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BLACK WOMEN SPEND HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS ON HAIRCARE AND WEAVES! WHY?
By H. Fields Grenee
Straight, wavy, curly, fine, curse – few things generate more passion or anger among African American women than their hair. Some critics note that the emphasis placed on hair is a double-edged sword aimed at ones’ self esteem. Or when quaffed well, i.e. “Good Hair” becomes a passage to acceptance within the dominate cultures’ ideal of beauty.
Then there are those who view hair – commercial or natural – as an accompaniment to an outfit; like a hat or that essential accessory that glams up the whole look. Despite what stance you view the landscape from – hair – African American hair and the cultivation of that “look” via the placement of weave is a multi-billion dollar industry.
Extensions can cost as low as $300 (depending on your geographical area) and go up to $10,000; based on the service – strand by strand extensions or weft (track) that are calculated per weft or a set price for the entire head, says Atlanta-based beautician Toni Love, who has more than 20 years experience styling hair with the addition of weave placement.
Factor in maintenance; better known as touch-ups, required every four to six weeks determined by how fast the recipients’’ natural hair grows – commercial hair placement can range between $4,000 to $80,000 a year – not including transportation, child care or lost productivity incurred by the three to eight hours required to complete the process.
Despite the cost reductions since weaves first gained popularity in the late 70s and early 80’s – when it was primarily used for theatrical purposes, movies, videos and on fashion runways – the expense is difficult to juggle with real incomes. Nevertheless, their hyper-visibility can be seen everywhere from corporate boardrooms to inner-city food desert bodegónes.
Quest for fashion fabulous hair speaks volumes about us
Consider this: $46,326 was the median household income in the United States according to 2010 U.S. Census data and the average income for African American families was $32,584, well below a middle-class lifestyle. Yet we over-spend for the purpose of appearance. Why is this?
“The culture surrounding weaves; such as the links between more traditionally white hair textures and the pricing system of weaves, helps to exacerbate the notion of “good hair” as “non-Black.”
Baldwin continued, “Who really knows if “Indian Remi” (a popular human hair weft texture) is a reflection of actual Indian women’s hair or what “Hollywood Italian” (another texture classification) actually means, but in hair weave stores there is certainly a hierarchy of hairs that is also linked to a hierarchy of racial value.”
But it’s just fashion, right?
The psycho-social ramification of wearing weaves tends not to weigh heavily on the minds of teen-agers who encompass the average age when extensions are first tried. Stacey Clark, a Washington DC professional falls in this category. She first crafted a new look using weave when she was in high school.
“Back then (in the late 80s) I believe everyone tried to pretend (the weave) was theirs,” Clark joked. “Now it’s more of a fashion statement. Come to work one day with short curly hair, the next day it can be long with blonde streaks. Changing hair is like changing clothes now.”
But what about when hair placement is more than just a fashion twist? For many African American women, the perception of them as having “Good Hair” is an embedded part of their self esteem. Some can’t and will not be seen without weave despite the cost and the time required to achieve it.
Nikki Walton, a license psychotherapist practicing in North Carolina, routinely counsels women on issues ranging from self-esteem and hair issues to depression and body image.
In fact, since 2000 the number of African American women now suffering from anorexia and bulimia has ballooned. Many say that the increase in these eating disorders among African American and Latino women stems from their buying into the mainstream media image of white beauty – that includes silky long hair and a overly slender silhouette that our fuller shapes cannot naturally accomplish.
“We have so many deep rooted issues that we need to overcome in our community to finally make ourselves whole. It’s a shame where we chose to concentrate our efforts,” said Walton, who has chosen to go natural with her hair and councils women on how to do the same.
“In the natural hair community many of my clients tend to go natural because it is a healthier choice for them,” she said. “The vast majority are unfamiliar with their hair’s real texture, because they’ve had perms since they were five or eight.”
Some of the hair drama that she councils about stems from an internalized bias toward their natural hair, she said, so she believe they have to give themselves time to reconnect with their real beauty.
“Just go out and get comfortable with your hair,” she says. “Just embrace the anxiety and insecurity because sometimes you have to fake it until you can make it.”
My Limitless shine and falseness style is divine
African Americans spent $507 billion (out of our total estimated buying power of $836 billion) in 2009 on hair care and personal grooming items, according to an annual report published by Target Market News. This figure is up 16.6% from the $435 billion spent the previous year.
Yet for those who are one with the weave – the price seems worth the sacrifice. And the psycho-social condemnation does not register.
“You should be willing to pay the money to have good hair put in,” Clark stressed. In fact, human hair is all she wears, because it easily fits into her lifestyle. “It has good body, takes heat well, can get wet and just lasts longer then synthetic hair,” she said.
This makes a difference since she visits her stylist twice a month or once a week when she sports a shorter cut – which is what she wears when she wants to convey sassy. Much like Johnny Wright, whose signature phrase: “I always tell people be vain or be forgotten,” channels the deep seeded quests for style.
Wright, stylist to the first lady Michelle Obama, Softsheen-Carson artistic style director and celebrity stylist doesn’t dabble in the controversy surrounding weave – he just creates. To him weave placement is just another avenue to crafting a clients’ look that best fits with her lifestyle.
When he works with weave what remains paramount in his mind is maintaining the overall quality and strength of the clients’ natural hair and scalp. Wright believes you should interview your beautician as if she were your doctor because improper weave placement can lead to baldness. Furthermore, he stressed that children should not be getting weave due to the pressure on the scalp.
“It’s not about how long a period of time (weave is worn). It’s more so if you are not taking care of your natural hair and scalp”, he said.
When the scalp is continuously irritated the hair follicles can break resulting in a form of baldness known as traction alopecia, a condition that causes the hair to break from repeated and severe braiding, weaving, extensions or tight ponytails.
Why you got a problem with my do?
Imagine what could be accomplished in the African American community with even half of the $507 Billion Dollars annually spent on hair care products. Now stop, because such fancy is just a pipe dream and unfortunately the real economic figures do not bode well for the African American community as critiqued by social scholars. For no matter how you try to spin the debate – fashion fabulous hair is connected to our need to be accepted by the dominate culture – as beautiful, as equal – as worthy.
“The deep seated psychological and social conditioning to see white features and light skin as the most desirable, and signature of beauty and acceptance has not diminished,” commented Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author and social commentator.
“If anything as we move further from the black pride and consciousness of the 1960s with an entire new generation, the psychic reconditioning toward a natural style of beauty has gotten further removed.”
