Summary Of Hair Story: Untangling The Roots Of Black Hair

The history of the significance and culture related to African-Americans’ hair is a very deep and interesting topic. There are many different hairstyles and troubles from having to live with those different sorts of hairstyles, but which hairstyle would someone choose and why? This book shared the experience of African-American men and women in the 1800's to the current era in extensive detail to help answer that question.
In Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, Ayana and Lori explain how the Africans and African-Americans in the nation were oppressed and lost their identity or had to change their identification in hopes of being better accepted because they were often found to be less likable or desirable by whites when

their hair was nappy or when they were darker-skinned.
The book explains what happened when the Africans were first transported to the Americas and what the hardships they had to endure with the loss of their identities and culture.

During the slavery days, many African and African-American men and women had their hair shaved from their heads for sanitary reasons. Unfortunately, this resulted in a loss of culture and identity which persisted even after they regrew their hair. When the slaves grew back their hair, their habits and care often had to change because of practical reasons or because their owners enforced certain ideas. Old meanings were lost and new meanings were adopted. Sometimes, this was out of necessity; if they needed to grease their hair, they would use the bacon or wheel grease which was available in the Americas rather than a grease hair product they would have used in their native country. It was also possible for slave owners to force certain meanings: When slaves had different hairstyles, it was usually a determinant for what they would be assigned to work on. Slaves grew to believe that if they had acquired straightened hair, they would be granted freedom. It could also mean that they would not have to work so hard on the plantations. If they had lighter skin and straightened hair, they had more opportunities to have such things as better food, better clothes, and an education beyond menial

labor.
The most desirable thing aspired to by African-Americans in the early 20th century was to have straightened hair like that of whites around them because it was socially better-looking. During the time of disliking African-Americans’ natural hair, most whites would think that blacks were uncivilized if their hair was left nappy. As time went on, hairstyles changed and so did hair products (80's phase and inventions such as the weave). Furthermore, as time passed, African-Americans began to accept their natural state of hair rather than wishing to modify and style similarly to those of whites.
The book was very detailed in stating facts but did not always explain why things happened.

The most obvious weak point of the book was that it did not tell enough about the culture of the hair to the Africans and that it did not exactly say how exactly the culture started. The book only said where it originated and about the date that it had started being part of the culture of the Africans. The book said that hair had started meaning a lot to the culture in the early fifteenth century and that it had many meanings, but the book did not explain how the hair was introduced to being part of the culture even though it claimed that the original culture believed the hair to be the most sacred part of the African’s body because it was the closest to the heavens. Another thing that was not explained was why people in that culture alone think that thick hair is considered your life force. The book does not try to explain why people thought that hair could be used to harm another person if you had a single strand of his or her hair. On the other hand, the book has its strong points, such as its detailed explanation of the hardships in the lives of the slaves and how they treated their hair in the past and in the present. Another strong point would be how the book shared the experience of the African-Americans hairstyles and emphasized their view of the importance of hair in their

culture.
Overall, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America was fun to read and provided a special view on the topic of Africans’ and African-Americans’ hair. This book thoroughly shows the importance of hair to the culture of African-Americans of the past and present through a historical perspective.