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| Cartoon By TallnCurly1 on Instagram |
As we enter a new year and decade, you probably created a list of goals you hope to accomplish within those time periods. One goal you should include in your list if you haven't already added is growing your hair out naturally with the removal of heat and relaxers. In this article, we will learn the history of African Americans/ people of color hair trends and inventions. We will then cover the reasons why becoming relaxer free is the best choice for a healthy lifestyle.
During the year 1441, Africans became a part of the "New World" era as slaves. These slaves were forced to believe that "fair skin, straight hair, and thin features" ( aaregistry.org/story/black-hair-care-and-culture-a-story/ ) were the only acceptable form of beauty. While many of the slaves tried to continue representing for their culture through braiding their hair in African patterns and using natural herbs from plants to create hair and skin products, others didn't have any other choice but to participate in creating European beauty standards for their survival of the New World Era ( aaregistry.org/story/black-hair-care-and-culture-a-story/ )
By the time the first slaves where bought to Jamestown, Virginia, USA; in 1619 African languages, cultures, and other African traditions started to become less present among them and would continue to disappear among the generations after them ( Thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/discovering-our-roots-do-I-hate-my-hair ). They were no longer creating herbal treatments used in Africa, they started using bacon grease, butter, and kerosene as replacers for conditioners and cleaners. During the time of slavery in America, lighter-skinned, straight-haired slaves were placed for higher prices at auctions than darker-skinned slaves with kinky hair ( Thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/discovering-our-roots-do-I-hate-my-hair ). This made a lot of slaves the next generations of people of color to become color and hair textured conscious about themselves and other blacks. They started to believe that dark-skinned blacks with kinky hair were less attractive than light-skinned blacks with looser curl patterns.
When slavery ended in 1865, black women who styled their hair in an European feminine way were viewed by society as being "well-adjusted" and lady-like ( Thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/discovering-our-roots-do-I-hate-my-hair ). By 1880, Black women in America would start straightening their hair with an invention called the hot comb made out of metal ( Thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/discovering-our-roots-do-I-hate-my-hair). The first use of the hot comb was seen used by a French stylish named, Marcel Grateau, who was a popular stylist for prostitutes in Paris. He used the metal hot comb to create a style that would forever be known as the "Marcel wave" ( www.hji.co.uk/top-hairdressers/hairdressing-icons-marcel-grateau ). While people are not sure who invented the first hot comb, Grateau was the first person seen using one, while Annie Malone was the first person to copyright it. It was not Madam C. J. Walker as many people believe ( www.freemaninstitute.com/poro.htm ) [ unfortunately the website had been shut down for some reason during the making of this article].
At one point in time Annie Malone was known as the first black female millionaire. "Malone was an African- American business woman, educator, inventor, and philanthropist" ( www.freemaninstitute.com/poro.htm ). Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone started her hair care business called Poro for four years before Sarah Breedlove aka Madam C.J Walker. In the early 1900s, Madam C.J. Walker was working for Malone for about a year as an " Poro Agent" ( www.freemaninstitute.com/poro.htm ). In 1902, Malone's business grew quickly and when she moved to St. "Louis, Missouri, she copyrighted her Poro beauty products brand including the metal hot comb ( www.freemaninstitute.com/poro.htm ). When Malone's business started to fail, Madam C.J. Walker's business took over and shadowed all of Annie Malone's efforts to what black hair products would became to be in the 1900s and what's currently taking place now within the industry. In 1910, Madam C.J. Walker was featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the first American female self-made millionaire ( Thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/discovering-our-roots-do-I-hate-my-hair ).
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| Annie Malone and am Image of one of her cosmetic colleges |
The year 1909 was the birth of hair relaxers for the black hair industry. The very first hair relaxer was invented accidently by Garrett Augustus Morgan. Morgan is well known for the invention of the three-part traffic signal and the gas mask, but he wouldn't have been able to get the resources for those two inventions if it wasn't for his invention of the relaxer
( www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/morgan.html ). In the early 1900s, Garrett Augustus Morgan was employed as a repairman for sewing-machines. He soon was able to open his own sewing machine repair shop. One day at his shop, "Morgan wiped his hands, which were covered with a lubricant used for the machines, on a bit of wooly cloth. When he returned to the shop the next day, the cloth was smooth ( www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/morgan.html). The results of the carpet intrigued him and he decided to experiment on one of his neighbor's dog to see if the dog's fur would become similar to the carpet. The dog's fur did become smooth as the carpet and Morgan decided to take it another step further by placing the same liquid on his own hair. This became the birth of G.A Morgan's hair refiner and a line of hair products ( www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/morgan.html ). After Morgan's hair refiner became a success, George E. Johnson was selling his own version of the "permanent" hair straightener for men that could be applied inside the home. Johnson then created a feminine version of the product and sold that as well ( Thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/discovering-our-roots-do-I-hate-my-hair ).
The next hair trend to emerge was the Jheri curl in 1977 and would remain a popular trend until the 1980s ( Thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/discovering-our-roots-do-I-hate-my-hair ). Jheri Redding is the founder of the Jheri Curl. Redding was also an hairstylist who also invented the hair conditioner and Ph-balanced shampoos ( www.80sfashion.org/the-jheri-curl/ ). When Jheri Redding first introduced the jheri curl hairstyle it costed around $300 and could only be done at the hair salon. Soon, Comer Cottrell invented a cheaper version of the jheri curl kit that could be done at home for the cost of $8. The only downfall was that the chemicals easily stained anything it landed on ( www.80sfashion.org/the-jheri-curl/ ). Once African Americans saw popular celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Ice Cube styling their hair with the Jheri curl, the style became mainstream among the African American populations in the United States, The trend soon died down nd has become a style in the past that won't be seeing much daylight of resurfacing back to mainstream media hairstyles. Now in the 2010s and currently, natural hair products has been the latest trend.
Now that we have covered the history of where African American hair trends started and where it has lead us today; it's now time to reflect on why getting rid of relaxers or any harmful chemicals from your hair routines. As we covered before in the paragraphs before how the first relaxers were invented that included a lubricant chemical that was used for sewing machines ( Thirstyroots.com/black-hair-history/discovering-our-roots-do-I-hate-my-hair ). Now why would anyone would want to put anything so close to their scalps and pores; which is a direct link to their brain? I guess desperate times leads to desperate measures for that European straight hair. Overtime, relaxers included lye as one of the ingredients; which is basically sodium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide relaxers break down the hair bonds that causes hair to become permanently straight ( www.designessentials.com/types-of-relaxers/ ). On the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry website, they define sodium hydroxide as, "...a white, noncombustible solid that absorbs moisture from the air. When the solid is in contact with water, it may generate sufficient heat to ignite combustible materials. The solid and its solutions are corrosive. Sodium hydroxide is odorless; thus odor provides no warning of hazardous concentrations" ( www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mmg/mmg.asp?id=246&tid=45 ). With this information, we now gain an understanding why after the removal of the relaxer, the scalp feels very irritable and dry from moisture.
Once this information was released from the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease registry, beauticians started using relaxers with the removal of the lye chemical. On the Sally Beauty website, they mention that no-lye relaxers are usually milder than lye included relaxers and is great for people with sensitive scalps, but can cause hair to become drier ( www.sallybeauty.com/faq_women_of_color_6.html ).
The no-lye chemical in relaxers is calcium hydroxide. Why does no-lye relaxers claim to create less irritation among the scalp, but you're left with less moisture in your hair than using lye relaxers. So now we have the option to get straight hair, but it could be mildly dry or extremely dry afterwards. Are we really winning with these options? Also, both relaxers will cause some level of irritated scalp. Both forms of relaxers cause the same health problems as well when it comes to the scalp and the internal parts of the body. Lastly, after getting the relaxer, the hair becomes very weak and starts breaking off from the ends to the roots. Have you been wondering why you hair only grows to a certain length? This might be the main reason why.
It has been well documented that relaxers both with lye and without lye causes damage that can be physically seen and has been linked to many cancers, such as Dr. Oz on his show ( click the link on Dr. Oz to see the video about lye and non-lye relaxers), but many people are not aware with the internal damage relaxers cause. Around the beginning of the first year ending my use of relaxers, I came across a YouTube video called, "If You Perm Your Hair, Please Watch This" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtHfh8t8x7k ) The video was of a guy mentioning a video he had watched on YouTube video of a woman who decided to stop getting perms when she learned of the affects relaxers cause brains when she was an active police officer working with body remains collected from crime scenes. Her video was called, " Why I stopped perming my hair My personal experience." In her video, she elaborates on her experience one day at work when she came across an African American brain that was black in color and no shape of the natural pink color. She asked her partner why was the brain black and they guy replied stating that the reason was because she got perms/ relaxers in her hair. She was in disbelief because she at the time was also getting relaxers in her hair. The guy then showed her another brain from Another African American woman who seem to become natural at least a year or two before she died and her brain was mostly pink and less black spots compared to the brain they viewed previously. From this incident she witnessed in her career, she knew she had to remove relaxers from her daily routine. Sadly, somehow her video disappeared completely from YouTube. Something sounds fishy just like we never heard of Annie Malone, but heard of Madam C.J. Walker.
So just in case, they try to get rid of the YouTube video I just linked, below is the transcript of it.
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