[cperciva]

Hair is a big deal for black women. We are constantly changing our hairstyles and spend 9 times more on our hair than any other demographic. We don't just get a regular cut or color our hair. We get drastic! We go from braids to weaves to cornrows and then to our own hair and then back again. Size, length, style, color, volume of hair, weaves and extensions all differ each time we change our hairstyle. And we do that often because of the nature of our hair.

As a white guy whose approach to hair basically amounts to "I want to be able to ignore it as much as possible", I'd love to understand this better. What is it about black (womens'?) hair which lends itself to a wide range of hair styles?

[John23832]

I think I get what you're trying to ask, so I'll try to answer (Disclaimer: I'm a black man).

When it comes to the "properties" of "black" hair (and I'm talking stereotypical black hair here, hair similar to my own... if you're talking "types of hair on the heads of black people", that's much wider ranging), it's the texture. While a lot of people might think of coarse, curly hair as unrully, that's generally the opinion of people who don't know how to "manage"/do/style it. Managing it's growth tends to make you think of pretty ingenious ways of styling (cornrows, dreads, twists, afros, perms, etc.)

Now if you asking "what is it about black hair" in a "why" sense... Well opinions about black people and their hair, both positive and negative, internal and external opinion, have influenced black hairstyles throughout the ages... but that's a wikipedia article for another day.

[whatok]

Recommend this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Hair

[phoboslab]

Interesting clip from Good Hair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCEX34-1o6M

[vidarh]

I'm white too, but have had a long term black partner and a mixed race son, and I have a few observations:

The thing that makes black hair complex is that the texture ranges from extremely tough and curly to as soft as "white" hair. I don't even need a comb when my hair is short - I can just run my fingers through it and it'll fall into place. My sons hair is much easier to comb than my partners and if we don't comb it extensively morning and night and use creams or oils to soften it, it becomes impossible to manage within a day or two.

So firstly a lot of effort goes into treating the natural hair simply to keep it manageable, ranging from "just" cutting it and applying various oils or creams, to using straighteners, to using harsh chemical relaxants (strong enough that you can severely burn your skin).

This partly depend on how thick/strong the hair is to begin with, and so different people rely on a wide range of different products (go into a store catering to black hair and you'll see more hair products than you thought possible...).

This already creates a lot of options that are complicated with white hair. E.g. just think of the stereotypical afro which would be pretty much impossible for someone with think, straight white hair like mine.

Next, where a lot of "white" hairstyles are focused on letting hair flow, this does not work well for a lot of black women without a lot of chemical relaxants etc., and so many of the hairstyles are based on keeping the hair down in various ways. There's an element of history of racism there too, in that hairstyles that emphasise the natural difference of hair texture have had a tendency to get criticised for deviating from white beauty norms.

Some of this has led to counter-reactions of hair styles that make use of the texture of black hair to make hairstyles that won't work with white hair.

Partly for this reason and partly due to the effort involved in treating black hair, there is also a lot more extensive culture for using extensions, braids, weaves etc. of synthetic or human hair because if done well it can last much longer, and if done quickly/cheaply it can be done with less preparation, and because it enables other hair styles. Use of chemical relaxants can also cause a lot of damage over time which makes the hair brittle and less likely to grow long, which can further make it more attractive to use various extensions.

Doing this can involve enormous effort if you can afford to take the time and pay the price. E.g. hours of taking out the old braids, hours of relaxing and straightening most of the hair to make it blend well, followed by hours of having someone tie in or glue in place hair extensions and optionally braid them.

Whenever my partner started doing this, I basically knew she would spend the entire day (getting up early, spending hours preparing, then going off to someone to have two people spending hours doing her braids, wrapping up late evening) sorting out her hair.

So it's an interesting area where there are a lot of opportunities both when it comes to styles, service providers and products.

And I'm sure I'm missing out on a vast number of details I've paid attention to.