From $40K On Wigs To $20K On Natural Hair Products, Women Explore Cost Of Black Haircare | Glam Gap
Black women are spending about $53 million out of $63 million on hair care preparation. In the hair industry, Black women exceed their White counterparts in spend on hair and hair care products. #GlamGap
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One you're black to your woman. So let's start there, you were born at a financial disadvantage to be all the way on this I mean we spent a lot on our products. I try not to think about the money I've spent on products that don't work, because it's painful you can't white Savior, a black hair care brand in this day and age. This entire category would fail without black folks, 1 billion dollars we adorn ourselves. It is part of our identity and it's part of our self-esteem. It is part of our confidence and self-worth and there's nothing wrong with that. I want people to know that black hair should be acceptable, no matter what it looks like black women are spending about. 53 million out of 63 million dollars every year for haircare preparations, black women - I mean we spent a lot on our products and at any given time we could walk around with about 45 to 50 dollars worth of products in my hair. It would have to be above 20 K I'll, say I spent 20 K in a lifetime on haircare products. I spent 330 on these braids because they're so long and it took us 24 hours to do it. I spend about $ 50 a month on my haircare. So multiply that times 12 and that's what I'm spending in a year, a girl like me, I'm spending at least 40,000 a year, always hair in general, yes and everything. There'S a discrepancy between what black women are willing to pay and white women are willing to pay. We roughly spend three times more the dollars than Caucasian woman, so, even though we make up only 8 % of the population, we are spending roughly 25 % of the dollars in the u.s. haircare market. Pretty much black hair care is always going to be harder to maintain and it's gon na cost more. Our hair needs more moisture and it's certain ingredients that can really deliver that. So the price goes up. I spent a lot of money on hair products. It'S actually ridiculous now that I think about it, because good hair products cost money honestly, and it probably will cost more for me to have like damaged hair and try to continue to fix that and like hide that, then to spend money on quality products that work. It took me years to find the products that worked best for my hair type. You know it was definitely trial and error. It was throwing away and giving away full bottles of products that just didn't work great. For me that seemed like they worked great for everyone else. I try not to think about the money I've spent on products that don't work, because it's a painful, but I'm sure it's amounted to a lot of money. At this point, it's basically money loss. If the hair box you'll be able to tell, by the little shake shake test, if you don't check, you're gon na be mad because you know visit our stores, don't have any type of return policies. Okay, hair can get pretty expensive. I used to think that maybe buying cheaper hair would be better because you'd be saving money and then I played myself so hard because I would keep buying so much hair and I'd have to get new hair every time I got my hair done where, if you Get the most expensive, hair or like more expensive hair. You just like buy that for maybe a year and you're good to go so you spend like $ 700 at once, but then you're good for the rest of the year, we're serious about our hair. It shows up and how we spend our money and how we spend our time. The infamous wash day my wash day, usually takes me like three hours from start to finish, I will say that sometimes my hair care routine puts me at a disadvantage socially, especially because I cannot go out on Sunday. I literally need to be home all day because I air dry, my hair as well when it's natural, so it'll take eight hours to dry fully. I get my braids like my protective styles. I get them done whenever my hairstylist can do it whenever she's available. I only trust one girl with my braids. I like how she does him, so, whenever she's available to do it, I'm available to do it I'll take off. I look at my hair as an investment right. If I have to miss someone's birthday like their birthday, is gon na come around next year or I can go hang out with them the next weekend like if my hairdressers like oh, I can only take you on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. like I'm gon na, be There on the Saturday at 6 p.m. because that's the only time that she has available for me, like you, have to work around her and especially if you're spending that much money on getting your hair done. It'S like yeah, I'm gon na, do it. I believe that the amount of time that we spent on hair definitely is prohibitive to just success in general. So, honestly, one of the reasons why I went natural it's because I was spending hours and hours and hours on getting my hair done doing my hair. Finding the right hairdresser - and I realized that when I looked at my week, you know it was like 10 hours worth of time on hair and imagine if I use that instead at the job, you know to increase how much I can earn or on my own Business, I do not feel like I'm saving money by any means by being natural, I actually find it very expensive. The good quality products are well over $ 12 on the low end, and if it's something that I really would want - or you know - could benefit my hair routine. It'S like 20 $ 40, we're spending more because we're using more, but our willingness to pay has clearly shown that we're willing to pay that much. So it also is another factor that keeps the price point you know kind of where it is because, if there's a willingness to pay, what's the motivation to introduce cheaper products, the reason why I felt like black hair care feels like it's challenging or more expensive to Maintain as it has to look a certain way in order to be presentable, so we're fighting for it to look nice, then you can go to work. You know I mean, like I do think part of it is because of the health society kind of tells us. We need to look at how our hair these look to be presentable, but also you know, our hair just require certain things to to be healthy. We have to show up looking better, smelling, better and performing better, just in general, we've all had that indoctrinated into us. Every single day, that's part of being black in America, we need moisture, we need a leave-in, we love our edge control. We need a great, deep and steigler, so those are key products that are needed on a daily basis. I can't just you know, shampoo, my hair and condition it and then air dry it and walk outside and look fabulous. I have to to twist it out. It'S it's um, it's a long process. You look at my co-workers and they can go to dry bar and get a 45 dollar blowout and have their hair look amazing and I actually really do have to budget. I have to be like okay. Well, I'm not gon na make a hair done for another six weeks. There'S gon na be $ 130 for me, so I'm gon na have to make this work until that kind of thing. I think it's deceptively easy to blame. Blame spending money on appearance, it's creating a financial disadvantage that black women are experiencing, but one one you're black to your woman. So let's start there, you were born at a financial disadvantage. To be all the way honest and yes do. We spend more money on beauty. So then, that further complicates that issue I do not. I do not think that black women are willing to forego the hair product. Never, given that wigs, I wear wigs for the rest of my life. They can bury me in a wig. I don't know any black women who are willing to forego haircare and hair products. There are certain things that are just part of black woman culture and it's you know it also goes back to presentation and how we looked at and always wanted to look our best. But also our best, you know whatever. That means black women say: okay. Well, I got to do my hair. I got to do my makeup and I got to do my nails if I have to strip any of that away. My hair is always going to be something that has to be on there, because I cannot go out of the house with out my hair being. Did you all will critique and do everything when it comes to black women and their hair pieces? Well, when it comes the way when we no one says anything, but I feel like if black women were wearing just the natural hair color their natural hair color with wigs or just maybe like switching it up just a tad bit. No one will really know the difference, but the fact that I might come in here - yellow you know, and I mean - or I might come here, blue or whatever like we switch it up, we're creative and we're expressing ourselves. So we get looked at a little bit different, even because of that. It'S not just about black women in here, but women in general put physical attributes at at the top of their lists, because when a woman is attractive, it directly correlates to how people think about her and her character and her ability. Think about that. When a woman is unattractive, oh she must be lazy. She can't do the job she's, not able she's, not capable. This is what the world tells you, and so, when you are attractive, then you get raises you get promotions, you get paid more, you get treated better and that's doubly true for black women as little girls we're groomed from day one about the importance of our hair. So we sit there between the legs of our mothers and we're having our hair brushed and braided and combed and is actually, although it doesn't feel like it, when you're little, you recognize it's really a symbol of love where your mom is taking care of you grooming. You in that love actually transfers over into a self-love if you will, and so we feel better when we're groomed and we're looking great and we walk out into the world looking fabulous. If you don't feel your best, it's gon na show. You know you mean whether that's on the inside like are you feeling sick or on the outside? Like is my hair done? Do I feel like my hair is presentable? Can I go to a certain room and feel good, even though my hair looks crazy? I think the way I wear my hair is how I feel I'd wear my hair. How I'm supposed to represent, Who I am. I don't think the problem is that we spend money on beauty. I think that the problem is that we're spending outside of our community when it comes to Beauty. Ethnic haircare has historically done better, just simply because it was directly marketed for us by us, and then a lot of our black companies started getting purchased by non black organizations. When you saw that cycle of all the acquisitions of a number of black owned brands. The question is: will they maintain the same standard and the same priority that a black owned brand will put on that particular product, or is it just a brand? That'S gon na get lost in the fray of the hundreds of brands that they own. I have a lot of skepticism when it comes to large companies like the dry bar or even if I try a Pantene pro-v product, because I'm not the customer that that's in mind when they created their brand or their products. So I don't think that they're necessarily going to know how to take care of my hair or ingredients in the product aren't specifically weren't, specifically put in there to take care of my hair. I think a lot of companies sometimes make the misconception that if we target African American consumers we're limiting our scope - and I think that the mistake there that you know a lot of times if you're seeking to connect with black consumers, if your net is big enough, You can get a lot of other consumers in there as well, and it can create a really big opportunity for gain for your brand. There is a black hole factor so when African American folks buy into something it's not just big business for our community, it's big business for all communities, because what we like everyone else likes right, because we radiate this cool factor, and so other communities have taken note Of this and honestly kind of hijacked, the beauty industry - and there are literally industries like the hair industry - that you cannot break into black people - cannot sell hair to other black people. Vendors won't work with them. Distributors won't work with them like isn't that crazy, and so that's what we're finding and so that there's wealth to be made it's being spent by black women, but not being spent with black women. There is this perception that, oh they just look at us as a dollar sign, and that could potentially be true, because if it don't make dollars, then it don't make sense. But that also means that our buying power and where we place our money, is you know where we use our. You know our capital to tell brands what we want and to tell companies what we're willing to buy. One of the reasons why I feel like that we consume so much, but we have not created enough. Is we don't recognize the economic power that we bring to the table? We haven't talked about that economic power enough Alice Walker. Has this amazing quote where she says that the best way that people give up their power is by not thinking they have any, and that's the real at the core for us as a community once shows like this come out and people start to recognize, we do Move culture: we do move markets. This entire category would fail without black folks, 1 billion dollars right, that's power as we move from consumers to creators. We also dim so much more powerful positions in every aspect of what we do. Beauty is something that has been part of our culture we adorn ourselves. It is part of our identity and it's part of our self-esteem. It is part of our confidence and self-worth and there's nothing wrong with that. I'Ve been to Africa to go and you go to Africa. You look at some of these pictures. You see the intricate hairstyles and piercings and just clothing, a jewelry that women, you know have been wearing for hundreds and hundreds of hundreds of years. So this is something that we've come from this it's a crown, and I now want to make sure that everybody sees it, no matter what style. I do. I think that's how I represent myself with my hair, braids colorful braids, big afro, huge afro. I want people to know that black hair should be acceptable, no matter what it looks like
Comments
It’s Latasha: The problem for me is not necessarily the money women spend on hair care. The problem is that we DON’T OWN ANY OF THE INDUSTRY. We are paying billions to others and those others barely pay us respect. And that’s the issue.
Lisa Irby: The only reason I was spending so much on my hair is I went natural and was obsessed with not making it look natural. So I wanted my hair to have all this definition and do things it wasn't meant to do. Once I stopped feeling the pressure to conform to what society says my hair should look like and embrace my kinky tresses, I've found that I don't need as much product at all. Most of them work the same anyway. I spend about 70% less than I did when I first went natural.
Chianti Bliss: When Suave introduced a line of hair care products for Black hair, each item was twice the price of their other items. Why are we willing to be exploited like this?
Ursula C.: I might be an anomaly, but I literally spend at most $150-$200 a year on hair care. I barely buy wigs, I trim my own hair, mostly stick with the same natural hair styles, and my products last a while. I don't think you have to spend that much money to have "nice" hair.
Regina Johnson: As black women I love how we are always changing up our hairstyles. However, the amount of money some of us spend on products is insane. Buy some stock too!
Marlies A Johnson: It's amazing how much we spend on products, hairdos, and maintenance, yet so many companies, and salons that Don't cater to us. Sad.
sali6357: This is why I make my own hair care products! My own natural whipped shea and my own natural oil treatments!!
Chantay M: I loved the content from this video, but honestly it would’ve been more beneficial to hear from some of your everyday 9-5 black women speak on how you/we manage to save our dollars in the hair care industry. The more reasonable ones.
Sherine Bonsu: How were Black women caring for their hair 30, 40, 50+ years ago before this Black hair product revolution? What is at the root of this current state of Black women forming their entire lives around hair care? Imagine if that same energy and time was focused on our overall health.
Amaya Gomez: I refuse to spend more than $10 for a product. In my opinion, all of that is unnecessary
Tiara Taylor: This video upset me as a black woman. One woman in the video actually said “I’ll miss a birthday, their birthday will come around next year.” So you can’t take the time to attend a birthday party because you of a wash day. It’s NOT that serious. I wish they would talk about black woman who suffer balding or hair loss. My mother has been suffering hair loss and it’s been eating away at her confidence and she constantly has to hear about how she needs to do such and such and make her hair grow back. Why is her identity as a black woman so wrapped up in her hair? I’m sick of so many black women focusing so much on it! There is absolutely no inclusion for women who have no hair. Instead many people get shamed or talked about with statements like “well at least I have my edges” or “I love my 3a or 4c hair”. So many other black women are shamed into hiding their hair and don’t get the ability to bs confidence without being shamed for having bald spots or thin edges. It sickens me.
HABBY O: I don’t understand how people be spending all these money on products. Like why do u have a whole cabinet of products. And why is it taking 24 hours to braid your hair by a professional?
Bria: I used to be a product junkie until I stopped buying and actually used a product until completion.They are counting on us overbuying and over using!
Gemini Ash: This comical to me. Been natural and even my 4c kinks don’t even cost me $400 per year lol... my hair moisturizer is $10. My shampoo is extra large @5.99 and conditioner is about $10.
jams: it’s neverrrrr that serious, there’s so many ways to avoid spending this much
Latisha Williams: This hair industry use emotions to get in our pockets. They feed off black women insecurities to build a billion dollar brand. India Arie said I am not my hair I am not my skin I am not your expectation no. Our dollars need to go towards something else and not on hair.
Kathy MahoneStreet: I am 65 years young and I didn’t grow up worrying about my hair. My family never had the money to go to the salon so we did our hair at home. I still do my hair at home. I am natural and I keep it clean, conditioned, cut and healthy. No wigs or weaves. Just black owned products that work for my hair, but I am willing to try other products that work.
Angie Jackson: Sisters stop the madness. We get paid the least & spend the most. I am a reformed product junkie & decided to start using natural oils, T. Joe's shampoo/ conditioner & a decent leave in. Turns out it only costs abt $20- $30 / month. I also save bcuz I only go to the hairdresser col times a year. As a mom just cldn't justify spending the $$ & more importantly didn't want to teach my daughter that it was ok to spend that much $$ on beauty products.
dontlikeusernames: 40k on wigs fam!!! Damn I could do a lot with 40k
Elisa Styles Williamson: Looking at this video; decluttering, organizing, minimizing and natural hair using 4 products for under $30 monthly was the best decision I have ever made.
icilmaa: I spend the minimal on hair products and I rarely visit salons. I just couldn't imagine spending ridiculous amounts of money on my hair. I was shocked when a 17 year old female I worked with told me that her birthdays were expensive because she had to buy bundles then pay someone to install the bundles. While it's important to look after our hair because of its texture we definitely over do things.
Gemini_Mutha: I can't and won't think about how much money I've spent on my hair alone..
Indiegirl007: That analogy of being groomed by our mothers is a act of love, is soooooooo true. So true.
Kathy MahoneStreet: I enjoyed reading all of the comments and respect them, we are all different and of different generations. I like the education I get from reading the various perspectives. I think different hair types and textures require a little more tender loving care.
Imagine TV with Renee': Why isn't curly/full hair the staple of "beauty" and straight/flat hair considered unkempt by the masses? It's time to flip the table. Also...being effortless or low maintenance as a black woman, requires a lot of self esteem. When you no longer care about what others think of you, all of the extra goes away.
Brittney: We make hair care too complicated! Tbh I’m natural and I like to 2 strand, 3 strand box braid (myself) whatever . Every 2 months I spend $50 (shampoo, consitione, styling cream, avocado oils (seal). (I stretch out every drop, and scrape the bottle). Call me cheap but I have other priority bills to pay.
Tiffanie Williams: This is crazy! Spending a lot of money on haircare was part of the reason I decided to loc my hair. I have my products narrowed down to 4 things that cost me no more that $25 at the beauty supply. I used to have a shitload of products because I couldn’t figure out what worked with my hair type. Great series!
Shaahazadee Khaaliq: What frustrates me is that what you wear and do gets emulated by other races and we don’t get credit for it. We need to start owning our own, so we can build ourselves up. Our buying power is POWER!
CNJL1: What irks me is that people believe other races of women are just so effortless with their hair and beauty. They spend a lot of time, money, and effort on their hair especially the bottle blondes. My nonblack coworkers take hours to get ready. Meanwhile my natural hair doesn’t take long at all. Black women can be effortless they are just choosing not to be. That is fine because hair is a cultural statement and can be fun but don’t act like it’s necessary for black women to do all this.
Lineairy: I used to be like this until I started making my own hair products: Flaxseed or aloe Vera mixed with some oils for a curl defined of gel Avocado, banana, rice water for deep conditioner Rice water, water, aloe Vera gel for leave in conditioner or moisturizer I’ve learned a lot!
Myrlie: The highest expenses goes on wigs and protective styles. Not in product to moisture. Let's be honest about that. When we embrace our blackness entirely, we'll save a lot of money sisters. Yeap I said it.
Malene Charles: Here's another layer to this convo: black woman in business get zero funding for their startups. This one sided business model of how we invest in other brands but rarely do others invest in us is toxic conditioning.
ChellyTheGreat: I wear my hair natural, weaved, and braided with weave. I love how I look in every form. I don’t spend that much on hair by doing this also haha. Don’t judge a woman’s confidence and self worth by her hair *cough cough, these comments*
Latisha Williams: She spent more on wigs than what I made as a teacher in my first year smh
ArielAlflalo: Instead of calling it wash day I call it self care day. I love washing my hair! I love my natural hair ❤️
Cotton haired Aesthetic: I started my natural hair journey as a broke high schooler. I’m lucky to have started out learning how to do my hair without excess product. As an adult I can proudly say I make house visits to my family members houses to do their natural hair. They started being natural because of me and grooming their Afros and dreads have brought us even closer.
janschild: I stopped being a product junkie a long time ago. I use aloe vera as a leave-in and a mixture of oils as a styler. The key is to discover what your needs and that usually doesn't cost a fortune.
Kendra Sawyers: Loving this new series on here, things I can actually relate too
time for truth: I make my own stuff,and I do my hair, my daughter's hair,and my brother's hair. I have never spent that kind of money on my hair. I have bills to pay and a family to take care of. That is more important to me.
Brittany Ferguson: Black women are really doing the MOST. Haircare is that, HAIRCARE. You shouldn’t be taking days off to care for your hair. (Braids are another story.) The natural hair movement is amazing but we went from spending money on relaxers and sew ins to now spending that money on natural hair products and wigs/breads. Haircare is expensive for our hair types. I buy products in the salon sizes for that reason. But another reason why we spend a lot is because many of use have a mentality that we need every new product launch and have thousands of products we don’t use And my wash day isn’t a day. It’s more like an hour and I leave home with damp hair. Why must we stay home to dry our hair? Every other race of women leave home with damp hair....and I’m saving money and I’m no longer balding with damaged hair.
Amber Denise TV: *Watches this and uses my $3 blue magic grease* I'm done spending tons of money in this industry and stressing over what OTHERS feel my hair should look like. Simple is better for me.
Rauha K Paulus: We need a list of black owned brands, still being managed by blacks so we invest back into our community. Also I dont why black hair products more expensive than other products.
Imani Monay: Honestly if black women as a whole were more comfortable with their natural hair we wouldn’t spend that much on weave & wigs.
Karma Kult: I literally use two products, aside from shampoo...hair grease and leave in conditioner. It just ain't that deep for me.
page Turner: Do they know How Much of that Money could go Towards their Retirement?
lakeysia s: When the one woman said “I try not to think about all the money I’ve spent on products that didn’t work” lord have mercy, the pain...that hit home. I agree wth the other lady saying that there’s no incentive to lower the price on items because they see we obviously don’t mind the prices cause we buy it. I honestly think some of these newer black hair companies need to lower the prices a bit sheesh. We obviously support y’all so why the hell y’all charging $13 and $15 etc on some shampoo AND conditioners AND just keep on making all these products! If it wasn’t fr us some of these companies wouldn’t hv even blown up like they did but they repay us by high as prices.
Latisha Williams: We say dollars are not in our black community, clearly that’s not all the way true. Look how much is spent on hair alone ♀️
Hood Hippie: As a mixed guy with longer hair i almost fell into this trap of spending lots of money on a bunch of different hair care products after combing out my dreads. I recently started to limit myself to 5 hair care products I know work for my hair instead of saying "Let me buy this to see if it'll work better for my hair" stop doing this. A shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, moisturizer and styling cream is all you need and use them till they're empty. You dont need a closet full of products from different brands that do the same thing. focus on products that keep your hair moisturized like a moisturizer or leave in and a product that retains that moisture and gives you hold like a gel or styling cream.
sakia johnson: The part that I find sad and disappointed about this video is how reliant and codependent some of these women are to their hairdresser. Knowing how to take care of and style your hair is just a necessary skill
Handbag Designer: I've been natural since 1985 & make my hair oil & gel & curl cream from products at Trader Joe's. We need to create our own products & monetize them for ourselves.
Mo Draughn: I get a 40% off coupon from cvs almost ever week. I use that to buy my products. Sally's will let you return if you don't like the products. Also, target gives hair coupons on cartwheel. But SN: I'm going spend money on my hair. I love to switch it up. I do try my hardest to buy black but it doesn't always happen. I wish more black ppl provide quality synthetic wigs, I would buy!
Kiyoncé Kartier: The owner of Camille rose got a lot of nerve saying we spend a lot on hair care when her hairline is literally an arm and a leg. She would know better than most
Kurtis Silva: I'm a man that buys a $2 can of barbasol shave cream that can last me amazingly all year and a razor can last me just as long for a couple cents. So it costs me about $3 A YEAR to shave my head and I've been shaving my head my whole life. I've never stepped foot in a barbershop my whole life! Everytime time I shave my head in the shower, I always think to myself: "DAMN I'm saving ALOT of money!" Its so much cheaper being a man!
Dulcet Simone: All I'm hearing is CHOICE CHOICE CHOICE. You are competing with other women and paying to win. You spend money on what's important to you. Women who don't value that don't pay for it. Some women value shoes, some women value their daughters cheer leading, some women spend that money on their bodies to attract men, some women spend money on education. Some women will have no money in the bank, but their house is hooked up. Spending this kind of money on hair is just not an option to me. I'm at about $150 a year on hair and I don't have any disadvantages in my life because of this. BUT I spend money on the things that are important to me. These ladies are no different. If the energy of the video was pride in how much they invest in themselves and their HOBBY then I wouldn't care at all. But the energy is victim-hood in my opinion.
Y S: Imagine if that trillion dollar spend was used for Black infrastructure and systems, ownership of industries etc - this is literally heart breaking - I understand the reasons but there has to be a better way that uplifts us directly financially speaking
Baddie BEE: What genius pays full price for products? Clearly a lot of y'all don't know how to shop. There's two major times of the year to buy products: Black Friday and spring time (late April / early May). The idea is to rack up enough during Black Friday where brands are offering 40-60% off to last you until April. Then rack up again until the late summer / beginning of fall. Lots of brands will do a sale a month or two before Black Friday. Also, look for natural hair shows in your area or in cities near you. They also slash the prices in half. There is no damn reason y'all should ever pay full price for hair products. Because I sure as hell don't. Follow these brands on IG, sign up for their newsletters, etc. I've never paid full price and will never. I like quality, high end natural hair products, but the frugal chick in me will never pay retail price. Smarten up.
kap849: I tried the "wash day" thing, and it didn't make sense to me so now I wash my hair when I take a shower (maybe once a week), dry it with a towel/shirt, put in chunky braids until I have to leave the house. The entire process probably takes an hour (including my shower). So far so good. I think we've been fed the narrative of our hair needing a lot of "care" and "attention" but in reality it doesn't really have to be the case.
DrewClarinet: I’ve gone back to the basics and spend $4.00 every 4-5 months with shampoo, conditioner and grease. VO5 and Blue Magic grease. I have 4c hair and it only takes 20 mins to wash, condition and grease. Not 3 hours!! That’s insane!!
Chakalate Thunder: She's so right when a woman is seen as attractive she's treated better. I know when I add this weave yo my permed hair, I'll be treated better also. It just is what it is.
MiMiB__ _: I used to be obsessed with different products, but I got a sour taste in my mouth once Carol's daughter was sold to Pantene (?) And Shea Moisture changed as well. I said forget it I'm keeping my $$. Now its coconut oil, shea butter, olive oil, with the basic leave in cream and shampoo and conditioner with an occasional special ingredient like Goji berry or aloe vera. Hair is now down my back. Gave up on wigs cause i dont have the patience for the maintenance, and its too hot in florida.
Beverly Boo: I hate to say it but I spend nothing on hair care. I just shampoo and condition twice a month. I spend nothing on clothes. I am 52 and I have enough clothes to last till I die. The only thing I spend my money on is grocery and my utilities, car, mortgage and car insurance. I have no other bills. I keep my life simple. Very simple. I'm glad everyone is not like me because if they were no businesses would prosper except the grocery store. lol and no I am not overweight because I don't eat out. another expense I don't have.
Jasmine W: i buy all my products at hair shows or during black friday when I can get the best deals. I still have products I bought last year that have not been opened because I ordered so much and everything totaled to just under $200. I think you can make it expensive or cheap as you want and that is totally your choice to make no one else
WhenYouWishUponaStar: I think it can be more or less expensive depending on your personal style. I spend like maybe $30 a month on haircare now that I have products I like. I stick with puffs, buns, wash n go’s, twists and headwraps. Sometimes I will get braids for a vacation or something and those are more expensive. It depends on your lifestyle. This video was interesting though. Definitely makes you think about what brands you spend money on.
shhhh: Being natural was definitely more expensive for me. I needed so many more products than I did when my hair was relaxed. My relaxed hair was longer stronger and happier overall, I was going to get my wash and sets every two weeks and my hair was growing and flowing. I achieved pretty much the same twist outs and flexible sets with relaxed hair. I went natural, my hair shedded, it was always tangled, it grew to bra strap length but then it broke off and was just always breaking the more I had to take care of it. Low manipulation styles, protein treatments deep conditioning, I did it all. Eventually I just shaved it off now I just stick my head under the sink, throw on som mane choice gel and go. Best decision I ever made
The Thinker.: I spend about $20 every 2 months on my natural hair. Never gave into this whole movement; i've had natural hair all my life and have always relied on the old faithful products. Will never give into trying to transform into a beauty that is not my own, that I was not created with. Won't fool me.
V: I love this video. Please make more. We need our own industries to take back our own power and invest in ourselves.
Tray: 40k a year just to push the Euro Centric beauty standards even more... We are a mess as a people... I respect the beautiful sistas who want nothing to do with the Euro Centric beauty anymore and are pushing Afro Centric beauty instead.. ✊✊
Kadesh Hendricksen: This is something I've thought about a lot lately. To get my straight hair to hold a curl I have to follow tutorials from black women and use the same products and product amounts. It takes a lot of time... "wash day" is really a two day process. It hurts to sleep in setting curls and recent innovations in weaves have changed the game but the learning curve to get here was painful and we've all seen the nightmare traction alopecia photos. I fried off my hair bleaching it so I was wearing wigs and weaves, which is expensive. I'm putting in braids right now and I'm like 5 days into this hair!! But at least then I don't have to do much with it. My hair gets dry and needs moisture when it is curly... but I don't have to deal with that EVERY DAY... I can choose to just wash it and have straight hair and take a break from the work of it. It would be cool to have conference style classes to get people with different hair textures together to learn about all the differences the way I learned, by doing a tight curl set following black women's hair turorials, because I really feel like this is something that professionally people need to learn to accommodate with people with curly hair. **Also I want to add that it felt like something that I needed to learn because if I am am ever in a situation where I have to care for a child with tight curl pattern hair I want to actually be able to care for them. I was in foster homes when I was a kid and I have seen foster parents just say "I have no idea" and not even try to help and they thought that was the right thing to do, that the rule was to never touch that child's hair, but I imagine it only felt confusing and isolating for those kids.
The BRIDGE 54: How can we as a people capitalize on what we consume? That’s the question that to be ask, answered and solved.
One Dollar Bleach: Products do be expensive but I feel like a lot of over do it when it comes to products. All you need is a deep conditioner, a moisturizer, and a styler. You don’t need all the extra
L Smith: I don’t spend that much on products i use oil, some Shea butter and a leave in. And some eco styler gel and I’ll venture out on other products sometimes♀️
Dainon McDuffie: As a stylist, I have white clients spend $150-$300 every 2-3 weeks for a chemical service, products, & styling.
Sherry Evon: We need our own hair industry again
Noahbaer123: I agree with a lot of these statements , I take pride in carrying for my hair , I’ve cut my hair many times to allow it to regrow and now I’m completely natural I experiment with different products because it’s difficult for me to find the right products because my hair is thin and fine but ultimately I enjoy caring for my hair and watching it grow, I don’t wear wigs and I add extensions sometimes
Kuttiesmith03: Whewww chile all that money on hair can pay for college. I guess i dont get it. Im relaxed and i get a retouch about every 3 months, and i wash my hair myself every week. I buy liter joico products at Ulta during their big sale twice a yr. I just cant bring myself to spend all that money. Most of these products suck anyways. These white brands use the same ingredients for white hair and just slap a black person on the bottle or claim it is for black hair.
Black White: Dosnt seem like a black issue.... Seems like a low self esteem issue being taken advantage of by big hair companies.......
73z: "I try not to think about the money I spent on products that don't work because it's painful." Literally it was a journey though if I never tried those products I'd be thinking what if. I ditched shea moisture for whole blends & softee. Did the calculations & I spend 72% less on my hair & it's in a better state. Also getting braids (w extentions) & wigs is very expensive nowadays.
J Jay: Why do these people need so much for their hair? I literally use 3 products. Shampoo, conditioner, and grease and I leave my hair the hell alone. (I keep them in mini twists) and it’s growing down my back. People treat natural hair like it’s a second job when it’s not that serious. Edit: ok guys I know using little product doesn’t always work for everyone. But I am trying to say that your natural hair journey doesn’t have to be as expensive and time consuming as the ladies in this video. So if you’re thinking of going natural, don’t be worried because you can still have natural hair on a budget/ time crunch.
Ingrid: I've been relaxing my hair since I was 6 and recently set that I want to go natural. I don't want to do a big chop and instead I'll do protective styles until it grows. I told one my Asian friends that I want to do faux dreads or something like this... And the utter disgust they had really upset me. I'm so tired of these naturally straight haired people telling me how I should and shouldn't wear my hair.... Why is something that I am paying for and spending my time on, going to offend you...
Kiki B: This is exactly the reason why I learned how to braid my own hair and why I'm thinking about locing my hair
Ann Tyler: I LOVE MY HAIR IT IS ABOVE AND BEYOND WORTH IT. IT MATTERS TO ME NOT WHO DOES WHAT WITH THEIR HAIR, THERE IS NO PAIN OR AGONY ONLY JOY IN THIS CASCADE OF BEAUTY FLOWING FROM MY HEAD.
No Cap: What if I told you; shampoo’s like Treseme, Garnier, Aussie, etc. work just fine
QueenPlusTwo: As a Black Woman this is really embarrassing...
lu edch: The thing that really annoys me most is that we give so much money away to shops that are not owned by blacks I would feel much better if we were helping each other business. So much money empowering people that are really racist about us
Y JoPharaoh: I can definitely say I don’t spend money on tons of products, no way!!! And I NEVER wore a weave or a wig in my life so of course money isn’t being spent there. My routine is very simple I do my own hair, it’s cost effective. I LOVE my hair and I LOVE the texture of my hair. I’ve done four BIG chops my hair is totally natural and I love it.
fatoumatta camara: You can Just slap on a wig and attend your friends birthday party
Failedpuberty6x: This is why I'm happy that I was a broke college student when I first went natural. I had to look up the *natural* naturals, who didn't use any products-the "rub the sebum from your scalp down your hair-shaft to detangle your hair"...type naturals. The only thing I could afford was Olive Oil (for cooking) and a shower, lol. So when I finally got money, I knew how to care for my hair without needing 20 different products. But that's also why I don't have an issue with spending a little more on a product like Melanin haircare and putting money in the pockets of another black woman who created haircare for black women. ALSO invest in a doll head and practice doing styles so you can do your own hair and won't have to stop your whole day and spend a whole check just to get a stylist. There are way too many YT instructional videos on how to style hair to be complaining about how you have to hit up the salon.
Dada BLM: *Money Saving Tip* Use YARN To braid your hair instead of synthetic hair 1. It's at most 10$ at Walmart for your whole head 2. It keeps your hair moist and helps with growth 3. We've used it for decades in east Africa
Miss Dee: Learning how to do hour own hair will save you endless money. Braiding is too expensive. Youtube saves lives ladies.
STL CHIC: Even though we sometimes spend outside of our community, our community charges even more at times. I think it's horrible we are paying 200 and up to get hair sewed into our braided hair. I mean I hear woman paying $500+ for weaves and it's from using our people. People know they can get rich off this market because we have bought into it. Why does this all have to be so expensive now. I remember growing up as natural and that consisted up shampoo and conditioner. Then braided till dried followed by hair grease and pressed. My hair was the healthiest and my mom did my hair. It was cheap! None of all of these extras. What happened and can we go back? Because I feel like our salons are price gauging the hell out of us because they can. One lady told me at her salon for shampoo and conditioner, sew in weaves with a cut and style its 195/hr. Wth is that! But she working on multiple heads at the same time lol. I be walking out of there spending near $600 just off of time lol. Smh absolutely not! I'll stick to doing my own with the help of my girls if needed lol
Lizbeth Brady: And even though our hair is like this. I love it, I would never exchange it for any straight white hair. Love the skin and hair I am in...Woohoo......
Miriam Kromah: Reasons why I’m opening my own beauty supply store because we spend so much at the BSS yet it’s mainly owned by others who are not black women. So yup I’m definitely opening my own beauty supply store. ELITE BEAUTY JOINT by a black woman for black women. Ig: ELITEBEAUTYJOINT
Dee Reed: And here I am feeling sideways about having to pull out the big bucks every 3 months for my $15 medicated shampoo. I definitely can't relate to any of these women.
Brianna Brizzy: Y’all gotta learn to do your own hair and to ration how much you’re using. I’ve saved so much just doing my own hair with the exception of like once a year that I will let someone else do it.
Little Wolf Taima: I spend maybe $25 a year on my hair. I was on a carousel of products as a kid but as an adult my life is so chaotic and my finances have been so unstable I just cannot afford that bullshit. I put coconut oil in it, regularly brush it out and trim myself and that's it. It's about 26 inches at the longest point
Rudiann Wildgoose-Laing: I've drastically reduce how much money I spend on my hair but i still spend more than i should. My hair does well in protective styles and because my hair is between long and short i use braiding hair for the length for more versatility.
honeybdream: They should have interviewed 'Indigenous Strandz' with her thigh length type 4 a/b natural hair‼️ She doesn't spend very much money on hair. ✔️
Unburried Talents: Some standards we set and some we conform to. We don't "have" to spend so much on our hair -- we choose to. There are ways for us to make natural products at home and not give it away to somebody who doesn't even care about us. I've never been to a black hair store owned by a black person...so if there are any out there, there aren't enough. Hopefully seeing the numbers from this video would encourage us to rethink how we are approaching hair care and consider investing differently (aren't there black hair scientist out ther???). But I think it's totally not cool how much our products cost. Maybe we will wake up to the fact that we are getting played and come up with a better solution.
Tanash Thompson: Why are we so caught up on our hair? they make feeling good about yourself sound so difficult. I've never had a issue with putting my hair up in a simple bun and going to work without make ul and still feeling great. As black women we need to teach or children and ourselves that our beauty doesn't come from any of these things God forbid you loose your hair etc what then? I think as a nation we have more of an issue with our hair than we think white ppl have against it.
Dorian Parpari: 5-10 bucks a month. I wash, condition, style my own hair. I'm natural and my hair is waist length and I have very kinky hair. I've been natural since 2008. I ain't paying 20k on no natural hair products. V05 shampoo, store olive oil, aussie moist, hello hydration conditioners, shoot make your own conditioner. 20k is nonsense man and NO it don't take a full day to do your hair.