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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?

”It’s not that I think “natural hair” is now invisible but (weave) has become a way for more people to achieve that “good hair” status if only synthetically,” gleamed Davarian L. Baldwin, Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies at Trinity College.

“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.”

Bleed the beast and Support the only solution to injustice, "Black Nationalism"

List of Black Nationalist fundraisers

www.gardeninggiftsformother.blogspot.com

Supporting all these worldwide fundraisers would cost about 50 U.S Dollars. Give as much as you can, it all goes to support infrastructure for African American communities.

Our main donation page at OyoTunji African Village. We are raising $15 dollars per month via 100, 000 brave lionesses and lions, who are ready to support a Black Nationalist economy. $127,000,000 million in 7 years, lets keep it going strong. Click here:

http://www.oyotunji.org/contribute.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Help save Gullah Gee Chee land. Fighting hard for African liberation since the 17th century, descendants of Angola, the Gullah Gee Chee people, managed to preserve some of their native tongue, their ancestry culture and pride. From slave revolts to freeing other slaves, civil rights struggle, Pan-Africanism, many of the members of the famed, "Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church" of Charleston are Gullah Gee Chee descendants. Because of the low state of economy of South Carolina's Low Country, government seizure of their lands and vicious taxation, many Gullah people are losing their lands. But you can help them out with a small donation. Here is their GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/panafricanfamilyem 

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Dr. Umar Johnson's fund me page. Click here: https://www.gofundme.com/DrUmar

He is raising $5 Million dollars for a high tech private school for our young boys. If we could reach 300,000 people this would give Dr. Johnson his $5 Million for the school. A girl's school would be the next ideal mark and also Queen's club where our women can gather for they are the leaders of the family's interest.

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Also support the Collect Black People Movement. They have a .27 a cent day, $8.10 fundraiser a month, they already have a thousand people signed up. Click here: http://www.cbpm.org/neweconomicplan.html

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Much love for my believers on the Nation of Islam they also have a fundraising that's set at .30 cents day, about $10.00 a month. They are shooting for 16 million people, trying to raise about 250 million in a year. Click here: http://www.economicblueprint.org/

For more info: http://noimoa.com/

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Empire Washitaw De Dugdahmoundyah. The Nation of ancient American Mound Builders they came before Columbus from Africa on Egyptian boats. Africans were sailing the seas for thousands of years. The Washitaw are ruled over, like the Gullah, by a Queen Mother, Her Highness Devine: Empress Wendy Farica Washitaw. Please show your support for their nation. We are only as strong as our weakest link as African Diaspora. The Washitaw donation page: http://empirewashitaw.org/index.php?p=1_15_Make-a-Donation ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please support all these Black Nationalists efforts to provide true economic freedom and total liberation for all African Diaspora. The hand has five fingers and they all must be strong, work in coordination, to build a stronger Diaspora.

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Henry Garnett said, "If we are to bleed, then lets bleed all at once.

Those who have it to give should give large amounts. In the upper ranges of $250.00 one time. If we can get 10,000 people to give $250 that would be $2.5 Million to complete , His Royal Majesty Oba Adefunmi II's 7 year plan, all in month. So give now! Up you Mighty Nation-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Queen Mother of Africa, Her Royal Highness the Nnabagereka (Queen) of Buganda, Sylvia Nagginda Luswata. Please give $1.00 per household member and show your support for women and children of Africa. As we know women suffer the greatest on the weak political platform of Africa and children die in record numbers. The Queen Mother makes 3/4th of the Africa world, women and children, her first priority. Her example must be followed worldwide, Her Royal Highness the Nnabagereka (Queen) of Buganda, Sylvia Nagginda Luswata, is bringing is the change of Africa. Donate: http://www.nnabagereka.org/en/

Our goal is $1 Billion, raised by all Africans worldwide, all languages and all ethnic groups.