Black women are constantly engaged in a battle with their hair
 In my opinion, black women are quietly fighting an internal and external battle over the natural texture of their hair.
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“My great granny always said, ‘If you want to know a black woman, you touch her hair. She said that is where we carry everything - all our hopes, our dreams, our pains.” - Novelette, Da Kink in My Hair
I have always been curious to find out the real reason why we Black women straighten our hair, whether it is through perming or the hot comb. This led me to research and complete an entire dissertation called, Why Black Women Hate Their Hair: A look at British, Caribbean and African-American Women.
The results I found were very telling. But this journey of research was not only about hair, but an opportunity to unravel what I believe are deep-seated insecurities we black women have had with our hair for thousands of years. I’m not just concerned about hair, I am more concerned about how we view and value who we are as black women.
For African Americans in particular, the natural texture of their hair emerged as a politic statement during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. The display of natural hair amongst black people during this period echoed, “I’m black and I’m proud.” It was not only symbolic in the movement against racial discrimination but also revealed a deeper, intimate need for black people to define themselves.
In my opinion, black women are quietly fighting an internal and external battle over the natural texture of their hair. The internal misery comes from negative influences within their race, that subtly and directly degrade wearing their hair naturally. The external battle is the influence of the media who constantly define beauty as something that appears to exclude the innate beauty of a diversified group of black women.
While I was born in The Bahamas, hair experiences for black women from the Caribbean are not that different from black women in other parts of the globe. If there is one thing that unites us, it’s our hair. If you are a black woman and have had your hair called, ‘kinky, nappy, hard, rough’, you know exactly what I’m talking about when I speak about the shame and embarrassment that was associated with this type of hair.
Depending on the time you grew up in; as a little black girl you’d have memories of sitting still while your mother used tons of grease and a hot comb to straighten your hair. I can still almost hear my mother say: “Don’t get caught in the rain!” We all knew once water hit our hair all those kinks would emerge. If not the hot comb process, you had the ‘Jerry curls’. And for others who didn’t have to get their hair straightened at all, you’re the exception when your Momma was happy that you weren’t nappy.
Let’s start from the beginning. The history of black hair all started on the plains of Africa. The territories where descendants of the African Diaspora were transported from into slavery are western and West Central Africa, that included countries like Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Gambia. According to the writers Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharps in Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America”, our ancestors through their customs and rituals regarded their hair as sacred.
Hairstyles were not just for adornment but symbolized religion, wealth, age, marital status and ethnic identity. It was at the brink of slavery when Africans were raped of their human dignity by European explorers. According to Byrd and Tharps: “One of the first things they did to their new cargo, was shave their heads.”
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