My afro, Harriet the ‘Fro, turns two this month. She’s named after Harriet Tubman and embodies the freedom Harriet attained for the hundreds of thousands she led to independence. The natural hair craze has been equally as freeing for the legions of black women embracing their unaltered tresses. Here’s a quick chronological timeline on the…
Brazil – outside of Bahia and other locales populated predominantly by Afro-Brazilians – isn’t the most racially-progressive nation.Racism is rampant. It’s evidenced by the blatant colorism displayed in Brazil’s media, the referencing of darker-complexioned Brazilians as “monkeys” and the black-face slave trope. There’s also hatred toward kinkier afros and other remnants of African heritage. Fashion,…
When we hear the phrase “the big chop,” visions of chemically relaxed hair being dramatically shorn for an immediate natural hair reveal pops into our heads. Freedom! Short hair, don’t care! But sometimes cutting your hair off is not that deep. Sometimes you just want to cut your hair to switch things up. Short cuts…
Some women find a hairstyle and stick with that as long as they can, a signature look, if you will. But I love a little variety and have worn a weave, a wig (loved it, then hated it), and then my own hair in super short cuts, bangs, bobs, and layered medium length styles as…
I’ve clocked hundreds of hours through-out the years brutalizing my hair and have finally figured this shit out.
Forgive me for being so bold, but Teyonah Parris’s Mad Men character Dawn Chambers does absolutely no justice for her real life looks. I get it, the TV series takes place in New York City in the late 1960s so she’s rocking a pretty homely wig on set, but catch her on a red carpet and Teyonah…
Last weekend, my niece grabbed a blanket, stuffed the tip in a ponytail holder and ran around our living room with her “hair” flowing. She motioned toward the blanket and asked “Doesn’t my hair look pretty?” I couldn’t help but go into teaching mode. “I like your hair like it is,” I said, fondly smoothing…
In some corners, you can’t say the “W-word” without eliciting snickers and eye rolls. Mo Ivory, the Director of Political-Community Outreach for CBS Radio Atlanta and host of “The Mo Ivory Show” on News/Talk 1380 WAOK, joins the chorus of weave detractors with her recent blog post, “Ladies…Who’s Hiding Under Your Weave?” After her daughter…
Black hair is controversial. Our coifs can be political statements, assimilations into mainstream culture, and even odes to ancestors. Some black women purchase their hair while others wear it chemically-altered. But no matter how we style our tresses, our hair is a visible representation of our identity. The University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Africana Studies…
Martha Makuena is credited for starting the first black hair care salon in Beijing, China, an East Asian country that she and Paul Luyeye migrated to from the Congo in 1999.
