Black Hair White Effect: White Privilege in the Urban Hair Industry
Ngoziabata Hunter
Whether it’s extravagant haute couture or simply casual, hair styling has created a common denominator in the lives of humans globally. But hair, being the unifying code for people of all ethnicities, hides the racially fueled battleground behind the extensions, locs and overall presentation of Black and White hairstyling. The appropriation of urban hair and the blatant/subtle racism upscale hair stylist display are key to the foundations of white privilege. Undoubtedly, Whites appropriation of urban hairstyles, is for lack of better words plain ignorant and showcases white privilege. In a recent blog update by a notable fashion hair blog called Mane Addicts,
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High fashion model Jourdan Dunn has had enough with white hair stylist damaging her natural hair and opted out for wigs to avoid the dilemma that Afro-hair causes for her white hair stylist, this does not mention the fact that these same white stylist have no problem styling white model’s hair without any damage done to it. As stated in Privilege, Power and Difference “the ease of not being aware of privilege itself [is] what some call ‘the luxury of obliviousness’” (Johnson) with that said white women are oblivious to the fact that both White and Black hairstylist are capable of styling their hair whereas Black women’s only option are other Black hairstylist. It is also stated that “race privilege gives whites little reason to pay a lot of attention to African-Americans…” (Johnson) which holds true to the unspoken code of “white hair only” in numerous upscale salons. Following the advice of magazines ranging from Harper’s Bazaar to Allure, Aja Mangum visited top-notch salons to get her hair styled but instead of walking out of the salon with the Promised Land equivalent of hair she walked out with “a dull, dry, puffy mess” (Mangum). Thus, the lack of effort put forth into the knowledge of urban hair is definitely alarming for this day and age but expected. It goes as far as to show that White hairdressers refuse to “lower their standards”, “skill” and associate with Black hair while Black hair stylist (in order to make a name for themselves) have experience in both White and Black hair. Take a look at WE TV’s reality show, L.A Hair, Kim Kimble a renowned hair stylist shows off her diverse skill set as she works on both White and Black hair. In contrast, Kimble’s new business partner, Jonathan Antin, (Another one of Hollywood’s hairstylist) has strictly dealt with white hair fully supporting
Thus, being conveyed in the African American population as a cultural identifier, American Airlines had created a policy that restricted a group of people from fully expressing their culture, discriminatorily forcing them to “fade into the mainstream.” And still, there’s the matter that cultural beliefs and practices are often engraved into one’s identity, which is composed of immutable traits. While the court judged cornrows to be mutable due to the idea that they are simply a chosen hairstyle popularized by a white actress (even though the fact that a white actress uses a mainly African American attribute does not make such attribute a holistic, white, American attribute), cornrows had become an immutable trait for Rogers, explaining her concern and motive to sue for her rights. In such way it becomes noticeable how Yoshino and the courts make it seem as if there’s a standard, universal guideline as to what traits are immutable or mutable, and contrary to that opinion, Roger’s case fully proves that the classification of an attribute as immutable or mutable can only be relative, and that the one opinion that should surpass all classifications of the attribute is that belonging to the one identifying with such
Since the beginning of time, privilege has existed. Privilege, specifically white privilege, is written all over American history. Unfortunately, it still exists till this day, till this very moment. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the W.E.B Du Bois Professor of Humanities at Harvard and director of the W.E.B Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research. In his essay “In the Kitchen” he uses his childhood memories to show how African Americans do not see hair as just hair. Gates figurative use of hair shows us how far the unprivileged are willing to go in order to get a sense of acceptance by the privileged. White privilege is difficult to see for those
Yang, G. & Ryser, T. A. (2008). Whiting up and Blacking Out: White Privlege, Race, and White Chicks. African American Review, 42(3/4), 731-746. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40301264
Barbershop the Next cut holds a significant value to American popular culture with diverse social economic references. This movie depicts numerous components of subcultural issues that are faced in the black communities of American more notable Chicago, IL. Within the movie Barbershop: The Next Cut there will be an in-depth analysis of how this movie shows different Popular-Culture concepts for example; Ideology and Institutional power. This movie also shows the cultural “Norms” and the distinct language used in the subculture that is portrayed within the movie. The most relevant aspect of this movie that will be focused on will be the inequality of the black community in both race and gender and also the social stratification.
Cultural appropriation has been a controversial subject of debate for decades; hence it is not something “new” as society likes to think. The issue of cultural appropriation seems to have recently emerged in the 21st century because technology has allowed information to be more widespread and easily accessed. The borrowing of cultural elements of minority cultures, particularly black culture and indigenous culture, (hairstyles, music, fashion, art, etc.) by fashion labels and designers, celebrities, and the dominant culture often elicits unforgiving backlash from liberals. For example, Kylie Jenner has frequently been called out by the black community for continuously
Throughout the century racism has always impacted people’s lives. Though there are several examples of racism, a few are: segregation, discrimination, and verbal insults. Many have sought to make a difference such as,Saint Martín de Porres from the Fifteenth Century and Tracy Turnblad from the movie Hairspray. Today, many Americans are joining in the battle against discrimination. Both utilized their words, actions, and bravery to promote racial integration. Racism has been and continues to be a major world issue.
With African Americans being apart of the fashion industry, they faced many hardships. However, they created a distinctive voice in the history of fashion. Throughout the early twentieth century, Blacks designers influenced the fashion industry in America, having, “a system and structure for maintaining their particular type of fashion.” African American fashion was very popular and caught the attention from the media. Department stores held successful fashion shows, screened fashion movies, and staged fashion pageants. Fortunately, African Americans were allowed to attend these events, yet they were not welcomed. Fast-forward to today, the fashion industry has opened up several doors for African American designers, stylist, and models. However,
Black women have been the essence of style, originality all while receiving nothing but bad response from critics who secretly envy them. Natural hair tends to be another widespread trend. I think that some do the natural so they can connect with their African roots while I think others just like the look, or maybe it’s easier. No matter what grade of hair society has one marked term for black hair which is “nappy”. Besides pertaining to actions, the word ghetto is used to describe just about every aspect of a black girl's life. "Girl your hair look ghetto" and "You talk/sound ghetto" are two common phrases used around school. Colored hair, weaves, extensions, dyes and relaxers/perms are all things black girls have encountered. If your hair looks "too" nice, it's assumed that you're wearing weave or that you've gotten a fresh
Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks” (71). All these objects listed by McIntosh are things I have access to and certainly take for granted. Due to a history of non-white racial oppression, which transformed into decades of racial discrimination that still lingers today, the white race has dominated our society in terms of resources and prosperity. The ideas of wealth, higher-level education and ambition to succeed are all traits commonly linked to people of the white race that collectively define privilege. The aspect of privilege can also produce disadvantages for people of the white race as well. In the book Promoting Diversity and Justice, the author D. Goodman notes that people of advantage groups develop a sense of superiority, which will sometimes lead them to wonder if, “their achievements were based on privilege or merit” (107). Along with a diminished sense of accomplishment, the cost ...
In this paper I’m going to show how African Americans have used hip hop and black hair are two ways in which African Americans embrace their culture and fight oppression. However, as we have reviewed in many classes, oppression is not easily escaped. So in this paper, I’m going to show how cultural appropriation is used as a way of oppressing black culture. So this paper is an expansion of what we have learned in the class.
It is this form of prejudice that has more to do with skin tone rather than race. This mentality oppresses and criticizes those with darker skin tones and those that deviate from one desired appearance. It is for this reason that many Black women have gone out of their way to assimilate to society’s beauty standards or attempt to be “white”. What this simply means is that these Black women have gone to extreme lengths to appear light skinned and to make their natural hair as “white” looking as possible. This is partially due to the racist and colorist mentality in this society but also because there is a huge market in making Black women feel as if they are unworthy of being called beautiful because of their skin tone and hair. In Chris Rock’s documentary “Good Hair” he states that within his own community each individual spends an average of five thousand dollars a treatment on an attempt to get “good hair” and that the industry that is responsible for pushing this upon Black women is worth about nine billion dollars. The effects of this colorist mentality can be seen throughout history take for example during the Supreme Court case “Brown vs The Board of Education” (1954) in which it was deemed unconstitutional for a State to enact laws that created segregated schools solely for Black Americans. One of the pivotal
However, there is an argument on whether or not the significance of cultural appreciation or appropriation is true. DAZED magazine’s Dounia Tazi says, “Although it seems like a fairly easy concept to grasp, many people still argue that being able to ‘express’ themselves in imitation dreadlocks and e-Bay purchased bindis is more important than the consideration of the culture they’re jacking from.” More precisely, these people would rather not have any knowledge of what they wear; they want to look cool. Expressing yourself can be done effectively without disrespecting anyone in the process. As far as imitation dreadlocks go, there are White people who make the claim that since Black people wear their hair straightened or have a blonde wig or weave, they should be accountable for appropriation of White culture. At the same time, this is untrue. Black people were forced to assimilate into a society that did not accept them with kinky or curly hair. Assimilation of a culture is defined as “to cause (a person or group) to become part of a different society, country, etc. (Merriam-Webster).” The argument of this does not make sense nor does it have factual evidence to say Black people are appropriating White culture. By wearing blonde hair, there is no appropriation because White people are not the only race with naturally blonde hair. Furthering this claim, Black people cannot appropriate something they were forced
Famous fashion designer Marc Jacobs had his Caucasian models sporting Bantu knots, a traditional African-American hairstyle, for his runway show in 2015. Rather than accrediting the hairstyle to African-American culture, Jacobs simply ran his campaign and did little to recognize the history of the hairstyle. This failure to educate his followers led to an even bigger scandal, when a well-known hair website called Mane Addicts decided to create a hair tutorial for the knots, simply calling them “twisted mini buns.” The complete disregard for the hairstyle’s African-American origin generated controversy among online users of every culture and had people of color raging at the ignorance presented by not only a prominent fashion designer but also a popular hair website as well. These debates only further exemplified the double standard that is held in America.
Each wave, kink, coil and curl has carried the weight of systemic oppression by way of racism and misogyny; when the two are not mutually exclusive, they are known as misogynoir. Laws and policies have been in affect since the 18th century to police the appearance and presence of black women in the United States. Tignon laws, as a set of rules from a larger set of sumptuary laws to protect citizens from overindulgence and vice, were imposed along the Gulf Coast from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans, Louisiana. This rule forced free black women to cover their hair. The reasoning behind this rule was to “other” black women in order to counteract the jealousy of white women and the practice of white men having black mistresses. However, the Tignon law was counterproductive because free black women saw tignons as badges of honor and not as a punishment; they began to wear colorful head wraps and tie them in elaborate and innovative fashions. This rule enacted in 1789 foreshadows the struggles and triumphs of black women’s hair as a source of
Yet, once again, the airbrushed photo of a white model graces our magazine covers, and it is her white skin, thin frame and blonde hair that personifies beauty. A size 16 body; a full nose and lips; a head of curly, 'natural' hair; a darker coloured skin—such features are hastily dismissed, often with the entire accompanying race. Oh, you can almost hear the snobbish, distain-dripping voice