African Hairstyles in film: An analysis of black women and hair movement

Introduction

The relationship between black women and girls and the presentation of their hair is inextricably linked to their identity. Hair is important in many cultures, and its meaning and symbolism change with social and cultural context. Hair is deeply symbolic for African American people, and its meaning extends to many aspects of black culture and life. Hair may have spiritual and religious connotations, and this meaning is both deep and broad. It may play an important socio-cultural role in other times; the use of the word can be used as a method of self-expression. (Johnson and Bankhead, 2014)

African Hairstyles have been banned from society since the beginning of civilization. Black Women have faced humiliation and discrimination for honouring their own hairstyle and traditions. (Kaler-Jones, 2020) Because of the relentless barrage of photographs telling them they must look a certain way if they want to be admired and even competitive, many women suffer with beauty-related identity problems. Though many women suffer from insecurities, African American women have had a particularly difficult time overcoming their insecurities due to the prevalence of misleading representations of African American womanhood in television, advertising, and literature for many years. Exaggerated, twisted, and patently misleading perceptions of African American femininity have had disastrous consequences, and dismantling images that have been rooted in the context of American culture is a difficult task. Nonetheless, film, as one of the most common forms of art, offers the chance to reshape and redefine African American womanhood. (Sims, 2006)

Literature Review

African American hair has a long tradition of cultural identity and importance as a significant aspect of beauty. (Rooks, 1996)From the nineteenth century to the present, a dynamic between self-perception and historical representations of hair is traced to demonstrate the unique connections black people have had with their identity through hair. (Bacon, 2015) The Natural Hair Movement is transforming the way black women think about their hair and what they do with it. Women of colour are empowered to accept their hair's natural – afro, kinky, or curly – texture. (Lukate., 2019) Hair has served as a "means of representing themselves and negotiating their position in the country" for African Americans both traditionally and now. (Jacobs-Huey,2006, p.4)

Throughout their lives, African Americans have struggled to find an aesthetic identity in a White-dominated society. […] Despite an increasing number of African Americans embracing their natural hair, those who value the natural state of African hair types continue to face a muddled definition of what is considered beautiful and acceptable hair. (Jeffries, R.B. and Jeffries, D., 2014) The prejudice against black hair remains as ancient as the United States of America. British explorers in the 18th century classified African fur as being more similar to sheep wool than human hair. (Byrd & Tharps, 2014) Hair and skin were politicized and assigned negative or positive connotations and interpretations, which were also internalized socially and psychologically because race was also linked to biological factors. (Mercer, 1991)

Braids date back thousands of years, as evidenced by the discovery of ancient stone paintings depicting women with cornrows in North Africa. According to Fraser, it’s impossible to understand the history of braids, and Black American hair culture in general, without looking at the impact of slavery on African women. The women's heads were shaved off before they boarded the slave ships, in a cruel attempt to strip them of their humanity and culture. Braids became more functional as women in America faced the hardships of slavery. Braids also served another purpose: they were used as a covert communication system for slaves to communicate with one another while their masters were away. Despite the hardships they faced as slaves, African American women did their best to maintain the ancestral tradition of meticulously braided styles. As Black women flocked to cities like Chicago and New York during the Great Migration and took jobs as domestics, braids soon became synonymous with backwardness. Braids are an inextricable part of Black culture, regardless of their popularity. Even when their natural beauty was not recognized and with the plethora of hairstyle choices available to them, black women have carried these styles with them throughout history—from Africa to southern plantations to northern inner-city salons and beyond. (Owens, Jackson, Phillips, Spencer and Fraser, 2016) (Adjaye, 1994) (Rickford, 2016) (Brown, & Lemi, 2021) (Dirshe, 2018) Cornrows, locks, and afros are natural hairstyles that have been a part of our society for decades. These models have been co-opted by ideals rooted in Eurocentrism and white supremacy. Smoothed, straightened hair became extremely popular, as evidenced by historical fashion trends. (Simeon, 2021)

Symbolism and Black Hair

Hair has long been and continues to be seen as a cultural indicator. Hair was used to indicate age, religion, social position, marital status, and other status markers in Africa. The high-top fade, a hairstyle in which the sides of the head are shaved, and the top portion grows upwards and as high as possible, was common among Black men as late as the 1980s. African images, company logos, associate names, and other marks were carved into the hair or on the scalp. Hair is intertwined with personal identity, spirituality, character make-up, and beauty standards. Hair is inextricably linked to African cultural identity, but to say that it is only a part of it is an underestimate. (Johnson and Bankhead, 2014)

Hair is emotional, symbolic, and an inseparable aspect of many African American women's identities. The idea of "having" one's hair "fixed" is very important to African cultures in the United States and around the world. The Black hair care market is worth more than half a trillion dollars every year. The top Black hair care firms made $185 million in sales in 2012. This sector has been relatively unaffected by the recent US crisis, with profits remaining relatively stable. These staggering statistics demonstrate how important hair, and its proper treatment are in the lives of African Americans. (Johnson and Bankhead, 2014) (Deroues)

Film

For several years, black performers have been forced to play positions that are considered discriminatory, portraying the African American audience with little nuance. Everything had changed in Hollywood by the 1970s, but much had stayed the same. During the 1960s, viewers started to see a dynamic, electric mis of African American actors in television and film, with Sidney Poitier becoming the first black actor to receive a best actor award for his film Lilies of the Field 1963. Diversification, however, did not necessarily mean more prospects for performers in the early 1970s. As a result, the entertainment industry lags behind in terms of the portrayal of black actors. With the rise of Blaxploitation, obscure actresses like Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson, Jeannie Bell, and Teresa Graves were able to build an alternate portrayal of African American femininity that varied significantly from the stock roles given to black actresses. An alternative image emerged as a result of the increasing visibility of prominent women in the civil rights movement with natural hairstyles that reflected pride in their African heritage and made a statement against the idea that African American women had to look a certain way to be considered beautiful, especially by media outlets such as film, television, and advertising. Angela Davis' Afro, which was worn by many women, did not adhere to the standards of black femininity that were not established by African Americans. (Collins, 2000) (Carby, 1982)

Esther Rolle's depiction as the matriarch on the television series Good Times 1974 demonstrated that achievement was possible for black actors when given the chance to represent women rather than a group in an industry that, in many instances, places a premium on physical appearance rather than ability. For several years, African American actresses were restricted to roles that required their physical attributes. The 1960s changed this, in part because race issues in America were seen on television for the first time, rather than only in newspapers. (Kuumba and Ajanaku, 1998)

By the late 1960s, the concept of black is beautiful had taken hold, thanks in part to the popularity of influential African American women feminists who dared to challenge conventions by embracing hairstyles that prompted many African American women to rethink how they had tried so hard to adhere to European beauty norms. For the first time, viewers could see that the spectrum of varied beauty in African American women was not characterized by mammy, the exotic other, Aunt Jemima, or Sapphire roles, thanks to the increasing number of actresses who could not be easily classified (Nichelle Nichols, Gail Fisher, Diahann Caroll, and others).

As a result, when Grier and Dobson first appeared onscreen in the early 1970s, viewers noticed one thing. Rather than Hollywood's idea of black femininity, their elegance reflected the ideals of the day. (Sims, 2006) (Garrin and Marcketti, 2018)

Nowadays, black women still fight to own their own beauty standards. However new celebrities and films about natural hair have start to develop and teach society black femininity. The relation of hair to appearance intersects with race and gender in Chris Rock's Good Hair 2009, putting a special strain on Black females whose naturally kinky hair textures are low on beauty continuums. Black females learn about positive and poor hair values through contact with adults, families, and males. (Robinson, 2011) “If your hair is relaxed, White people are relaxed. If your hair is nappy; they’re not happy” (Rock & Stilson, 2009, 11:48). Hair ranks high among the many topics African Americans wrestle with during their negotiations of an aesthetic identity in a White-dominated culture, according to comedian Paul Mooney, who was interviewed in Chris Rock's documentary Good Hair 2009. This documentary teaches us how skin, like other patriarchal status-forming cultural traditions, is articulated in relation to gender and class identity for women. More specifically, the female hair problem is often juxtaposed to a White, Eurocentric beauty stereotype in contemporary mass media texts. Moreover, the media texts Funnyhouse of a Negro 1964 and Good Hair 2009 successfully use linguistic and visual rhetoric to communicate persuasive messages to their readers. The abhorrence and rejection of Black hair, as the aforementioned Kennedy quotation indicates, is a profoundly rooted issue that affects the entire race of Black people. Similarly, Rock's work has had an influence, resulting in a surge of Black women who have embraced their nappy hair since the film's release. (Jeffries & Jeffries, 2014)

Another film that teaches us about hair is Netflix movie Nappily Ever After 2018. This film explores Black women's relationships with their natural hair in an attempt to liberate them from western culture's forced white beauty standards. This film analysis attempts to explain how and why outdated stereotypes about African American appearance and hair persist in culture, as well as the social and psychological implications of underrepresentation, through delving into historical connotations. (Cavusoglu, 2019)

Moving on the animation Hair Love 2020. The film, which tells the story of a Black father trying to style his young Black daughter's hair and finally succeeding, won the best animated short film award at the 2020 Academy Awards on February 9th. The short film does a good job of showcasing the natural texture and presentation of Black hair — most definitely 4B or 4C — on the main character, Zuri, who has a frizzy, tightly coiled afro, and her father, who has locs. “Hair Love” delves further into the cultural importance of afro hair, according to (Onanuga, 2020) (Stokes, 2020). The film Hair Love 2020 focuses on the relationship between a Black father and his daughter. Matthew is at the forefront of a young generation of artists who are sharing unique tales about the African American experience. This is what we need." - Jordan Peele, Actor & Filmmaker In this tribute to self-confidence and father-daughter love from former NFL wide receiver Matthew A. Cherry and New York Times bestselling illustrator Vashti Harrison, it's up to Daddy to give his daughter an extra-special hair look. Zuri's hair has its own mind. It kinks, twists, and curves in both directions. Zuri recognizes its beauty. (Cherry and Johnson, 2019).

Conclusion

Returning to one's "true roots" and avoiding the use of chemical straighteners is becoming increasingly popular among Black women. In 2010, Design Essentials, a hair care firm, commissioned a survey to gauge the prevalence of natural hair. They discovered that although 26% of women stopped using chemical relaxers in 2010, the number increased by 10% in 2011, bringing the total to 36%. Unlike the 1960s and 1970s natural hair trend, today's African American women are increasingly opting to wear their hair naturally plain for the sake of their hair. (Johnson and Bankhead, 2014) Even though in the past black natural hair was considered shameful by the imposed white society, in this new era women are free to use whatever hairstyle they identify with. Thanks to the women of 1960s/1970s the natural standards of beauty are modifying and teaches young black women to love themselves and their hair however they want to style it.

The Natural Hair Movement has aided some Black women in overcoming outdated stereotypes of their natural hair in the past and embracing their own perceptions of what is relevant in their self-presentations. It has given them the freedom to describe attractiveness on their own terms, both within and outside the office. Although not all Black women who identify as natural wear Afrocentric hairstyles, they all accept that they have rejected the negative influencing representations created by popular White society in favour of styling their hair in accordance with what they consider to be a convenient image for themselves. (Henderson, 2015)

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Filmography

Ä Lilies of the Field, 1963. [Online] Directed by Ralph Nelson, United states [viewed 20 april 2021]

Ä Good Times, 1974. [Online] Directed by Directed by Gerren Keith, Herbert Kenwith

Bob LaHendro, Donald McKayle, Perry Rosemond, United states [viewed 21 april 2021]

Ä Funnyhouse of a Negro, 1964. [On Screen] written by Adrienne Kennedy, United states.

Ä Good Hair, 2009. [Online] Directed by Jeff Stilson. United states: HBO Films [viewed 23 april 2021] Available from HBO.

Ä Nappily Ever After, 2018 [Online] Directed by Haifaa al-Mansour. United states: Netflix [viewed 25 april 2021] Available from Netflix.

Ä Hair Love, 2020 [Online] Directed by Matthew A. Cherry, Everett Downing Jr., Bruce W. Smith. United states: Sony pictures animation. [viewed 24 april 2021] Available from Youtube.