Hair is Hair

One feature that all races and ethnicities have in common is hair. Hair is defined as an aggregate of such filaments, as that covering the human head or forming the coat of most mammals. Everyone has hair. Just like skin color, hair comes in a variety of colors and textures. Some people have long hair. Some people have short hair. Some people have straight hair. Others have curly, coily, or kinky hair. No matter what texture, length, or color it is, hair is hair.

Hair is a broad topic amongst the African American community. There are so many things that we do to our hair. We wear braids, we relax it, we get extensions, or we wear it naturally the way it is. We can wear our hair any way that we want to without any issue because hair is hair. Well, in a perfect world, we could do whatever we wanted with our hair. Unfortunately, the way that black people wear their hair is not appealing to other races.

What is natural hair? Natural hair is the hair naturally coming from your scalp. There are no chemicals put on your hair. It’s the hair you were born with.

There are different textures of natural hair as well. Hair texture is categorized into numbers and alphabets. You have the numbers 1-4 and the letters a-c.

As you can see in the chart above, Type1 is straight hair. When we get to type 2 hair, it starts to section off into letters. Type 2 hair is wavy hair. Letter “A” hair is the least wavy and letter “C” hair is the waviest. Type 3 hair is curly hair and type 4 hair is kinky hair. If you look at the chart below, you will have a clearer understanding of what I mean.

It wasn’t until recently that wearing your hair naturally the way it was okay. Wearing your hair naturally the way it was caused problems for many African Americans. If your hair type was in the 4 category, you could forget about many job opportunities and other offers. It would not matter how qualified you were, if you did not change your hair, you would not get the job. Why is that? One of the main reasons is because kinky hair is not appealing to people of the white race. For many years, the white race was seen as superior to the black race. Typically, white people’s hair is straight and silky. This texture of hair is considered beautiful and it is the standard of beauty to many people. So, if you didn’t meet standard, that meant that you are not appealing enough for the position. So, in order for a black woman to get a decent job, she would have to straighten her hair by relaxing it or pressing it.

What is relaxed hair? It wasn’t until the 20th century that the idea of relaxers came about. A relaxer is a creamy chemical that is put on kinky or curly hair textures to make the hair straight. For some people, relaxers are necessary because it is easier for them to manage straight hair as opposed to curly or kinky hair. Others relax their hair in order to be appealing to the white community.

Why are braids an issue? Well just like natural hair, braids are not always appealing to white people. When black people wear braids, they are viewed as being “ghetto” or “hood”. Braids originated from the African culture, so why are black people criticized for being true to their culture? I recently attended a medical summer program for minorities. One of the speakers that spoke at the program was a black doctor. He noticed that one of the students in the audience had dreads and he told him that he had to cut them off. He explained to everyone that dreads and braids are not professional to employers, especially white employers. In the medical field, most of the administrative professionals are white. In order to get where you want, you must appeal to the white culture. He then told the student with dreads that once he reaches the level of success that he wishes to achieve, then he can wear his hair however he would like.

You can wear your hair however you want to wear it. You can dye it, you can straighten it, you can braid it, or you can wear it natural. Hair is hair…until you want to appeal to the professional society.

-Brenee’

#Brenee