Evolution Of African American Hairstyles

Hair plays an important part in an individual’s life. For the African American culture, hair allowed them to express themselves and the roles within their community. There are many hairstyles and with those styles, many messages are conveyed. Braiding had purposes of functionality and communication. Cultures around the world share common aspects with specific hairstyles. The hair of African American culture and how it has developed into many styles that now many cultures wear and adorn themselves.

In the late 1700s to the 1800s during plantation life, slaves would spend their Sunday morning looking acceptable, White says “ In every cabin men are shaving and dressing- the women, arrayed in their gay muslins, are arranging their frizzy hair, in wich they take no little pride, or investigating the condition of their children’s heads…” (White,1). For the way enslaved workers were treated, hair played a role. They would receive better treatment if the texture of one’s hair more closely resembled European hair.

Styles such as braiding, cutting, and shaving reflected tribal affiliation, sex, age, status, and occupation .Within West African communities, braids were used to signify marital status, age, religion, wealth, and rank. Nigerian housewives in polygamous relationships created the style known as kohin-sorogun, meaning “turn your back to the jealous rival wife,” that had a pattern that when seen from behind was meant to taunt their husbands’ other wives. If a young girl of Senegal’s Wolof people was not of marrying age, she would have to shave her head a certain way, while men of this same group would braid their hair a particular way to show preparation for war and therefore the preparation for death. (Horne)

The different mixtures of plaits, shaved areas, and braids make patterns that adorn the heads of people, which create an impressive effect. Hair is a medium through which social messages can be relayed. Styles encoded statements of protest and alienation such as unevenly cropped and lurid colored hair and shaven crown on the head of a punk. Hippies long hair signified liberation and nonconformity. A black nationalist movement was started by Marcus Garvey in the 1920s to spread his belief that all black people should return to Africa, their homeland. In the 1960s and 70s dreadlocks were legible statements of black pride. Dreadlocks and Afro styles spoke of pride and political empowerment. The style celebrated the texture of black hair and the association with the black power movement.

Women chose simple braiding styles for more fuctionality when going through the severtiy of slavery and they did not have time for complex styles. Braids became a secret messaging system for slaves to communicate with one another. Braids were used as a map to freedom. For instance, the number of plaits worn could indicate how many roads people needed to walk or where to meet someone to escape bondage. For Africans, cornrows represented agriculture, order, and a civilized way of life. These types of braids have served many purposes, from an everyday convenience to a more elaborate adornment meant for special occasions. Slaves wore cornrows as a homage to where they had come from, but a practical way to wear one’s hair during long labored hours. The hair on one’s head is never biological because it is always “worked upon” by one’s hands. Doing so socializes hair and makes it a remarkable statement about society and self (White, 53).

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The perception of black hair began to shift until the black power movement in the 1960’s. The movement asserted blacks and rejected the Eurocentric framework of beauty. Whether in African or New World societies, and in whatever period they are studied, blacks must have been engaged in this kind of cultural activity. The problem lies not so much in showing that enslaved Africans and African Americans were involved in this form of visual communication, but in understanding what their hair arrangements signified. (White, 53)

Black Americans were developing a deep desire to honor our African roots. Styling of hair is a universal cultural practice. Combining with shaving and bunching of the hair among Africans, American Indians, and Euramerican. American Indians practiced head shaving for a variety of purposes. “... between 1735 and 1768, recorded that in times of war the various tribes trimmed their hair in distinctive ways to facilitate the identification of their enemies” (White,60).

There was a growing concept that European textured hair was “good” and African textured hair was “bad,” foreign and unprofessional. Wigs and chemical treatments achieved smoother, straighter hair. In the 18th century European men wore wigs, which became more elaborate. Toupee and bob wigs are relevant to African American hairstyles such as being frizzed, curled tightly and combed to create a bushy effect. The variation of these styles were relevant to the style of African American hairstyles.

The art of hair braiding has evolved beyond the original cultural ideas. regarding today’s braided styles, messier and freer styles of braids are seen and they don’t have to be tight or perfect. People accept braids to look less perfect, chic, and more relaxed. Expressions and styles have changed, but braiding patterns have remained the same. Braids are adorned, worn, and praised in many different ways and are used as a way to protect Afro-textured hair against split ends and damage from heat and humidity. Getting your hair braided in the salon environment builds unity and embraces a historical culture. Braids are an inseparable part of Black culture. African Americans have carried these styles with them throughout history. From Africa to southern plantations to northern inner-city salons and beyond. Even when the natural beauty was not acknowledged and with the plethora of hairstyle choices available.

During the early years of freedom African American hair for elaborate innovation was largely denied, though black hairstyling were still there it wouldn’t be until the black power movement that the hair of African Americans would become a visual medium for exuberant display. Braids became an outward expression of self-acceptance and self-love. The people who represent a culture that for centuries has imposed its ideal of beauty on us, whites, began to wear the styles of black ancestors. These hairstyles were subjected to harsh criticism, it didn’t stop non-black groups from adopting them as their own. Also, often showing a lack of understanding for the history of locs, curls, and braids. “At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the image makers and power brokers in American culture are finally recognizing the influence Black hair has had in shaping American culture” (Byrd & Tharps, 161).

For centuries, black communities around the world have created hairstyles that are uniquely their own. These hairstyles span all the way back to the ancient world and continue to weave their way through the social, political and cultural conversations surrounding black identity today. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, came the rise of the natural hair movement that encouraged black communities to accept their hair and turn away from damaging products. The notion of conforming to European standards did not fit with their message of black power. Displaying these natural styles was its own form of activism and seen as a statement in reclaiming their roots.