Women’s hairstyles! What hairstyle should the Black woman embrace? This question and the debate it has elicited intersect opposing views. There are two broadsides to the raging controversies on the matter, namely, the pro-west dimension, which hoists the Caucasoid, stretched and often long and dropping hair as a superior model, and the Afro-centric view, which recommends hairstyles that reflect the African heritage.
Western influence on Black women has resulted in some forms of hair conditioning and augmentation, which Afro-centric personalities detest. Hair conditioning of this type began with the use of hot or stretching combs and ‘progressed’ into chemical relaxers and other practices like tonging to achieve something comparable to the hair of a Caucasoid woman. This trend, which is traceable to Africa’s colonial experience, was reinforced by television adverts and by characters in movies. This way, the long, stretched and bouncing hair was rammed into the subconscious mind of the African woman, eliciting a hypnotic spell from which many could not extricate themselves.
This westernization process was compounded by the introduction of augmentation with synthetically, and in some cases, real Caucasoid hair. Most Black stars, caught in the maze of this experience, flaunt styles of this nature.
Are there good grounds to condemn any of these positions? A point that could be raised bothers on the non-reciprocal or equivalent copying of Black/African styles by women of other ethnic origins, which reflect an attitudinal complex that has, largely, been ignored in the debate. Should the Black woman not look forward to seeing other women and stars ’rock’ Afro-braids? The cynical distrust and the hard-line posture of Black activists will ease off when such barriers are broken.
In addition, Black activists have a nostalgic recall of the sense of beauty of the African past and the peculiarities of the African hair, which evolved, adapted to African climatic conditions. This consciousness, in tandem with the call for African cultural renaissance, raised African hairstyles to an elevated pedestal. This Africanist school of thought attracted disciples from both Africa and the diaspora, who sought to recreate, adapt, eulogise and adopt Afro-hair styles, from blowouts to low cut, braids and locks. Thus, several Black women, including divas, embraced such styles with gusto.
The question now is which is the right way to go? I would rather pitch my tent with open-mindedness. Women must eschew any form of superiority or inferiority complex in a matter that ought to accommodate cultural relativity. The notion of a common humanity must replace parochialism and fixation on cultural identity. We must harness the beauty in diversity such that the choice of hairstyle will be a function of physical convenience and taste that is free of prejudice.
What do you think? Comment your thoughts below!
