Hair and Race: How our Societies Target Black Women
Michel Foucault, a French philosopher, argues that a capitalist model, rooted in the West, functions with complementary power over bodies. The subjected “docile bodies” accept its authority seeking to fit their bodies along the lines of Eurocentric notions of an ideal beauty. The image, of course, is spread through colonization by the western powers. While colonial powers eventually withdrew their militaries, the capitalist economy and the ideas they spread continue to shape Black and Brown women’s struggle with the notion of beauty that is rooted in the colonization and enslavement. Holton’s idea that our hair is a border where individuals also express themselves means that the struggle for decolonization is also occurring in this space.
Black hair remains tied to social hierarchies and the reproduction of docile bodies that were introduced during colonization. Lupita Nyong’o, the actress in Us, encountered colonized hair in 2017, when a magazine wanted her hair to reflect “a more Eurocentric notion of what proper Black hair looks like.” Emma Dabiri, author of “Don’t Touch My Hair” also writes about her experiences growing up in Dublin; her hair “was an affliction” and “certainly something to ashamed of.” She constantly felt the Eurocentric pressure to straighten her hair or dye it a honey-blonde color. A recent article in BBC reported how a young Black girl was sent home because her afro “was too big.” Instead of feeling beautiful and confident about her appearance and identity, Black girls continue to deal with a social stigma associated with their hair.
Black girls’ emotions around their hair can be traced back to the trauma of enslavement of the Black community. In African civilizations, the hairstyles indicate a person’s tribe, but as Europeans entered the continent, they began policing the Black hair, calling it “dirty” as it did not conform to the European notion of a beautiful woman. Black women’s hair and skin color became a target of European slave owners as they forced them to shave it in order dehumanize them. Colonialism damaged the positive hair heritage and produced docile bodies by conditioning Black people to think their hair was a burden.
In the United States, the same Black women were subjected to further attacks upon their hair through the legal system. Tignon Laws (1789) practically outlawed Black women’s hair by demanding they cover their hair with fabric. These rules were meant to demean the Black population and keep them at a lower social status.
These laws were also meant to vanquish the beauty of the Black women. White supremist feared racial integration as beautiful hairstyles of Black women drew the attention of White men. White women were threatened by the beauty of Black hair which could obscure their own positions as reproducers for white men. As Holton writes, the hair follicles, color, and texture all acted as “potent cultural signifiers that colonize and socially construct the body and its placement in society.”
Yes, these notions remain. And some Black women continue to spend a lot of time manipulating their hair to get practical benefits in a prejudicial society. They need to do so to survive in a racist society! As Holton implies such acts are indicators of historical trauma within the Black body, which means that it is a performance of what Black women have experienced.
But, hair also presents an important border for decolonizing struggle, because unlike skin, it can be shaped, grown and restyled. Black women and men are engaged in a fight to reimagine beauty standards reproduced by capitalism. They are embracing their hair in all its natural beauty and relinking it to their African heritage. An animated film, Hair Love, funded by a Kickstarter campaign, celebrated a Black father who learns how to do his daughter’s hair. The film sent a message to children, especially Black girls, to embrace their beautiful hair in a world where Caucasian straight hair is deemed the norm. The film was later nominated for an Oscar.
Social media also provides a space for decolonizing. During lock down, many Black celebrities posted pictures of their natural hair with hashtags like #BlackandProud and #RockYourFro in order to continue the battle.
Black girls’ struggles with their hair is a reminder of the deeply embedded norms established by colonizing hierarchies that sought to subjugate them. But hair is also an important border that can challenge these norms. We all should make an effort to appreciate Black hair in any form in order to help remove the traumatic legacy, including those that try to fit into the mainstream norms. Let’s not ignore the messages hidden in our hairstyles and take our hair more seriously!