Afro-textured hair is a natural hair texture of a certain population in Africa, the African, Oceania and Asian diaspora. Each strand of this hair grows in the form of a small helix like a spring. The overall effect is that, compared to straight hair, wavy or curly, afro-textured hair looks more solid.
Video Afro-textured hair
Terminology
In many post-Columbus, Western societies, adjectives such as "wool", "kinky", "diaper", or "spiral" are often used to describe natural hair that is afro-textured. Recently, however, it has become common in some circles to apply numerical scoring systems to human hair types.
One popular version of this system classifies afro-textured hair as 'type 4' (straight hair is type 1, wave type 2, and curly is type 3, with letters A, B, and C used to indicate the level of variation in each winding type), with the most exemplified 4C type subcategory of this hair type (Walker, 1997). However, afro-texture hair is often difficult to categorize because of the many variations among individuals. These variations include patterns (especially tight coils), pattern size (spring to lime hours), density (rarely to dense), diameter of strand (smooth, medium, rough), and felt (cotton, wool, sponge).
The chart below is the chart most commonly used to help determine the type of hair:
Maps Afro-textured hair
Structure
Different ethnic groups have differences that can be observed in the structure, density, and rate of hair growth. With regard to structure, all human hair has the same basic chemical composition in terms of keratin protein content. Franbourg et al. have found that black hair may differ in the distribution of lipids throughout the hair shaft. The classic afro-textured hair has been found to be unconcentrated on the scalp as another type of follicle. In particular, the average density of afro-textured hair is found to be about 190 hairs per square centimeter. It is significantly lower than Caucasian hair, which, on average, has about 227 hairs per square centimeter.
Loussourarn found that afro-textured hair grew at an average rate of about 256 micrometers per day, while Caucasian hair grew about 396 micrometers per day. In addition, because of a phenomenon called 'shrinkage', afro-textured hair given long when stretched straight can appear much shorter when left to a natural state. Shrinkage is most evident when the afro-hair (or more recently) is wet. The more wrapped around the hair texture, the higher the shrinkage.
The shape of an individual's hair is never completely circular. The cross section of the hair is an ellipse, which can tend toward the circle or clearly flattened. Asian straight hair heads are formed from almost round hair, and Caucasian haircuts form an oval shape. Afro-textured hair has a flatter and finer cross section, and the ring can form a tight circle with a diameter of only a few millimeters. In humans around the world, Asiatic hair is the most common, while afro-textured hair is the most common. This is because the texture of the former hair is typical of the large population that inhabits East Asia as well as Native Americans.
AFR-color hair strands can have a "torque bend", in which the strands of hair spin themselves. These torque twists can prevent the hair strands from being curled into tight curls, but separating them and allowing the overall hair to have a more outspoken and more vague appearance.
Evolution
Clarence (2012) argues that afro-texture hair may have originally evolved because of the adaptive need among early ancient human ancestors for protection against intense UV radiation from the sun in Africa. With regard to modern humans hypothesized from modern African origin, the authors argue that afro-texture hair is the original hair texture of all modern humans before the "Out-of-Africa" ​​migration that fills the whole world.
According to Clarence (2012), afro-textured hair may have been adaptive to early modern humans in Africa because of relatively sparse hair density, combined with elastic helical shape, resulting in a windy effect. The resulting increase in cold air circulation to the scalp may have served to facilitate the regulatory system of hominid body temperature as they live in open grasslands. Afro-hair needs more moisture than straight hair and tends to shrink when dry. Instead of sticking to the neck and scalp when moist (as well as a more straight texture), unless completely soaked it tends to maintain its basic acidity. This property may have been preserved and/or favored among many of the modern anatomical populations of the equator, such as Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australoids and Negrito, due to its contribution to increased comfort levels under tropical climatic conditions.
History
African Continent
Historically, many cultures in the African continent develop hairstyles that define status, or identity, in terms of age, ethnicity, wealth, social rank, marital status, religion, fertility, maturity, and death. Hair is carefully prepared by those who understand aesthetic standards, because the social implications of hair care are an important part of people's lives. Thick, thick, clean, neat hair is something that is highly admired and sought after. Hairdressers have unique styling skills, allowing them to create designs that meet local cultural standards. Hair is usually dressed according to local culture.
In many traditional cultures, community care is a social event when a woman can socialize and strengthen the bond between herself, another woman and their family. Historically, braided hair is not a paid trade. Since the African diaspora, in the 20th and 21st centuries has grown as a multimillion dollar business in regions such as the United States and Western Europe. An individual's hair shaver is usually someone they know very well. Sessions may include shampooing, oiling, combing, braiding and twisting, and adding accessories.
To shampoo, black soap is widely used in countries in West and Central Africa. In addition, palm oil and palm kernel oil are popularly used to lubricate the scalp. Shea butter has traditionally been used to moisten and dress hair.
United States
Trans-Atlantic slave trade
Diasporic Africans in America have experimented with ways to organize their hair since their arrival in the western hemisphere long before the 19th century. For approximately 400 years of Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which attracted more than 20 million people from West and Central Africa, their beauty aspirations have undergone many changes.
Africans who are captured as slaves no longer have the resources to practice the hair care they have while at home. The slaves adapted as best they could in the situation, finding the carding tools of sheep sheep very useful for smoothing their hair. They suffer from scalp and infestation due to their miserable living conditions. Slaves use various ways to disinfect and clean their scalp, such as using kerosene or corn flour directly on the scalp with a cloth as they carefully split the hair. For field work, male slaves shave their hair and wear hats to protect their scalps from the sun. Slaves of the house must appear neat and tidy. Men sometimes wear wigs imitating the style of their masters, or similar hairstyles, while women usually braid or braid their hair. During the 19th century, hairstyling, especially among women, became more popular. Cooked fats such as lard, butter and goose fat, are used to moisturize the hair. Slave girls sometimes use hot butter knives to curl their hair.
Because of the common belief that straight hair is more acceptable than curly hair, many blacks begin to explore solutions to straighten, or relax, hair. One post-slavery solution is a mixture of alkali, egg and potato, which burns the scalp after contact.
Black Hair politics
In the 1960s in the United States, natural afro-texture hair changed from simple style expressions to revolutionary political statements. It became a fundamental tool of the Black movement in America, and "[h] the air came to symbolize a further step toward integration within the American political system or a growing appeal for Black forces and nationalism." Prior to this, the idealized Blacks (especially the Black women) "has many Eurocentric features, including hairstyles." However, during the movement, the Black community sought to define their own ideal and beauty standards, and hair became a central icon that was "promoted as a way to challenge the main standards of hair." During this time, afro-textured hair "at the height of politicization", and wearing Afro is a physical expression that is easily distinguished from Black's pride and denial of social norms. Jesse Jackson, a political activist, said that "the way [he] wore his hair [is] an expression of rebellion at that time". Black activists include hair straightened with political valence; Straighten one's hair in an attempt to 'simulate' white, both chemically and with the use of heat, then seen by some as an act of self-hatred and internalized oppression forced by mainstream media dominated by White.
At this time, African-Americans' ability to conform to mainstream beauty standards is tied to success. "Thus, rejecting straightened hair symbolizes deeper action to reject the belief that straightening hair and other forms of treatment that are considered 'socially acceptable' is the only way to seek satisfaction and achieve success in society. and chemical straighteners became stigmatized in society as a symbol of oppression and imposed the ideals of White beauty.The particular Blacks tried to embrace beauty and affirm and accept their physical nature.One of the ultimate goals of the Black movement was to evolve to a level where blacks " proud with black skin and curly or diaper hair. As a result, natural hair becomes a symbol of that pride. "Negative perceptions of hair and beauty afro-textures have been passed down from generation to generation, so they have been embedded in the Black mentality to the point where they have been accepted as simple truths.Wearing natural hair is seen as and for all the support gathered by the movement, there are many who oppose natural hair for both aesthetics and promoted ideology, causing tension between Black and White communities, and the discomfort amongst more conservative African-Americans.
Afro-texture hairstyles continue to be politicized in contemporary society. "These style issues are heavily imposed as sensitive questions about [an individual] very 'identity'." Whether a person decides to wear their hair in a natural state or change it, all Black hairstyles convey a message. In some postcolonial societies, the value system promotes' white bias', and 'ethnicity is judged on the whiteness - that serves as the ideological basis for status statements. "In turn, in this value system," the African element - whether cultural or physical - is evaluated as a low social status index, whereas the European element is positively assessed as an attribute that allows the upward mobility of the individual. "This value system is reinforced by systematic racism , and still, often hidden from the public eye in Western society.Racism 'works' by encouraging self-identity devaluation by the victims themselves, and that refocusing pride is a prerequisite for resistance politics and reconstruction.
In this system, "hair functions as a key 'ethnic marker' because, compared to body shape or facial features, it can be changed more easily by cultural practices such as straightening." Racism initially "politicized" [afro-textured] hair by burdening with a variety of 'social and psychological' meanings "- categorizes it as a problem: ethnically easily manipulated distinctions, like hair, are transformed so that ethnic minorities assimilate into dominant Eurocentric societies. Natural hair styles, such as Afro and dreadlocks, "counter-politicize markers of the ethos of devalorization, redefine Blackness as a positive attribute." By wearing their hair as it grows naturally, individuals with afro-texture hair take back agency in determining the value and political hair their own.Wearing a person's hair naturally also opens up a new debate: Are those who decide to keep their hair straightened, for example, less 'Black' or 'proud' of their inheritance, than those who decide to wear their hair naturally? this is often the topic of ongoing discussion g in society. The problem is highly debated and debated, creating almost a social gap in society - between those who decide to be natural and those who do not.
Emancipation and post-Civil War
After the American Civil War and emancipation, many African-Americans migrated to large cities or towns, where they were influenced by new styles. The photos below show the leaders of 19th century women with various styles with natural hair. Other people straighten their hair to fit White's ideals of beauty. They want to succeed, and to avoid persecution including legal and social discrimination. Some women, and fewer men, lighten their hair with household bleach. Various caustic products containing bleach, including laundry bleach, designed to be applied to afro-textured hair, were developed in the late 19th and early 20th century, when African-Americans demanded more fashion choices. They use creams and lotions, combined with hot irons, to straighten their hair.
The Black hair care industry was initially dominated by the White owned business. At the end of the 19th century, African-American businessmen such as Annie Turnbo Malone, Madam C. J. Walker, Madam Gold S.M. Young, Sarah Spencer Washington and Garrett Augustus Morgan revolutionized hair care by creating and marketing chemical (and heat-based) applications to transform highly curved textures. They quickly became successful and dominated the Black Hair Care market. In 1898, Anthony Overton founded a hair care company offering saponified coconut shampoos and AIDA hair pomade. Men start using pomade, among other products, to achieve a standard aesthetic look.
During the 1930s, conking (illustrated clearly in The Autobiography of Malcolm X) became an innovative method in the United States for Black Men to straighten their curly hair. Women at that time tend to use a wig, or to comb their hair (rather than open it) to temporarily imitate the straight style without permanently changing the natural curling pattern. Popular until the 1960s, curly hair styles were achieved through the application of a mixture of alkaline, toxic eggs and potatoes and immediately burned the scalp.
Black-owned businesses in the hair care industry provide jobs for thousands of African-Americans. The business owner is very supportive of the African-American community. During this time, hundreds of African-Americans became successful owners of beauty salons and barber. It offers permanent and hair straightening, as well as cut and styling services, some for both White and Black clients. In this era, men regularly go to barbers shops for beards, and some Black barbers develop exclusively White, elite clients, sometimes in association with hotels or clubs. The media image tends to perpetuate the ideals of European beauty from the majority culture, even when displaying African-Americans.
African-Americans are starting to sponsor their own beauty show. The winners, many of them wearing straight hairstyles and some of them are mixed races, adorn Black magazines and product advertisements. At the beginning of the 20th century, media portrayals of African traditional hairstyles, such as braids and cornrows, were associated with poor African-Americans living in rural areas. In the early decades of the Great Migration, as millions of African-Americans left the South to get a chance in the northern and western industrial cities, many African-Americans wanted to leave this rural association behind.
Scholars debate whether hair straightening practices arise from Black's desire to conform to Eurocentric beauty standards, or as part of their individual experiments with fickle modes and styles. Some believe that slaves and then African-Americans absorb prejudices from European slave and occupation owners, who regard mostly slaves as second-class, as they are not citizens. Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharp say they believe the preference for Eurocentric beauty ideas still covers the Western world.
Rise of Black pride
African-American hair has gone through many different cycles. Slavery plays a major role in the ups and downs of pride that African-Americans take their hair. "Everything I know about American history I learned from seeing the hair of the Blacks is a perfect metaphor for African experimentation here: ticket prices (for trips that nobody chooses to take), slavery victims, and fees "It's all in the hair. Like Jamaican Kincaid, who only writes about a character named Mom, I decided to just write about hair: what we do for it, how we do it, and why. I consider this quite ", said Lisa Jones in an essay entitled Hair Always and Forever.
Cheryl Thompson writes, "In 15th-century Africa, hair styles are used to show one's marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, wealth and rank in the community (see Byrd & amp; Tharps, 2001; Jacobs-Huey, 2006; , 1994; Patton, 2006; Rooks, 1996) For young black girls, Thompson says, "hair is not just something to play with" - it is something that sends messages, not only to the outer public but also messages on how they see themselves. "In the 1800s and early 1900s, diapers, curls, curly hair were considered lower, ugly and untidy compared to waving hair and waving people from other cultures," said Marcia Wade Talbert at Black Chemical relaxation is increasing in demand throughout the 1800s and 1900s This relaxant often contains sodium hydroxide (alkali) or guanidine hydroxide which causes hair breakage, hair thinning, hair growth slows, will scalp and even hair loss, according to Gheni Platenurg in the article, "Black Wom id Back to Their Natural Hair Roots. "
In the United States, the success of the civil rights movement, and the Black power and Black pride movement of the 1960s and 1970s, inspired African-Americans to express their political commitment by adopting traditional African styles. The Afro hair style develops as an affirmation of the Black African heritage, expressed by the phrase, "Black is beautiful." Angela Davis wore her Afro as a political statement and started a movement toward natural hair. This movement affects a generation, including celebrities like Diana Ross, whose Jewel curls took over in the 1980s.
Since the late 20th century, blacks have experimented with a variety of styles, including cornrows, locking, braids, haircuts and short cut hair, specifically designed for afro-textured hair. Natural hair blogs include Black Girl Long Hair (BGLH), Curly Nikki and Afro Hair Club. With the advent of hip-hop culture and Jamaican influence like reggae music, more and more non-blacks are starting to wear this hairstyle as well. New markets have grown in hair products such as "Out of Africa" ​​shampoo.
The popularity of natural hair has changed and decreased. At the beginning of the 21st century, a significant percentage of African-American women still straighten their hair with some kind of relaxer (either hot or chemical-based). This is done despite the fact that long-term use of these chemicals (or heat) can lead to excess, damage and thinning of the hair. Rooks (1996) argues that hair care products designed to straighten hair, which has been marketed by white companies in African American publications since the 1830s, represent unrealistic and unattainable beauty standards.
The sale of relaxers has decreased greatly among African-American women from 2010 to 2015. Many African-American women relinquish relief to return to their natural roots. Celebrities like Esperanza Spalding, Janelle MonÃÆ'¡e and Solange Knowles have played with a natural hair look. During the same time period, the number of natural hair support groups has increased. "I see many women who have started to accept themselves and their hair". "They encourage their children to start accepting themselves.This is entirely new," according to Terry Shrosphire in the article "Black Hair Relaxer Sales Dropped Because of It". Research has shown that sales of the relaxer dropped from $ 206 million in 2008 to $ 156 million in 2013. Meanwhile, sales of products for natural hair styling continue to increase. The documentary Chris Rock Good Hair has shown what many women go through to achieve "European standard" hair. "The weave that cost thousands of dollars and the relaxers who took too much time, the black woman finally decided that it was too much", according to the documentary.
Modern perceptions and controversies
In 1971, Melba Tolliver, a WABC-TV correspondent, made national headlines when she was wearing Afro while covering the wedding of Tricia Nixon Cox, daughter of President Richard Nixon. The station threatened to take Tolliver out of the air until the news drew national attention.
In 1981, Dorothy Reed, a reporter for KGO-TV, an ABC affiliate in San Francisco, was suspended for wearing her hair in cornrows with beads on the end. KGO calls her hair style "inappropriate and annoying". After two weeks of public disputes, NAACP demonstrations outside stations, and negotiations, Reed and the station reached an agreement. The company paid his lost salary, and he removed the colored beads. He returned to the air, still braided, but without beads.
Genesis 1998 became national news when Ruth Ann Sherman, a young white teacher at Bushwick, Brooklyn, introduced her students to the 1998 book Nappy Hair by African-American writer Carolivia Herron. Sherman was criticized by some people in the community, who thought the book presented a negative stereotype (despite winning three awards), but he was supported by most of his students' parents.
On April 4, 2007, radio talk show host Don Imus referred to Rutgers University's women's basketball team, who played in the NCAA Women's Championship game, as a "hock-headed hockey" group during which he Imus in the Morning appeared. Imus producer Bernard McGuirk compared this game with "jigaboos versus wannabes", which alludes to the movie Spike Lee School Daze. Imus apologized two days later, after receiving widespread criticism. CBS Radio canceled Don Imus's morning show a week after the incident on 12 April 2007, shooting both Imus and McGuirk.
During August 2007, The American Lawyer reported that an unnamed junior staff member of Glamor Magazine gave a presentation on "Do's and Don'ts of Corporate Fashion" to Cleary Gottlieb, a New York City law firm. Her slide show included her negative comments about black women wearing natural hairstyles at work, calling them "shocking", "inappropriate", and "political." Both law firms and Glamor Magazine released an apology to the staff.
In 2009, Chris Rock produced Good Hair , a documentary that discusses a number of issues related to African-American hair. He explores the styling industry, a variety of styles now accepted in society for African-American female hair, and this connection to African-American culture.
The Kenyan model Ajuma Nasenyana criticized the trend in his native Kenya that rejected South Africa's black-skinned beauty standard that supports other societies. In a 2012 interview with the Kenyan spreadsheet, Nation Daily , she said,
"It seems the world is conspiring to tell you that there is something wrong with the curly hair of Kenyan women and dark skin [...] Their leaflets are all about skin lightening, and they seem to do good business in Kenya That just shocks me. Caucasian to tell us to brighten our skin [...] I never try to change my skin I am naturally The people in Europe and America like my dark skin But here in Kenya, in my home country, some consider it not interesting. "
In November 2012, American actress Jada Pinkett Smith defended the hair of her daughter, Willow, on Facebook after the girl was criticized for being "uncluttered". "Even a little girl should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a little girl's culture believes," the actress said.
In other Black diaspora populations
During the 19th century, throughout the West Indies, the teachings of Jamaican political leader Marcus Garvey encouraged an active rejection of European beauty standards. The Rastafari movement generated from the 20th century has maintained that the growth of free form dread relates to spiritual enlightenment, largely informed by the Nazirite Biblical oath. The Rastafari movement has been so influential in the visibility and popularity of the next dreadlocks, throughout the Caribbean and in the global African diaspora, that the term "rasta" has become synonymous with the dreadlocked individual. Today, dreads are common among Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin Americans.
Styling
Over the years, natural hair styles and trends vary from media influence and the political climate. Treatment and natural black hairdoing has become a major industry in the United States. Many salons and beauty equipment stores serve solely for clients with natural afro-textured hair.
The Afro is a huge growth, often afro-texture hair balls that became popular during the Black power movement. The Afro has a number of variants including "afro puffs" (a cross between Afro and pigtails) and a variant in which Afro is treated with a hair dryer to become a flowing mane. The "hi-top fade" was common among African-American men and boys in the 1980s and has since been superseded by popularity by 360 waves and Caesar haircuts.
Other styles include woven or braid, twist two-strand, and bend base, all of which can be formed into a well-kept gimbal if the hair is allowed to knit together in a style pattern. The basic bend includes the radius and bend coils. Dreadlocks, also called "dreadlocks", "keys" or "locs", can also be formed by allowing hair to be woven together with themselves from an Afro. Another option is the trademarked "Sisterlocks" method, which produces what can be called a very neat tidbit of dreadlocks.
The well-preserved keys - or so-called saloon keys or fashion keys - have many styling options that include strategic divisions, divisions and dreads. Popular dreadlocks include cornrows, braid-out styles or "key rattles", woven baskets and pipe cleaning curls. Others include a variety of dreaded mohawks or hawk-locks, braided breads, and a combination of elemental style elements.
Natural hair can also be arranged into "auxiliary knot", which involves cutting hair with square or triangular parts and tightening it into tight loops or knots in the head. Aided knots can be made from natural hair or loose gimbals. When braided flat on the scalp, natural hair can be used as the base cornrows or forming countless artistic patterns.
Other styles include "natural" (also known as "mini-fro" or "teenie weenie Afro") and "microcoils" for short, twist-out and braid hair (where hair is trained in bends or braids before being parsed) "Brotherlocks" and "Sisterlocks,". Also, fades, twists (Havana, Senegal, crochet), faux locs, braids (Ghana, boxes, crochet, cornrows), knot aids, wigs and custom weave or combination of styles like cornrows and afro-puff.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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