A F R O C H I C K M A G A Z I N E | Vol. 1 (December 2013) | Page 15

A F R O C H I C K | M A G A Z I N E 15

In 2007, when an editor from Glamour Magazine spoke to a group of lawyers at the offices of
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in Manhattan, she affirmed why so many black women
hesitate to wear their hair natural. There to offer a “dos and don’ts” of corporate fashion, the
editor allegedly showed a slide of a black woman wearing an Afro, which read “Just say no to
the ‘fro,” and she said that dreadlocks were “truly dreadful,” and that the office was not a place
for such “political” hairstyles. Whether they are casual comments about texture or blatant insults,
many black women feel that there is a price to pay for sporting a natural do. Even corporations
like MCI Communications and American Airlines have been sued because black women were
allegedly fired for wearing their hair in braids or dreadlocks (Caldwell, 1991). “To me, it’s about
education,” says Ruth. “It’s about educating people, it’s about educating the government, it’s
about educating everybody, it’s not a black power thing, it’s got nothing to do with that. It’s got
to do with individual acceptance of self.” When black women straightened their hair during C.J.
Walker’s time, it was because they felt they had no choice. “It was t he difference between
whether you ate or you didn’t,” says Ruth. “When a black woman goes to apply for a job (today)
and she doesn’t get that job because her hair is natural you need to take a step back and say
something serious is going on here,” she adds.
Janet Campbell, owner of Nanni’s Natural Hair Salon, believes that more women are going
natural, despite the possible CLM (career limiting move). A stylist for 14 years, she has been
operating a fully-licensed hair salon out of her home in the west end of Toronto for five years.
“I’m an optimist,” she says. “I used to see only straight hair and all that but it’s not where I’d like
it to be because women are still under the impression that the European way is real beauty,” she
adds. Like SR, Nanni’s is not just a place women (and men) go to get their hair done, it is a place
where they learn to embrace their true selves, and re-learn that natural hair is normal; relaxed
hair is not. “I see positive things for the future. I see more women cutting off their perm [6] hair
and going natural, it doesn’t even have to be locs. [7] It just might be even seeing what their
natural hair is. I see more people kind of testing and experimenting, and that’s the key,” she says.
“The ethnic market has never really been given a lot of respect and support from manufacturers
in that they treat us all like we’re in the US,” asserts Gordon, creative director and co-owner of
Ragga Hair Studio and Beauty Store. [8] “Because of the bilingualism requirements on Canadian
packaging, it creates a big problem. With the market being very small and so diverse they say,
‘why should I spend the extra three cents on packaging just to accommodate that small market in
Canada?’” While Gordon believes that it is not a matter of natural versus relaxed hair, he agrees
that too many black women do not know how to care for their natural hair, and the latest trend –
lace front wigs – is evidence of that. He states, “I have this friend of mine, she was into the lace
front and she wore lace front for a year, now she’s got depigmentation around the first inch of
her face all around the hairline from gluing that stuff on in order to look like Tyra Banks. It’s
sad.” Lace front wigs are tied individually strand by strand to the hair cuticle to create a hair line
that gives the appearance of hair that looks more “real” than a weave. There’s just one problem –
they cause more damage than they hide. “I think it’s about getting back to an education and
what’s good about black hair,” says Gordon, adding that “black hair is the best hair to have. It
could be straight today, kinky tomorrow, and curly the next day.”
It is important to note that there are no race-based statistics in Canada on black hair care, but in
the United States, the numbers are staggering. In America, black hair care (non-natural) is an