It’s also interesting that the pursuit of “good” hair has created a global market for human hair.

Interestingly, this goes the other way too. My girlfriend tells me that whenever someone on a dreadlocks forum she reads cuts off their dreads, there's lots of demand from others who would like to sew/weave the established dreads into their own hair.

http://thehairtrader.com/viewlisting.asp?lid=245428

On a side note, wow that hair trader site! $2k for a head of hair.

Cultural preferences toward lighter skin color sprout from lots of circumstances.

In China and India light skin is considered a social indicator, as the laborers and field workers often have dark skin as a result of working in the sun all day.

In turn, society's ultimate gag is that truly light-skinned people are compelled to roast themselves in cancer machines or under the big radiation ball to conform to the idea of beauty.

Wow this is interesting ... It looks like a good documentary, I always thought it was interesting how black women keep their hair. I myself am mixed race, black and white but I always keep my hair as natural as I can I think its quirky and fun.

The first clip doesn't work from the Netherlands: "The video you are trying to view is currently not available or can not be viewed in your region. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

"Good Hair ft. Chris Rock- HD Official Trailer" on youtube which does work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m-4qxz08So

If only everyone could be so enlightened on this subject.

http://www.pajiba.com/trailers/good-hair-trailer

"It’s about … it’s about female African-American hair. Weaves and straighteners and, I dunno, hair. About its socioeconomic role in African-American circles and … hmmm. I love you, Chris Rock. But a documentary on hair? Really?"

The Chris Rock movie looks hilarious and very valuable socially. I wish I had a better understanding of the social pressures involved. The 1970s were supposed to change the straightening requirement, though it obviously didn't last. I wonder if there was some equivalent of the anti-feminist backlash against afros or if it was more of an economic pressure to "fit in" and to what extent the change was engineered by the beauty industry. Can't wait until it comes out.

Saw the other on Racialicious and couldn't bring myself to watch it again. Racist idiots.

(looks like someone else goes by Kelly now, so I'll just go by Other Kelly)

'Not that I can ever claim to understand what black women face every day when it comes to their hair, but as a white girl born with extremely frizzy, curly red hair, I was harassed about my appearance throughout my entire childhood. The other children constantly told me I was ugly, and as a result, I eventually became very depressed as a child since as a girl I was told that my only value was in my appearance.

When I got a bit older, I tried expensive chemical straighteners, but they didn't work very well and only served to calm my hair down a little bit. These days I just try to accept my hair, but it's still difficult when I'm constantly bombarded by images that tell me that beautiful hair is straight hair (Or straight hair that has fake waves added with an iron and passed off as "curly"!) People will still come up to me and say things like "Oh, you'd be so cute if you just took care of that mess on top your head, girl."

Joshua: I'm reasonably sure that the amount of demand for dreadlocks is nothing compared to that for straight hair.

Chrisriane: Not everyone wants "quirky" hair. They want to be able to wear their hair more naturally in a way that is seen as normative.

Trabb's Boy: I think one reason for the death of the afro was that it wasn't that flattering on some people and it was kind of limiting, especially with the products and haircare methods of the day. Plus, some African Americans didn't want to look "exotic," which is what the Afro-and-dashiki look usually conjured up. Even if you were wearing a crewneck sweater with an Afro you got the "African Queen" treatment from some ignorant people.

The natural styles today are another stab by African Americans at developing a more natural, American look.

I've been wearing my hair without any relaxer for a couple of years, but every day I worry that it's not sufficiently professional looking.

To Sue's comments: I wear mine without relaxer either (I'm mixed, it tended not to go well), though my worries are about color. I've had a fauxhawk in the past, though most of the time it's wavy and short... though I dye it blonde. To me, blonde is equivalent to dying my hair green or blue, because naturally it wouldn't happen, but I still question the idea of women of color with naturally dark hair (latina, indian, east asian, black) adopting this color.

I've given this issue some thought in the past, but as a white male with straight hair, I didn't really figure it my business to push the issue (except to encourage any friends I have with "abnormal" hair to sport it with pride). I'm really glad Chris Rock has grabbed the mantel on this--it will benefit from his legitimacy as a comedian and intelligent social commentator.

As an aside but related. I'm perturbed by the ubiquitous use of product, dye and extensions amongst all women. Note, I'm not perturbed that they use these things, but that it's not really acceptable that they not.

When I was a sophomore in high school, my English teacher had us read an expert from the Autobiography of Malcolm X about the first time he got his hair conked.

The experience sounded so dreadful. I could not believe that people did that just to have straight hair, and they wanted straight hair just to look more white! My first thoughts about it were that it was obviously stupid of them and that I would never do such things, but the teacher kept on the subject and managed to communicate the kinds of unavoidable pressures black people had (and still have) to look and act more "white." Then I realized how lucky I was that I didn't have to do anything at all in order to obtain the advantages of socially acceptable and "professional" hair, and that was one of my first encounters with understanding my own privilege.

In short, I am glad that Chris Rock is doing this.

Alicia:

I have no problem with women of color dying or highlighting their hair blond

1)If it looks good;

and

2) if it's a real choice, as in I'm doing this for fun or because I think it'll make me look attractive, not I MUST do this and have stick-straight hair to be accepted.

I also have patience for the women with natural hair who attack women with relaxed hair (for the uninitiated, there are many blogs on this) especially if those women work in conservative environments; in such places, a professional may well not want to risk her professional standing because of the admittedly ridiculous attitudes of the whites (usually males) in charge. With all the obstacles they already face, they're not going to hand someone a reason to be disrespected.

We all have to keep doing whatever works with our hair, budget, and lifestyle and hopefully in time some good styles will evolve that will be acceptable everywhere.

Although I'm trying to spend less time on the web, I sent an email of complaint to KGB, with the question:

"Guess who's not going to be using this service because of this racist commercial?"

It never ends, does it?

Sorry, should have been:

I also have NO patience

I put up a note at the end of the post about mixedchicks.net, which provides some really great instructions for reducing frizz--my fellow curly-haired readers might want to check it out. I actually get compliments on my curly hair since I started doing what they suggest on the site. I'm annoyed that it took me 33 years to find out a good way to do curly hair.

chuk:

We'll give up the hair dye when the culture gives up ageism and sexism.

Really, it should be a choice. And those isms aside, some people look good with silver hair, some don't.

Since you raised the issue, I'm really concerned with the overuse of Grecian Formula 44 amongst men. Or maybe they're just using black and brown shoe polish, I don't know. I see too many men walking down the street who look like aging heroes straight out of the comic book.

I'll check out the video, but I've tried Mixed Chicks in the past, which I thought were good, but not great. (The success of these products is a highly individual phenomenon.)

After trying scores of products, my best results to date have been with Wen Fig cleansing conditioner. http://www.amazon.com/WEN-Fig-Cleansing-Conditioner-16oz/dp/B0006Q3NTS

I also like the DevaCurl line, and I'm getting my hair cut at the Devachan salon this week.
http://store.devachansalon.com/Categories.bok?category=DevaCurl

http://www.devachansalon.com/

Afrobella is a good source for hair products. www.afrobella.com

So is Naturally Curly, but for some reason I can't get on the site.

I've been told a few times that I should try to go to a salon that has a lot of customers from the Dominican Republic because people from there tend to have a mix of hair textures. Plus, it would be relatively cheap. I'm trying to get a recommendation.

Sue,

I'm pretty sure that this statement of mine--"Note, I’m not perturbed that they use these things, but that it’s not really acceptable that they not"--is trying to capture your main point in your first comment, and the problem with what you allude to in your reply to me, as ageism and sexism. And, if this was a thread about standards of male beauty, I would gladly present the same view there.

Thank you for your input :)

Thanks, Gwen. I'll check out the link. Right now I just slather my hair in mousse and only wear it in a ponytail. I'm tied of doing that, and it's damaging to my hair. I'd like to wear it down sometimes.

One of my friends used to send me random catalogs for things I would never need or want. Being white with enough hair of my own, one was a catalog of wigs aimed at black women. I flipped through and noticed that almost all the wigs had straight or somewhat wavy hair. Almost none that were curly or kinky.

I'm suddenly having a flashback of the "Family Guy" episode where Stewie asks to touch Cleveland's hair (that time-honored tradition of petting black people) and remarks excitedly that "it's like a sheep!"

I'm Alaskan Native with super straight hair (Imagine pipe cleaners or when you get a hair cut you have actual splinters from your hair), and when it gets to about 2 or so inches it's still sticking straight out. I call it the "Na-fro".

"In China and India light skin is considered a social indicator, as the laborers and field workers often have dark skin as a result of working in the sun all day."
I believe this was true pretty much everywhere.

i'm a young african american woman.

i have had relaxers, weaves, and currently wear my hair natural.
i love the versatility of my natural hair.

I've dyed my hair blonde and currently its a deep pink.

hair for me is more of an accessory/adornment so i experiment.

i am proud to have 'nappy' hair. relaxers damaged my hair and made it break off i'm never going back there.

more power to all of the women who embrace their natural hair texture from straight - kinky. and experiment in color and style :)

Why is the KGB commercial racist?

I started relaxing my hair when I was too young to really know about it. It was what parents did to their little girls when they got to a certain age. I was forced to stop after all the damage kept accumulating, and I've stayed natural ever since. Like 6 years later and I still have some family members asking me if I'm sure I don't want to relax it again, and are so shocked that I'm planning on living the REST OF MY LIFE with my hair like this. The horror! I want to keep my hair the way it was made! I must be insane!

Seriously, it's a zillion times more versatile now than it was then. It never wanted to stay down on my head, so I always had to wear it in a scrunchy because it would go up then down. The only time it would stay perfectly flat was right after a relaxer, but as soon as I got in new growth that was it. Tied up all the time. Now with natural hair, I can do whatever I want. I can gel it and have the curls show, or comb it and give myself a cute fro, braid it, twist it, and even temporarily straighten it if the mood strikes (it often doesn't, that takes too much effort). I can have wash and go hair. So many people take that for granted.

I suggest that anyone with a hair texture they can't seem to figure out needs to search the internet, some great sites were mentioned that definitely helped me in the past. You have to talk to people with similar hair textures. One of those places for curly hair explains the labeling system for curls (I think my hair is like from a 3b to 4b, can't remember and too lazy to check) to you can learn from those with similar hair.

Oh, I've gotten the "can I touch your hair" thing so many times I can't even count, but the truth is if more black (or black and something else mixed in) people kept their hair natural, it wouldn't be such a mystery to non-blacks. Be glad people at least ask, so you have the chance to say no! I always say, "yes, but only if I can touch yours, too." They usually kind of see how absurd it is to ask someone to touch their hair, and I figure we both get to feel a new hair texture as a result.

Wow, I had way too much to say on this. So to change the subject, anyone see the KGB commercial where the guy wants to buy a bra for his girlfriend? These people put absolutely no thought into their commercials, I'm guessing. Unless their goal is to shock and offend. In that case, they win.

"African-American hair"

Yes, because as we all know, an African's hair goes through drastic changes as soon as she gains US citizenship.

I'm a teenage white girl with practically a blonde afro. This confuses people as much as you'd think it would. When I was little it wasn't as curly, still curly but not as much. From the ages of about 5-12 I wore it in plaits, because otherwise it got really hard to comb through. Then, a couple of years in bunches. Now I just wear it out. It's been interesting for me though - I've always quite liked my hair, except for it getting so tangled. I've never minded how it looks because before I was too young to care, and now I'm involved in the punk scene so looking different is never going to be an issue, and people love my hair. The only people who don't seem to like my hair are some black people - I've got bullied about it by kids at school, coming up to me and saying it looks like I don't wash/comb my hair or asking why I don't straighten it. Having said that, most of my white friends do do the patronising 'Ooh, can I touch it?' thing...

My curly hair product recommendation is Aveda's Be Curly.

This whole thread is really interesting to me, since I have straight hair that canNOT be curled. The only way for me to curl it - twisting it into shape while it's wet and then letting it dry and stay in that shape for several hours - is not conducive to making the kind of curls that you see on models. I've had a lot of people with curly hair tell me that they are jealous of my hair and, after this thread, I can see how a lot of women with curly hair would say that, yet I'm jealous of the fact that their hair curls! Still, I guess it is "better" to have the most acceptable kind of hair.

Back on topic more, I can't wait to see the Chris Rock movie. I've thought about adopting, possibly a black child (I don't have a preference and from what I've heard, there are a lot more black children that need to be adopted than white), and I wonder sometimes how I would deal with their hair, since the only hair I've ever known was stick straight but I wouldn't want to subject the poor kid to relaxers and all that. Plus, natural hair is beautiful. But it was interesting to me to realize that I would have no clue what to do with most natural black hair.

I want to second NaturallyCurly.com site. As well as mention the book "Curly Girl." Both helped me find a good way to "do" my hair as well as find good products for my particular type of curl. Go curls!

"Curly Girl" is a very good book. It's a little dated, in that the DevaCurl has since created a lot of products (although there are home recipes that some may prefer and that are cheaper). I've also seen criticism by some African American women with the kinkiest type of hair that there's only a short chapter on black hair.

In addition to lots of tips on how to care for curly hair, which were rare when the book came out, the authors make the case for curly hair. They treat it as as social and political issue.

The paperback is very reasonably priced.

so funny my mom and I have natural hair and we get a lot of compliments from people of other races, we only ever hear negative things from other black people "you need a perm" "nappy *ss head"... white people are always fascinated and some even say they've always wanted to try braids, some other black folk express regret as they wish their hair was natural and was as thick (our hair is mad thick, comb breaking thick) as ours... but it's easily manageable with Pantene for women of color, just wash, condition + twist

Jezebel.com ran this video -- they didn't know what to make of it -- but the premise is that having short, tightly curled hair is horrendous. You'll be mistaken for a "black boy." As I often was called "son" when I had a short Afro, this resonated with me in a particularly unpleasantr way.

The Jezebel caption says the subject had a "bad perm." It's not actually a bad perm; it was an effective perm. But no one, especially back then, wanted to have hair like this, some form of which most black people have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4g-TxEzLzw&eurl=http://jezebel.com/5295794/wtf-moment-in-retro-tv&feature=player_embedded

Relating to the KGB ad: Yak hair is used regularly to make Santa wig-and-beard sets, and cheaper Santa wig-and-beard sets, made of synthetic fibers, are actually labelled as "synthetic yak hair".

While I am not at all familiar with black women's hair, it wouldn't surprise me if some weaves, somewhere, were made with yak hair.

I will say, though, that the ad is poorly written all around.

i am incredibably excited to see Chris Rock's movie. This is a hot topic for me. I am a black woman, natural and PROUD. I wish more women regardless of race would get comfortable with their skin, teeth, eyes, ears and hair. It's who you are. All these little girls want to look like movie stars but they have no idea that the stars are faking it to make it.

The black actresses he portrayed in the trailer were all saying they have a weave. Yet some girl is crying cause she can't have Raven Simone's hair or Megan Good's hair. shame...we have our own hair and it's about time we learned to love it.

I think after we learn to appreciate our natural looks that's when we can start having fun and experimenting. I just got a wig made for the first time in April and it's okay but I can't see why people would want to opt for that over natural, beautiful hair...

Please take a moment to check out my documentary film BLACK HAIR

It is free at youtube. 6 parts including an update from London, England.

It explores the Korean Take-over of the Black Beauty Supply and Hair biz..

The current situation makes it hard to believe that Madame C.J. Walker once ran the whole thing.

I am not a hater, I am a motivator.

Plus I am a White guy who stumbled upon this, and felt it was so wrong I had to make a film about it.

self-funded film, made from the heart.

Can it be taken back?

Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p96aaTSdrAE

Sometimes I think that no matter how "good" your hair is, there's always something you wish it would do that it won't. My mom's a natural blonde, which most people would die for, but she hates her hair because it's not curly and won't take a perm, her poor thin hair used to be so brittle and fried from all the perms and sun-in.

I have thick, wild hair that is never perfectly straight or wavy in any way that seems to make sense. It curls under on one side, over on the other, flips up in the back and cowlicks in the middle. I also can't wear bangs because of how curly my hair gets when it's short. I see women on shampoo commercials with perfectly straight, shiny hair and wonder what I'm doing wrong with mine and what's wrong with me that I can't have "good" hair like those women.

Reading this article and watching the preview for the documentary has been eye opening. I never realized how much women struggled trying to get "good" hair and it made me realize that I have the type of hair that most people would consider good, yet I don't like it anyway. I always wonder if we're conditioned to hate things about ourselves so we feel like we have to fix them, and therefore spend money on products we don't really need.

Hair (fixing, dying, shaving), makeup, body shape, clothing, surgeries to achieve the so-called ideal. All just ways to enslave people, be they black, white, asian, male, female... Revolt I say. Throw away the makeup and the razors, the hair dye and the straightening irons. Go natural and revel in your personal beauty!

The best kept secret is the combination comb and brush in one piece, the Kakakiki KombBrush designed for the purpose of careing for the many textureds of Black peoples hair. Go to http://www.kakkiki.com to view.

hai