Hair Story

What’s more, Prestonia adds, “They can cut corners and still have a product that performs. They could say they have Moroccan oil in their product and only put one drop of Moroccan oil in there.” Jane Carter shares Prestonia’s sentiment.

Procter & Gamble, for example, tried to appeal to the new naturalistas without alienating their core consumers by calling their “new” Pantene hair-care line Relaxed and Natural.

Procter & Gamble, for example, tried to appeal to the new naturalistas without alienating their core consumers by calling their “new” Pantene hair-care line Relaxed and Natural. And the bottles were switched from white to brown. But the savvy Black female consumer wasn’t so easily convinced that these newly “natural” mainstream products were her best option.

She continues, “[Their] proclamations are steeped in wicked, ridiculous, damaged notions of what Black children’s hair should look like—particularly that of Black girls. I can’t help but to think that it’s tied into our equally wicked, ridiculous, damaged notions about Black girls’ bodies. We need them to be tamed. We need them to be restrained. Wild and free and natural is a no-go. The Internet, then, becomes just another tool in the policeman’s arsenal, another way to keep Black girls and Black mothers in our place.”

Writer Jessica Andrews quotes Afrobella’s Patrice Yursik as saying, “The belief that straighter textures and longer lengths of hair are somehow more beautiful comes from what we see around us. Look at the images of black women in the media—if their hair isn’t straight, it’s a very particular type of curly look that’s meant to represent natural hair. It’s another way for the arbiters of mainstream beauty to divide our community.”

Some woman feel compelled to add on fake hair to get the length and texture Black men will respond to, based on the images celebrated in popular culture, both White and Black.

I would like to say to other Black women looking at me and my hair … You don’t have to be afraid. … You can just be free.”

As Johnson continued to reap unprecedented success in the market, more White-owned health and beauty manufacturers became aware of the profitability of the Black hair-care market. Industry giants like Revlon and Clairol entered the market by acquiring smaller Black-owned companies that knew the products Black consumers desired. Revlon, for example, made its foray into Black hair care by purchasing a smaller company called Deluxol, whose key brand was Creme of Nature, a top-selling line of shampoos and conditioners.

“My mother and my fights were about hair, but it was more than that,” explains Nichols Solomon. “It was about my growing up and my politics and deciding things on my own. Above my bed, after one of our fights, I hung this poem that I wrote. It went, ‘When I die I will be happy. Because Jesus will love me with my hair nappy.’

“When it came to hair for African-Americans,” says image consultant Harriette Cole, the goal was “to have hairstyles that were straight and then curled—organized, with every strand in place. That was something that was born out of a European aesthetic.