Embracing natural hair

Embracing

their roots Black women are becoming more confident in wearing their natural hair, fueling a wave of positivity on social media platforms

BY ALMA MARTINEZ AND SHARON FLOREZ, STAFF WRITERS UE TO AN EXTENSIVE HISTORY of racial discrimination and oppression, many black women have felt conditioned to alter their natural hair to conform to white beauty standards. Westernized societal standards, that categorize beautiful hair as straight and long, similar to Caucasian hair have led many of these women to believe that their natural hair is unprofessional, and must be changed to be taken seriously in their workplaces, educational institutions and communities. These beliefs have trickled down for many generations and have normalized the damaging processes done to chemically alter their curl patterns. Hair relaxers—a lotion or cream generally used by people with tighter curls to break down their hair strand and make it permanently straight—have become a staple in the black community despite their detrimental effects on both the hair strands and the scalp. Black women have thus felt pressure to eliminate entire hairstyles from their normal routines—including certain braids and afros— D

for fear of getting socially penalized for them. Nonetheless, as a result of an increase in social media movements and the overall increase in the acceptance of black hair, women are beginning to leave these damaging processes behind, instead choosing to embrace and celebrate the hair they were born with. In doing so, history teacher Porsha Albury and students Savanna Tiffany and Rebecca Abraham share the obstacles they have encountered in coming to embrace their natural hair.

PORSHA ALBURY

Raised in an African-American household, history teacher Porsha Albury inherited a passion for her culture that is reflected in her interest in learning and teaching about her family’s battles with segregation and racism. In between spending several hours a week with her aunt and the exchange of oral tradition from her grandparents, Albury began to learn a lot about her culture and where she came from. Hair, often being at the forefront of their conversation, was a struggle which she

could personally relate to through the trials and tribulations she has faced in her journey to embrace her natural hair. From birth, her mother always complimented her curl pattern, describing it as “high fashion,” she taught Albury how to twist and braid it in cornrows. As Albury reached elementary school, her mother began advising her to refrain from using otherwise damaging hair products to preserve the beauty in her natural curls. “My mom was very fashionable, she styled my hair so many ways and convinced me that voluminous hair was too awesome for me to feel insecure,” Albury said. The older she grew, the more she started to notice the hairstyles she had come to know and love were being viewed as “childlike” or “not appropriate” for wearing out in public. For years, Albury avoided wearing braids given society’s perception of the hairstyle being too “ethnic” or not “appropriate” for award ceremonies, formal events and job interviews.Though she has never been personally penalized for wearing a certain hairstyle at work, Albury still felt pressure to style her hair a particular way in order to be taken seriously given that it is common for women to be deemed inferior for wearing their hair naturally. “As I got older, I think my mom worried about how such styles would be perceived by mainstream America. There is a saying that when black hair is relaxed, white America is relaxed,” Albury said. Looking for ways to express herself and show off her hair, Albury struggled to style her hair in a way that would maintain professionalism and keep the public happy. It was through social media movements promoting natural hair that she was able to attain the confidence to welcome her curl pattern. “I love seeing images of people like me. I love that a commercial with a black woman will now have a black woman with natural hair,” Albury said. After years of experimenting with different products and methods, Albury has found what hair treatments and washing methods work best and which hairstyles make her feel most comfortable and confident. Given the copious amounts of effort she put into discovering what is best compatible with her hair, Albury serves as an inspiration and role-model for students and colleagues to wear their hair naturally regardless of the opinion of others.

For junior Savanna Tiffany, attending a predominantly white private school for most of her life significantly affected the way she viewed herself: a girl of a mixed background surrounded by peers that looked nothing like her. Given that she was exposed to both black and white cultures, she developed insecurities about her curly hair that have posed threats to her natural hair journey. “In middle school, I got a keratin [treatments] for my hair because I knew my hair was really different,” Tiffany said. For her entire life, Tiffany has watched her mother and sister style their hair with various straightening products, causing her to feel like an outsider for wishing to wear traditionally African hairstyles such as loose curls or braids. “My mom doesn’t wear her hair naturally and neither does my sister, making me the only one who wears it natural,” Tiffany said. “It makes me want to do it too.” Tiffany’s struggles with her natural hair further stemmed from her modeling experiences as a child, when photographers and brand-directors alike would instruct her to flat-iron her hair to fit their conventional

standards of beauty. She noticed how none of her friends with straight, “effortless” hair would never receive any incessant criticism in regards to their physical

appearance. As a first-year member of the school’s award-winning dance team, the Gablettes, Tiffany has struggled in deciding how to wear her hair for performances. As one of the only girls with a natural curl pattern she has to consider the time it would take her to effectively meet the team’s standards for uniformity. If she decides to straighten her hair, it raises the concern that she cannot wash it for two-day performances and must keep her hair packed with hairspray. If not, she must be more careful with the way she styles it, as a strand of hair falling out of place can result in consequences. “If I wear my hair natural for performances, I have to make sure there not fly-aways or curls popping out,” Tiffany said. With the changing times, Tiffany appreciates how cultural expectations for women to wear their hair straight are beginning to change. Wearing the hair natural is now encouraged by influencers on the rise, like 2019’s Miss Universe, who was South African. “There are many girls who love my skin tone and love my hair, so if they can see the beauty in it, so can I,” Tiffany said.

Rebecca Abraham Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk and coconut oil are no strangers to senior Rebecca Abraham as she embraces her short, tightlycoiled hair, that stands as a representation of her pride in her Nigerian ethnicity as well as her mother’s persistence to not use chemicals to relax her natural hair. Given the influence of society’s standards of beauty on black women, Abraham’s aunts have not supported her decision to wear her hair naturally, as they have always favored smooth, relaxed hairstyles. “There was pressure to relax my hair so that it would become more manageable,” Abraham said. “My aunts grew up during a time when black people weren’t showing their natural hair as much as they do now on television. It was routine for them to wear wigs and relax their hair.” These ideas planted a seed in her mind since her childhood, resulting in her desire to change her appearance.When she was nine years old, on the day before picture day, she attempted to straighten her hair without her mother’s permission or a proper heat protectant, earning her hours of scrutiny from her mother about the perils of damaging her hair. “I didn’t have a good reason for doing it. People would ask me why I wouldn’t put my hair down and I was stupid enough to listen to their opinion,” Abraham said. “I wanted to please them, so I straightened it.” Much of this influence further originated because of negative stigmas towards AfricanAmerican hair in pop culture and the media. Her interpretation of what was “normal” was changed based on the hairstyles celebrities would promote, especially as she was already witnessing her relatives alter their hair. Her current hair routine consists of putting gel and water in her hair. Most days she co-washes, meaning that she skips shampoo, but conditions her hair, making it easier to manage. Every two weeks, she washes it out and deep conditions it. “Sometimes my hair is a battle, so I would describe my hair as resilient,” Abraham said. “My hair seems to defy gravity and can handle pulling and tugging from a comb to create hairstyles that some hair cannot.” For Abraham, her hair is a representation of the struggles that black girls who are afraid of embracing their hair, as they are afraid of the consequences that come with looking different. “You define you. Although it seems like the world favors lighter skin, you were born to have darker skin and curly hair for a r e a s o n , ” Abraham s a i d . h