Straight Up

In the 19^th century a law was passed to allow slaves to attend church and socialize with each other. It also became the day women used to take care of their tress. As mentioned in the previous entry The arrival of doom slave were starting to use axle grease and hot butter knives to straighten their hair. They began to envy the straight hair that their slave master’s wives had and although it was a form of self-hate, it also show how slave were ingenious and very creative. 

The chemical lye, that was and still is in some cases used in hair relaxers.

The natural afro texture of their hair was being frowned upon and the slaves soon started mixing a concoction of lye (a toxin also known as sodium hydroxide) and potato. This was put directly on the scalp to straighten the hair shaft and then rinse with water and a neutralizing agent.  Although the process gave the slaves the desired straight hair, it did not come without a price. The caustic solution burned the skin instantly and usually left the person with severe scabs and abrasions on their scalp.




Over the years, the market grew for those of African descent to straighten their hair, even though the process was extremely dangerous and sometimes painful. In fact, in the mid-19^th century it was against the law in New Orleans to be seen wearing their natural hair. It had to be hidden with a wig or wrapped in a scarf.  

Madam C.J. Walker before and after using her product. I liked her puffy bangs. :-)

This new business was booming and in the beginning was dominated by whites, soon African Americans: Madam C.J. Walker, Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sara Spencer and others invented applications to remove or change the curl pattern of afro-textured hair.  Although, I personally do not think the invention of hair relaxers was a positive one, I cannot ignore the great entrepreneurism that occurred. The determination is something we all should be proud of.



Your hairstyle also fit you into a social class that had developed in the 1800s and early 1900s. If you had straight hair you were considered to be classy and affluent and those who wore traditional African styles such as braids or cornrows were considered to be poor and low-class.
 
It’s interesting to note that although the first relaxers in the 19^th Century were much cruder than the ones now used in present day some of the side-effects still remain, scalp burns, scabs and in severe cases relaxers can cause dermatitis and alopecia.
 
If you could go back to the 1800s, do you think you would you straighten your hair to fit in?

Blessings and Curls,
B-Curlie

The arrival of doom

Before moving into this post I just want to apologize for not posting the entire history series in February, as I had originally planned. I was under the weather during the end of the month and therefore the reason why my posts were scarce. I will still finish this series though and I hope you all enjoy learning about our hair history as I am....

Beautiful tribal women

When the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade started it was incredibly traumatic to the African people. So much so that it is still affecting us as descendants, to this day. They were wrenched from their homeland and in most cases their family as well and put in chains and loaded on to slave ships to work in the foreign western world. Their language, way of life and traditional costumes and everything they loved was taken away from them. The grooming practices that they were used to was not a priority anymore, survival was the main concern, not to mention as the slaves got younger, they had limited knowledge of how to manage their crown as the skill was only passed down to certain women in the tribe.

Axle grease

The slaves often wore their hair covered to protect hair from the harmful hot sun, wind and dirt. When they found time to do their hair, it was done to emulate the straight hair of their captors. Many slaves started to hate the natural texture of their hair and could no longer see the beauty in it.  They used a medley of toxins to achieve the straight look. A couple early straightening agents were axle grease (also used as a dye) and hot butter knives.  Lard and cooking grease were used as pomades and to moisturize the hair. They used sheep fleece carding tools to detangle, but this spread scalp diseases such as lice
and dandruff.

Fleece carding tool

 


As you can see it was quite a struggle back in those days on EVERY level, but what can be said is that our people never stopped being creative through all of their hardships. They found ways to exist.

Blessings and Curls,

B-Curlie

Part 1 - Days of Bliss

Now that I’m a curly, I often wonder why it took so long and I want to get to the bottom of the history of the perception of our coils. As the old adage says, “you won’t know you are going, until you know where you came from.” I will be doing a series of posts throughout February as my way of celebrating Black History Month. So here I go:

Before slavery our hair was something that was always pampered and taken care of. Usually, the person who washed, moisturized and styled your hair took great pride in the task and was someone close to you. You trusted them. Often your hair told a story, depending on the tribe wearing a different hair style was a way of letting the tribe now at what stage of your life, ie: marital status, social rank or mourning a loss to name a few.            

Argan oil

Hand-carved comb

Black soap was used widely as a shampoo and shea butter, palm oil and argan oil were commonly used to moisture and style. There was also great pride in hand-carving combs.

The combs are literary works of art and to me this says that they loved their hair with all its kinks and coils. It was important to take proper care of it. 



Blessings and Curls,


B-Curlie