When I first arrived in Africa, I noticed
that most of the men have curly hair but many of the women have straight hair.
I did not know the reason for the difference. Then one day while I was walking
past a beauty parlour, I saw a board displaying the services that they provide.
One of the services was hair straightening. I then realised that the women were
getting their hair straightened. Later on, I saw hair straightening devices
being sold in some shops. Most of them were made in China, some were made in
Germany. People in China and Germany do not have curly hair. It is obvious they
are manufacturing these devices solely for export. Africa is a big continent with
many countries. Each country has a section of the population that is well to
do. So Africa is a big market for such products.
Straight hair is more popular among the
affluent African girls. Men don’t seem to care as much about their hair.
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there is a movement here among african american women to go "natural" and it is becoming more popular. taking care of hair is time consuming and expensive....i think black women with natural hair are very cool-- they come across as strong/ empowered because it says to the world that they don't need to change/straighten their hair just to fit in or whatever--actually black women are very protective of their decisions about their hair, and when you talk about this stuff people will get very interested/opinionated/vocal and/or ready to take offense!....i think it is more about african american history and race relations in america that makes even talking about something as simple as hair such a sensitive topic...p.s. i have long wavy hair and sometimes i straighten it too just to do something different....:))
ReplyDeletegood to see your comment b.c. and thanks for all the information about african american women. :))
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