The Commodification of Black Women’s Hair
The politics of Black women’s hair can be traced back centuries, but the commodification has become especially dangerous within the last thirty years. The fear and shame associated with Black women wearing their hair in natural, unaltered hairstyles has been ingrained from childhood. The issue could also be considered an extremely gendered topic, as Black men do not have nearly as harsh of guidelines and criticism for their hairstyle choices. It has become a sort of ritual for adolescent Black girls to learn all the secrets to creating “good” hair, that which fulfills white ideals of beauty. In addition, the age for this rite of passage has progressively become younger and younger, as women expose their …show more content…
Capitalism is most effective when people do not take the time to really think about enjoying their lives, but rather by working relentlessly to obtain all the materials needed to create a specific lifestyle that is sold to them. Black women often succumb to societal norms to avoid nagging, jokes, jeering, and ostracism they may experience. Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, a Black sixteen year old girl, created media frenzy after people bashed her hairstyle on social media networks. Even her elevated status as an Olympic gold medalist athlete did not keep her immune from the torture inflicted upon Black women in regards to their hairstyles. The fact that she was only a teen did not matter; people still called her unimaginable names and disregarded her athletic talent and accomplishments. Her identity was defined by her supposed inattention to her hairstyle, instead of the extraordinary skills she was focused on. The harshest comments came from the Black community, as these ideas are unfortunately internalized. Black feminist scholar Audre Lorde would have called this yet “another example of Black people being used to testify against other Black people, using our enemies’ weapons against each other, judging each other on the color of our skin, the cut of our clothes, the styling of our hair. How long will Black women allow ourselves to be used as instruments of oppression against each other? … What does it mean, Black people practicing this kind of self-hatred with one another?” (qtd in Byrd, Cole and Guy-Sheftall
The politics of Black women’s hair can be traced back centuries, but the commodification has become especially dangerous within the last thirty years. The fear and shame associated with Black women wearing their hair in natural, unaltered hairstyles has been ingrained from childhood. The issue could also be considered an extremely gendered topic, as Black men do not have nearly as harsh of guidelines and criticism for their hairstyle choices. It has become a sort of ritual for adolescent Black girls to learn all the secrets to creating “good” hair, that which fulfills white ideals of beauty. In addition, the age for this rite of passage has progressively become younger and younger, as women expose their …show more content…
Capitalism is most effective when people do not take the time to really think about enjoying their lives, but rather by working relentlessly to obtain all the materials needed to create a specific lifestyle that is sold to them. Black women often succumb to societal norms to avoid nagging, jokes, jeering, and ostracism they may experience. Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, a Black sixteen year old girl, created media frenzy after people bashed her hairstyle on social media networks. Even her elevated status as an Olympic gold medalist athlete did not keep her immune from the torture inflicted upon Black women in regards to their hairstyles. The fact that she was only a teen did not matter; people still called her unimaginable names and disregarded her athletic talent and accomplishments. Her identity was defined by her supposed inattention to her hairstyle, instead of the extraordinary skills she was focused on. The harshest comments came from the Black community, as these ideas are unfortunately internalized. Black feminist scholar Audre Lorde would have called this yet “another example of Black people being used to testify against other Black people, using our enemies’ weapons against each other, judging each other on the color of our skin, the cut of our clothes, the styling of our hair. How long will Black women allow ourselves to be used as instruments of oppression against each other? … What does it mean, Black people practicing this kind of self-hatred with one another?” (qtd in Byrd, Cole and Guy-Sheftall