Resistance and Empowerment in Black Women's Hair Styling by Elizabeth Johnson

Author:Elizabeth Johnson [Johnson, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Black Studies (Global)
ISBN: 9781409472872
Google: nfLKVB_JuKEC
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2013-07-28T03:21:23+00:00

Advertisements for Natural Hair Products

In March 2005, Essence ran an article by Tasha Turner “Tress to Impress”, where Turner offered suggestions of how one could have a more “professional” natural hairstyle. The article began with the statement, “Look like you mean business in head-turning styles that will take you up a notch” (Turner 2005). Four Black women with natural hairstyles were shown with ‘Before’ and ‘After’ photos and the ‘After’ photos represented “polished, corporate-ready and grown up” looks (Turner 2005). Noted in the article are suggestions for hair products to achieve the aforementioned looks, as well as increase the health of one’s hair – products by White-owned hair manufactures: Helene Curtis (owned by Unilever Inc.®, Proctor & Gambleâ, and L’Oreal®.

Being able to engage the selection of hairstyles and societal norms from a critical vantage requires full self-examination of how the trick-witchery was brought upon Black women through racial domination. Trick-witchery is a state of confusion where a clear definition or understanding is never presented. I am aware that dominant culture tries to get me to go in a particular direction. Even being cognizant of this, making a free and autonomous choice is not easy. Feminist interventions encourage women not to be bound by sexist images of females who are ultra-thin with dyed-blond hair as a norm (hooks 2000).

There cannot be freedom until Black women learn that marketers are actively targeting Blacks to make sales and do not necessarily have their best interests in mind. I note this point because true consciousness about hair styling choices goes further than a monetary value, though monetary expenditures for hair-grooming are costly. Deep and critical consciousness addresses why Black women subject themselves to the burning of chemicals, the possibility of hair loss, the possibly of scalp damage, and the possibility of their hair changing colors (separate from dye use), exposure to caustic fumes, all in the name of “freedom of choice”. What makes these advertisements work, in my opinion, is the greatest concern of years of internalized oppression which has shaped the Black identity from enslavement to the present and is passed on from generation to generation. The Black female population is, and has been, the most vulnerable to “othering” based on hair styling and grooming more so than any other population.

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