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u/WearyCopy5686 3d ago
I salute Black women for however they wanna wear their hair and whatever makes them the happiest.
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u/TransportationOdd559 3d ago
Even when the Asian community makes billions off of wigs and hair weaves. At least own the industry.
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u/notfrmthisplanet 3d ago
I have worn my hair naturally since 2009. And the women in my family wear their hair naturally too. But women should wear their hair however they want.
Also, owning the industry is nearly impossible. The hair itself comes from Asian sources, and even synthetic hair is manufactured in Asia. They also dominate the production and market of Black hair products. There are documented cases of Asian wholesalers refusing to sell to Black business owners or making it so difficult and expensive for them to get products that they can't compete.
Check out Chris Rock's documentary, Good Hair. Another source is this MPR News article about the tension between Korean wholesalers and Black beauty supply store owners. It discusses Black business owners being denied access to products that their Korean-owned competitors could get.
I also remember seeing a video recently of a group of business owners sitting around a table where a Black man from outside the US was talking about how the only reason he was able to get certain things wholesale was because of the way he sounded with a non American accent.
People can talk about starting their own businesses all they want, but how are you supposed to compete when you can't even get access to the same suppliers and products in the first place?…
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u/Kindly_Coyote 2d ago
There are documented cases of Asian wholesalers refusing to sell to Black business owners or making it so difficult and expensive for them to get products that they can't compete.
I cannot do relaxers and I've been natural for over a decades now but this alone are the facts that makes it hard for me to consider buying hair or wearing weave in my hair. I'd go to those stores feeling a loss of respect. How they're treating Black business people really disgusts me. Unfortunately, we're not only up against the powers that exploit our community, we're also dealing with a population of Black women who don't really value Black ownership or Black people having their own more than the hair sold in the Asian markets. It's like the Asians have trained them to only like themselves when they wear Asian hair and then to only buy from them. Every time we as a community try to empower ourselves, we're always up against a subset within our community that will act in subversion to it.
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u/WearyCopy5686 3d ago
Again that’s not for me to determine. If Black women want to own that industry that’s awesome if they don’t that’s also awesome.
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u/radams713 2d ago
I wouldn’t say most. I’m white and don’t know any white women that have extensions. Then again all my friends are broke so we can’t afford extensions T_T so maybe I’m biased haha
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u/DifferentAd5909 2d ago
You realize this is about black women correct ?
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u/radams713 2d ago
No one is talking shit! I just said most white women don’t use extensions. Never said there is anything wrong with using extensions.
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u/TransportationOdd559 3d ago
Billions of dollars worth yearly? 👀
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u/5ft8lady 3d ago
Yes they do. But both white and black ppl are paying other ppl for wigs and weaves and wish there was a way for ppl to make money instead of give it
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u/BibliophileBroad 7h ago
At least that much! Imagine if we invest that money in some index funds, real estate, and our community instead.
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u/TransportationOdd559 3d ago
This isn’t true at all. I live around white people! No one questions if the hair on their head is actually theirs. Maybe because it matches their exact hair texture. I don’t know. All I know is that as a community we need to pull our resources and start spending money on things that benefit us as a community not other communities. This is for both genders.
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u/5ft8lady 3d ago
No one questions their hair , their extensions matches their texture , or they don’t wear it at all? That’s all diff things
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u/TransportationOdd559 3d ago
Ok! Are they known for wearing wigs and weaves? The average person thinks a white woman is wearing hair that isn’t theirs?
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u/nouralyn 2d ago
most is a stretch and I doubt you have any evidence behind that. Also ww wear extensions that look like their hair bw by and large wear extensions that look like someone else’s hair.
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u/nouralyn 2d ago
Anyway this is silly the obvious point is bw spend a lot of money to wear hair that doesn’t look like what naturally grows out of their head. No other group doesn’t that so more than the wearing of extensions is the type of extensions being worn and the purpose behind it (mimicking other groups).
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u/nouralyn 2d ago
Oh gosh, yes white people are trying to look like the white beauty ideal by going blonde and/or wearing extensions. And black women are trying to looking like the white beauty ideal by wearing straight hair extensions. See the difference?
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u/BibliophileBroad 7h ago
They do, but they are more likely to wear extensions that matched their hair texture. Black women are more pressured into wearing extensions that look a lot different from our hair and fit a Eurocentric standard of beauty.
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u/Lazy_davey707 3d ago
Why not wear what actually grows out of your head?
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u/WearyCopy5686 3d ago
Because they don’t want to and that’s their right to not do so.
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u/browngravybestgravy 3d ago
Then why do we get mad when Adele or Christina gets their hair braided? I better brace myself.
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u/WearyCopy5686 3d ago
Brace yourself for what?
I don’t bite on intellectually disingenuous questions.
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u/Ok-Algae3382 3d ago
So by your logic people with bone straight hair can wear Afros even if it doesn’t naturally grow out of their scalp because they want to wear it and it’s their right to do so
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u/PRNPURPLEFAM 3d ago
I agree but it’s such a divisive issue. We’re both going to get downvoted but I feel compelled to say this.
I work in corporate America and a few years back I stopped straightening my hair. One of my coworkers told me “Your hair looks good, but I like your regular hair” meaning the straight hair. I had to explain that the curls are the “regular hair” that grows out of my head and I will continue to love it, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Somehow we went from proudly wearing our own natural hair to thinking that glueing someone else’s hair on your head is more beautiful than celebrating what God gave you. I’ll never understand it, but it makes me confused and disappointed sometimes that we still perpetuate the idea that straight hair is more beautiful than as you said, the beautiful hair that grows out of your head.
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u/chillysaturday 3d ago
This thinking has led to some crazy internalized anti Blackness over the past decade.
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u/WearyCopy5686 3d ago
How so?
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u/chillysaturday 3d ago
at the end of the day all Black people internalized racism including Black women and it feels like so many Black women have started expressing that through how they wear their hair since the natural hair movement of the 2010s. Women are unironically wearing blond wigs while hating their 4c hair and people are calling it empowering.
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u/WearyCopy5686 3d ago
I’m a Black man I have very little to say about how Black women wear their hair. If they want to have blonde wigs and it isn’t harming anyone and makes them happy have at it.
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u/BibliophileBroad 7h ago
Not sure why you are getting down voted here! You said a word. Honestly, I think people are just being defensive at this point.
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u/aardappelbrood 3d ago
I think you don't understand what empowerment means. I feel empowered when I put on deodorant because I know I'm not sweating and smelling which makes me feel self-conscious, however deodorant isn't natural. Doesn't mean I hate my body or I hate that I sweat, I just don't want to be stinky around people. Same thing with clothes, I don't hate my body but I hide it and cover it up everyday so I don't end up on some lists.
If wearing a blond wig makes someone feel empowered then so be it, I think it just becomes dangerous when you become so self reliant on it that you start to hate yourself. Wearing a wig doesn't automatically mean you hate your hair, it can actually be quite the opposite since a wig is basically just a hat and people wear hats and scarves to protect their hair all the time.
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u/muffledsnaps 2d ago
If you aren’t a woman with curly hair you shouldn’t speak on this, period. It’s not necessarily a “race” issue, maintaining curly hair is not quick and easy like straight hair. Don’t judge a woman for wanting to feel “dressed up” without spending hours of her life striving to do so. People have work, school, children, a life outside of worrying about the ethics of wearing a wig.
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u/randumbtruths 3d ago
Such a dope pic.. I had to clean it up. Only can share videos.. so here we are
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u/Outsideman2028 3d ago
Wow...
This is exactly what it must have looked like.
Not the "old film" view we have to see things through these days...
This is what it looked like.
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u/Golden_222 3d ago
Gone are the days
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u/AdditionalQuietime 3d ago
Yup especially w the latest attack on the natural hair trend, which isnt even trending anymore
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u/Golden_222 3d ago
Wigs are a billion dollar industry they not gonna give up without a fight
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u/AdditionalQuietime 3d ago
The people who make money off that industry, mainly and rarely ever black or stay black
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u/NextSmoke397 3d ago
What happened?
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u/Kindly_Coyote 3d ago
The Arabs or Asians and some African hair markets found a way to make to make a living off of weaves and "natural hair" care products. I think it's become a GNP for them by now.
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u/Loose_Membership6137 2d ago
Racism, prejudices, and people simply wanting an easier life.
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u/BibliophileBroad 7h ago
True, but the racism was much worse back then. I’ve noticed that right now, we seem to be in a trend of less natural hair. I remember in the 2010s, there seemed to be more focus on natural hair. I hope that we get back to the more natural looks soon! No shade to the silk presses and the wigs, because those are lovely as well. But I just really miss seeing more of us wear our natural hair. I fondly remember YouTube back in the early 2010s with all the natural hair vloggers!😊
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u/FishingAlpo 1d ago
Everyone but you... As usual.
Which is it? You were great or incompetent babies incapable of making sound decisions?
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u/lotusQ 3d ago
I want to bring this back so bad. Why can’t we just do this again :(
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u/TheSanityInspector 1d ago
I do see them here and there, fairly often. But it's true: Those 1970s hair mountains, for whites or blacks, just aren't the dominant fashion anymore.
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u/datruthisinthemiddle 7h ago
I’m actually planning to rock a fro like this on Election Day (midterms)! I think it could be a really cool movement/community thing to remember how much power we have in every choice we make, and how far we’ve come. A lil bit of a homage, and a call for the future. Idk!
But if anyone is into it please join in 🥹🥰
I thought about how sad it is that black voter turnout is so low (understandable reasons, but our ancestors literally fought for this). Then I thought about how I’ve never actually worn a full fro like that and need to give it a try!
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u/ExaminationPutrid195 3d ago
People say they wish BW wore their natural hair and when they do they criticize it and call them nappy headed, if the curls aren’t type 3, or a high luster type 4. If you have Freeform locs they say you’re unkempt, if you have a fade you’re bald headed and your hair won’t grow. Stay out of BWs follicles.
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u/BibliophileBroad 7h ago
Seriously! And with this baby hair trend, now you have to have a laid, straight baby hairs. I even saw a video where sistas with locks were relaxing their baby hairs😳.
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u/SnowBoardx22 3d ago
"Miss Black America" - Curtis Mayfield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzNRHGN7VSI&list=RDwzNRHGN7VSI&index=1
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u/arifghalib 2d ago
BW can do whatever they want with their hair. It’s freedom of expression.
That said, my dating preference is women with natural hair.
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u/BennJ13 3d ago
No matter what you tell me to convince me otherwise, all these straight wig wearing stars have a degree of self hate in them, that's why they also bleach their skin
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u/ExaminationPutrid195 3d ago
I don’t know any Black American women who bleach and wear wigs. Skin bleaching isn’t an issue amongst Black American women.
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u/QOVFEFE 3d ago
It is very much and issue in my neck of the woods… West Coast
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u/Sensitive_Coconut747 3d ago
Black Americans typically do not bleach our skin. Are you sure you aren't getting those women confused with black immigrants? Many of them do bleach theirs.
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u/ExaminationPutrid195 3d ago edited 2d ago
Skin Bleaching amongst Black Americans is not a thing. Maybe Black immigrants but that’s not something culturally acceptable among Black American women
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u/5ft8lady 3d ago
Can you show us data on that, that they are actually Black American and the percentage that are bleaching as your claim doesn’t seem accurate to reality
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u/-CorrectRevolution- 1d ago
Just BBLs
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u/ExaminationPutrid195 1d ago edited 14h ago
That’s not true either black women account for only 7% of all plastic surgeries in the US. Google is at your finger tips
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u/5ft8lady 3d ago
I wait which is it? First ppl said they congratulate the women of today, wearing their natural hair. They claim it’s the first time, they saw women in their kinky curly hair. No chemical perm/relaxers, but ppl are walking around with kinky hair and women of the past look on with admirations.
But then in other posts ppl claim, the women in the past Women were all natural and the women today do not .
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u/Kindly_Coyote 3d ago
I guess it depends on where you live. Some places all I see are women with weaves.
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u/nouralyn 2d ago
There’s been 2 big natural hair movements; 1970s and 2010s outside of those specific time wigs and relaxers have been most common.
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u/RobynBainks 15h ago
So sad but unsurprising that beautiful black natural hair can’t even be celebrated without people bringing up black women who aren’t even in this picture. Pathetic but expected.
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u/_MrFade_ 3d ago
Look ma, no bonnets!
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u/DAntesGrimice 3d ago
Say you hate Black people.
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u/Outsideman2028 3d ago
I woulda had like 5 baby mamas back then...i see them all in this picture.
Sorry yall. But lord. Man.
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u/BobnWeaveGyal 3d ago
This photo from the 2010s during natural hair movement