By Lesli White
When Justin Bieber touched best new artist Esperanza Spaulding’s afro during an interview it created huge media buzz. The day after Spaulding won the award, people seemed less focused on the award and more focused on the hair. While the moment brought attention to one of the major don’ts of black hair, it also cast a light on the growing natural hair phenomenon.
The trend of natural hair in the black community has been in waves. However, in a world seemingly dominated by the permanent hair, there appears to be a growing resistance to relaxed hair in the black female community. Courtney Echols, a VCU graduate who works with natural hair noticed the shift. She says the movement was like a “word of mouth” then a “chain reaction.”
“People started asking me why my hair was so shiny, straight and bouncy,” said Echols. “A lot of times, when people see your hair straight, they already assume you have a perm. When they found out I didn’t have one, they wanted to know who was doing my hair.”
Echols’s hair tools consist of shampoo, condition, blow dryer, protection oil, and a flat iron. She explains that the straightening process is only difficult when you’re not used to it. She also said that once you learn the technique, you get the best results.
“You end up applying the same processes to natural hair that you did to relaxed hair,” said Echols. “A lot of times you don't even realize it.”
Echols said that as time progressed, more stylists became versed in doing natural hair. Once they figured how to work with it, they started suggesting customers go natural.
“A lot of people started noticing their hair was doing better in its natural state,” said Echols.
A bad permanent wave at 9-years-old left Echols fearful of perms altogether. She started experimenting with natural hair in the seventh grade. Once she learned how to straighten her own hair, she no longer wanted perms. By letting the perm grow out of her hair, she was able to start over. Echols, 23, practices a regimen that was common in the black community until permanent relaxers became less expensive and more convenient.
Jeanette Powell-Rudo knows firsthand the damaging effects of perms and relaxers. Powell-Rudo operates “Jeanette Enterprises” located at 6315 Jahnke road. She has worked with natural hair for over 30 years. Her focus is braiding, twisting, extensions, loc styling and repair she doesn’t use chemicals because of the damage they cause.
“I never liked the idea of perms,” said Powell Rudo. “Knowing that someone is applying chemicals to the hair and scalp to alter its natural state was a little much for me.”
Powell-Rudo explains there are strong ingredients in both lye and no-lye relaxers including phosphoric acid, ammonium hydroxide, and sodium hydroxide, a chemical also found in drain cleaners. Relaxers can also have harmful side effects including chemical burns, irritation, red scalp, receding hairline, hair loss and breakage.
“Think about it,” said Powell-Rudo. “Why do beauticians need to use gloves to put something on your scalp? The chemicals enter your shaft and break protein bonds inside causing curly hair to go limp.”
She explains that there are fewer drawbacks when it comes to natural hair. Water and other products, used for natural hair upkeep, like oil and moisturizing lotion, don’t alter your hair chemically; they contribute to the health of hair.
Powell-Rudo has also noticed a growing shift towards natural hair in the black community, but acknowledges how women have been wearing natural hair proudly for centuries.
“Women have been wearing their hair in natural states forever,” said Powell-Rudo. “Even though women wore wigs back in the day they had natural hair below. When I was growing up we had our hair pressed, in plaits, braids, twists and more. I think natural hair is rooted in one’s culture and heritage along with representing ones pride.”
Donna Echols, the mother of Courtney Echols, was in her early 20s during the civil rights and “black is beautiful” movement in the 1960s. She explains that natural hair was political then.
“There’s always been a natural desire for many to go from kinky to straight hair,” said Echols. “But we went through a phase where we felt we didn’t have to emulate European Americans anymore.”
During that period, she explains the afro was not only worn by African Americans, but also by people of other races.
“Wearing hair naturally was liberating for people who didn’t necessarily connect with the country’s White, European, or Arian standards,” said Echols
She explains that the afro was revolutionary; In the 1960s, it represented defiance.
“We started thinking ‘I don’t have to be like you in order to be accepted’,” said Echols. “It was a movement against conformity.”
While she acknowledges the afro was a political statement, she also expresses how for many, it was a fad. Once people saw the afro was a popular hairstyle, many hopped on the radical bandwagon. When Echols wore her afro in the 1960s, her hair was relaxed. Today, she wears her hair free of chemicals. The afro means something different for her now than it did then.
“When I wore an afro back then, it was more of a fashion statement than a state of being,” said Echols. “When I decided to wear the afro again in 1989, it was a state of being. I realized it was okay for my hair to be kinky.”
Today, Echols goes back and forth between wearing her hair in a natural afro and wearing it pressed. She believes when people wear the afro, it has a unifying effect.
“There have been several occasions when a person has seen me wearing my afro and they’ve said ‘hello sister’,” said Echols. “There’s a certain connecting force within the African American community when you meet other people wearing their hair naturally.”
In the past few decades, many women have embraced afrocentrism or the idea of black importance by wearing their hair in locs, afros, and braids. Powell-Rudo believes there is a greater acceptance of natural hair in the work place and community now. In the past, many felt like they couldn’t move up the job ladder with natural hair but slowly, natural styles are socially embraced.
While natural hair can make a social or political statement or represent individuality, it isn’t for everyone.
“A lot of women choose not to wear their hair naturally because of choice,” said Powell-Rudo. “Some don’t like the way it looks.”
Keeping up with hair care maintenance is another issue for a lot of people with natural hair. Echols explains that natural hair doesn’t stay straight when one sweats.
“You can't allow moisture to get close to your head,” said Echols. “You may have to take extra precautions.”
After VCU Graduate Courtney Echols took out the last of her friend’s locs, she styles her hair with pin curls hair. Pin curling is commonly done when natural hair is straightened to give it a curly but layered look.
VCU Graduate Courtney Echols stands with a group of friends who all wear their hair naturally.
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