African American hair

African American hair, and African American hairstyles are the diverse ways that African American men and women style their hair. Because many black people have hair that is thick with tighter and smaller curls than people of other races, unique hair styles have developed. In addition to this, many black hairstyles have historical connections to African culture. Since hair is a distinguishing feature of African origins, western beauty ideals characterized black hair, especially the hair of black women, as un-attractive. The Black is Beautiful, movement played an important role in reversing these ideas in black communities.

Civil Rights Era

The Afro, which hit its stride in the 1960’s, was an expression of pride, connection, power, revolution and differentiation. The Afro first gained popularity with performers, artists, activists, gang members, youth and nationalists. Young people who did not adopt this trend were for the first time judged and subject to “blacker-than-thou” policing by their peers. African Americans began to use their hair as a way to showcase a link to their African ancestors and Blacks throughout the diaspora. The Afro, in conjunction with the Civil Rights movement, was helping to define black identity (Byrd and Tharps 2001: 51).

Some artists used their actual hair as an expression of art. In David Hammons’s American Costume, he pressed his own body onto paper to create an image of what being African American means and looks like. Like the way he crafted the hair on the work by applying fingerprints to the paper, during the 1960’s and 1970’s it wasn’t uncommon for Blacks to use chemicals to artificially kink their own hair if it wasn’t big enough.

Young Black Americans were ‘froing their hair in great numbers as a way to emulate the style of the Black Panthers and convey their racial pride. Although the Afro started in New York, it was Angela Davis in Chicago, an associate of the Black Panther Party, who pioneered the Afro as a political statement. In embracing naturalism, she glorified the Black aesthetic and facilitated its power to connect Blacks in Civil Rights movements. Her Afro became especially notorious because of its presence in her “Wanted” ad, as it was her most prominent identifier. It became a way to celebrate African-ness and embrace heritage while politically rejecting European ideals. Men and women in Chicago and beyond wore it as a way to support a proud way of carrying oneself in the world and occupying space.

Similarly, Wadsworth Jarrell’s Liberation Soldiers showcases Afros as almost halos. Combined with the shine present in the men’s coats, the painting conveys the spiritual aspect of trans-African culture. These men were seen as angels not only for their place in the Rights movement but also because of their naturalism and portrayal of Black heritage.

Origins

Since the beginning of African civilization, hairstyles have been used to convey messages to greater society. As early as the 15th century, different styles could “indicate a person’s marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, wealth and rank within the community.” Unkempt hair in nearly every West African culture was considered unattractive to the opposite sex and a sign that one was dirty, had bad morals or was even insane. Hair maintenance in traditional Africa was aimed at creating a sense of beauty. “A woman with long thick hair demonstrated the life force, the multiplying power of profusion, prosperity. A green thumb for raising bountiful farms and many healthy children,” wrote Sylvia Ardyn Boone, an anthropologist specializing in the Mende culture of Sierra Leon. In Yoruba culture, people braided their hair to send messages to the gods. The hair is the most elevated part of the body and was therefore considered a portal for spirits to pass through to the soul. Because of the cultural and spiritual importance of hair for Africans, the practice of having their heads involuntarily shaved before being sold as slaves was in itself a dehumanizing act. “The shaved head was the first step the Europeans took to erase the slaves’ culture and alter the relationship between the African and his or her hair”

After slavery

Hair straighteners marketed by white companies suggest to blacks that only through changing physical features will persons of African descent be afforded class mobility within African American communities and social acceptance by the dominant culture” (Rooks 1998: 177). At the time, wig manufacturers were the only companies that advertised an African American standard of beauty.

In Winold Reiss’s Brown Madonna, the Virgin Mother is shown with straight hair. Painted toward the beginning of the New Negro movement in 1925, the work showcased the sense of racial pride popular during the 1920’s and 1930’s. This classically white symbol of purity and virtue was created with dark skin, asserting the value and respectability of the Black race. This was a time when Blacks were creating their own successes in society and staking out a niche in the northern cities such as Chicago and Harlem. Part of their personal success at this time, however, was their perceived ability to assimilate, which is portrayed by mother’s unnaturally straight hair. Painted lines seem to radiate from the mother’s body, giving her an ethereal and heavenly affect. This type of figure—one with straight hair—was revered by Blacks and posed as an example to follow.