological reason why we have hair. Aside from the obvious theory of protection, research has not yielded anything profound about why we have hair.

If it grows from your scalp, it's natural.

Rather a person wants to braid, twist, loc, color, relax, perm, wave or weave their hair; it is still natural. Texture and race have nothing to do with determining whose hair is natural. Again, if it grows from the scalp or skin; it is natural. 

The deliberate act of excluding others who do not look like you is along the lines of discrimination, racism, classism, sexism. When you clump people together and assume they are all the same and share your sentiments is stereotyping. I professionally and deliberately do not do business with any hair company, styling tool manufacturer and hair stylists who overtly or indirectly incorporate stereotyping in their scope of service for financial gain. When it is at the expense of uninformed people, it makes my skin cringe. 

Natural Hair

As much as I am a fan of social networking, I do not like it when I see people stereotyping the phrase, "natural hair." Then they have the audacity to take it to another level by indirectly cyberbullying and using overt racism by promoting that "natural hair" is a black thing. That type of behavior is exclusive. Natural hair is inclusive. Most humans are designed to grow natural hair. Therefore, promoting it as exclusive to one race or textured hair group of people is not true. Exclusion is mean spirited. It scares people and it confuses people. 

This "natural hair" movement in some ways is not moving.  The "natural hair" movement has an element of rhetoric that misinforms, divides and hurts. It is rhetoric that takes advantage of people who want to belong. It misleads those who are looking for solutions to hair styling challenges. It is also rhetoric that has an element of a clique that only a certain photo filtered shades of brown with made up faces and innuendos of being "black enough" is natural. That is wrong on every level and you know it. 

If you cut us open, humans are
pretty much wired the same!

Stereotyping happens to me often. I once participated in a "natural hair" event and was questioned the "naturalness" of my race and hair because my hair was artificially colored blonde. My hair is still blonde. Regardless if my hair is artificially colored or not; I am a woman of color and my hair is still natural. Challenging a person's authenticity of naturalness based on the color of their skin or if their hair is chemically altered or artificially enhanced is preposterous.  Suggesting that girls and women must somehow be validated as "natural" by images that rarely looks like them when they wake up and get on with their day is uberly unrealistic. That challenge and suggestion give way to a belief that "natural" is carefree and automatic. Natural is never carefree and automatic. Natural requires time, creativity, care, attention, and patience. 

In conclusion, as a licensed hair stylist, I know for certain that "natural hair" really does grow from the scalp of all who can grow hair. I know that "natural hair" is not a black thing. It is a biological thing.