Black Women'S Hair Styles And Attire: History And Health

Uh um good afternoon again, this is bolo, welcome to temple africa, tv and welcome to our monthly show on bolos health and wellness that talks about health, wellness and social issues that are related to um injustice that affect african, american and uh black people in general, or Minorities, health and wellness this month is february, and we have to close a month with the black history month with a topic that is very, very uh dear to heart, to everybody like me or my guests, or many people that are going to be watching this show Today, uh with my, i would like to welcome my wonderful guest uh, madame gay professor of african character, in african diaspora, and also all i have in there here and andrew advice and very licensed marriage therapist. We are going to be talking about uh, the musours. That'S equal of their hair ties, problems and african-americans with africans in general, their hair styles and hairdos, and evolution and the history i'm gon na go around and have our guests. Thank you, hello. Thank you so much for having me and uh. Thank you to temple afric for hosting this show monthly uh. My name is maram gay and um by day. I am an associate professor of english and african literatures and gender studies. No, you can't at all, i'm also i'm also a trained sister loctitian and have been um doing hair since 2013, and i mean i've been doing hair for a long time. But i've been doing sister locks for since 2013 and i'm happy to be here to talk about hair. Thank you, madam, and welcome and also mam has uh created a group of uh senegalese women who live in the united states uh. It'S it's three over three thousand of us since 2017, and i have the pleasure and the honor to be one of the admins me and day, and this group is here for every senegalese woman who lives here in the united states. We provide education on health, on on society, on life in general and immigration and every topic that comes as long. I mean, as well as helping these women who have uh needs social needs, psychological needs, health needs will come together to help and also we sometimes also gather funds to help our sisters back home, who are going through a prosthesis too. Thank you so much ma'am and welcome and uh next we'll move on to nain yingayalo hi um. But first of all, i'm going to start by saying thank you to temple afric for um organizing this show. My name is um andy diablo, honday diallo, as you um, should pronounce it um. I am an english development specialist who is based in um, providence, rhode, island. That'S i i work for providence, public schools, um. I mean it's an honor for me to be here today to share with you um what i know about hair, but also to share with you, my poetry, because when volo told me that she wanted me to write something about hair, i was more than happy to Do that so i'm excited and i look forward to a great show today. Thank you thank you, and there is uh. My fellow admin me and maram on uh usa usa, which is in senegalese, jose tarzini, is very talented in writing. Poetry and uh she's been sharing with us, her wonderful pieces, and i guarantee you. She has something very, very, very amazing, for us on this topic today. So i can't wait to hear thank you day and we move on to our sister, dear sister, anne, who is uh senegalese by adoption. Thank you, paulo, and thank you for having me on this show and thank you for the great work that you are doing in educating the society in general about health and wellness. My name is ann dillard, yes, senegalese by adoption, i've been traveling back and forth to senegal for the past 14 years started an organization called project safety nets where we helped to serve the population through health, education and economic development. Also by day, i'm a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice, and i serve clients in minnesota and in georgia. Thank you, ann and thank you. So much for all you do i'm very proud of everything that you do and uh we are so honored to have you as a senegalese sister, so um! Yes in as long as i mean as soon as we have this on facebook, it's not showing yet i'll. Be sharing so that our friends can share to or follow, and also they reduce a number on the screen that people can call to participate in this uh discussion. We would love to hear from anybody who has something to to to to contribute and, like i said, this is educational, and this is uh, something that will benefit not only the africans or the black people, but also white people or whoever wants to know about this Culture, whoever wants to know what, where black people are coming from in terms of their hairdos at work or the frustration they have or micro, aggressions that they are encountering day to day based on how they look. That'S not a standard look for the western view, so please um anybody can contribute anybody. All questions and and comments are welcome. Um, as we all know you can see each one of us has a different hairdo and everything is beautiful. I am so excited, and you know uh from mom today to end and i have mine so um. I, according to history i mean madame, will, will tell us more about it, because bible she's also always australian, not just uh the professional part but uh. Her lineage, who both uh inheritance, are the ones that carry the african history orally through our generations to generations. So she knows way more than i do or i i trust that she will help us with this. So um, i i think uh. If you look at africa and africans in general, you see so many hairstyles, you see turbans, you see uh, you see headscarves different styles and all of them have their different meanings and significance and symbols. You know from that being a status social status to marital status, to um. Just you know if every single uh different one has a meaning which is very very rich in culture, and that that we tend to not ignore now. But it's very, very important to know that background uh. In order for us to see how that have shifted. How that has changed when those uh slaves who were living in africa and and immersing in that culture, when they were brought to america? How that uh status of having the headscarf that symbolized uh social status and it symbolizes uh uh, you know money or or or being male or married woman to being a slave to uh, to be associated with slave to be associated with ugliness to be associated with Being on the bottom of the society, so those are two different uh meanings um. So now i would like maram for you to start and please give us some historical background that you can share with us whether it's from africa or uh. Here even american history. Oh, hey, you trust me too much but i'll. Try. Can you hear me? Yes, i first of all wanted to just get us into the habit of saying the enslaved instead of the slaves, because i think enslave is much more giving calling what it is that it's not by choice that people came to america, and so people went there and Enslaved them, so i think it's very important that we we we get to the habit of saying the enslaved um when it comes to hair and africans. I think we need to realize that our hair is part of our body and africans like to adorn our body. Our body is spiritual, it's political, it's, religious and the hair being the highest part of our body is close to the heavens or or wherever we think our gods are so. Hair is not like a separate entity uh from the body. It is part of the body and and as africans adorn their bodies, we dress our bodies, we wash our bodies, we close our bodies, we put jewelry on our bodies, that's the same thing that we do to our hair and when i talk about hair being spiritual, All of you who grew up in in africa or even in the african american community, understand the connection between the hair and the afterlife or the other world, for example, where we come from in senegal, it's not everybody who's going to touch your hair. We have people who are called to do hair and those are the people who know how to really manipulate hair. How to um literally do the rituals that hair doing needs like there are ways to touch the hair. There are ways to part the hair. There are ways to receive the hair, that's falling from your your your head. As a matter of fact, we don't just throw our hair, we we say you have to get a hole and then put your hair in there like bury the hair, and you need to put it where there is water so that it can grow more luscious and More beautiful and you don't let anybody like just anybody touch your hair. For example, there are some people when we we believe that if those uh these people touch your hair, then your hair breaks so you've heard like don't let these people touch your hair. They, let you people, do your hair, because there are people who are spiritually or socially uh, designed or or directed to do hair. So they know the the spiritual part of hair. They know how to touch hair. They know how to um always make sure that uh special care is taken. Care of taking care is um so that you can touch people's hair or do the designs or whatever so um. Our hair, as africans is just um like parts of our body. The way that we close our bodies, we're going to um adorn and then and and um, make our hair beautiful. So it's all about variety, like the the way that you wear today, an orange clothes, um shirt or tomorrow you wear something red, that's how we used to do our hair, but then in families. Also in terms of kinship hair is very important because there are specific ways that each family shaves their hair or designs their hair, especially as children. I remember growing up. We had um now family. You have to have two rounds here like one here, one here and another one like a strip of hair here as a child. That'S how you um know to which family this child belongs to um when it comes to to women, for example, in the context of polygamy, the way that you do your hair. There are some messages that you're sending to your co-workers to your husband. There are some there is also so the hair is sexual, the hair is political, the hair is, is spiritual and it's social, so there are so many components to the hair um. You don't, for example, let in the context of polygamy, again your head wrapped. For example, you don't let it um, don't let everybody see seed, because people can really cast a spell on it, using your hair or using your hair type. So there are all those connections to the body to the afterlife um to to spirituality that african hair has - and there are so many kinds of hair um, for example, brides have their hair designed in a specific way. So the people know that this is a bride. If you are carrying a boy there's a specific way that you will just style your hair, so the people know that you're carrying a boy if you're carrying a girl same thing uh. If you are a widow same thing, if uh you are um newly married same thing, uh, for example, if a a lady has just had her nipple knife, there is a way of um for styling her hair, and then we also have hair accessories that usually are Passed down from family to to from um generation to generation, i'm sure that below your ethnicity, you know what i'm talking about even among the wolof, and we also use our hair to display our wealth. So to say, we display our health wealth. We display display our status uh, for example among the world of they would use uh gold to put like i did today and uh, to show that my family has wealth, so uh grandmothers pass it to mothers. Mothers parties passes to daughter, and these are actually beads. Um, gold and all kind of other other things that are passed down from one generation to generation that is meant to be put on the hair. So again our hair is um everything for us, so to say and i'll ask up here. Well, that's that's! A very rich: it's a it's a it's, a very rich historical piece to me. Thank you, ma'am and yo you're. Definitely right, uh, every single, hairdo or style has a meaning to it. From i remember when my mom had babies, there is a way to do that. Hair, you know um, there's one that was here in the middle and some that down here is just like what they call now: fulani brains, that that's how you know somebody had a baby and it's after a month when they start to get out, because when you Have a baby you stay in just eating and taking care of yourself and the baby getting massage for like about a month before you can get out to go and cook or do some stuff. So then, when when, when a newly a new mom gets out, everybody knows because of the braid and the gold that's put on the braids like a newlywed. I i just posted my sister's uh picture uh on her traditional wedding. Also, they they put all kind of gold and and pieces of uh design, hair design on on the head, and that signifies that and the the more money or the higher status the person has the different or different kind of accessory they have in their hair. So, yes, it's a very rich culture and before i move on madame, can you tell us about your hair um? Before i tell you about my hair, i also wanted to to talk about the social uh aspect of hair, for example, people connect while doing hair. I know you remember doing hair with your friends doing hair with your sisters. I remember my sisters used to take like a whole week to do my hair and they would do the those fine senegalese twists. I remember when we were at the university of dakar. One of our professors, mr nongo one time looked at my hair and said: did the person who did your hair? Do it first and then die after that, because that was so thin and it took a whole week for me to do it. But that was my way for going home to khao lak from the car and then really spending time with my sisters and milking it and my sisters because they didn't want me to return back to dakar. They will take their time doing my hair. Sometimes my dad will actually beg them to speed it up, so that i can be done, but they wanted to keep me there. So hair is very social and also um. I also wanted to say that there is a lot of um sexuality also about hair. For example, uh, if you, if you had like uh a boyfriend when you get your hair done you don't let anybody see it you, let him see it first, so that he can gift the hair or you name, the hair after the person, when somebody save your Hair, it's not you say today now: okay, look! I named my hair after you, so there is all these social transactions that happen with hair. My hair is um in sister, lux um growing up in senegal. I mean i've done so many things to my hair. I think i and of course, because we have the legacy of colonization. I have uh straightened my hair with relaxers. I i must confess that i was not the kind that would wear wigs, but i have done the relaxing. I have done the jericho. I love michael jackson. I'Ve done all kinds of things. I'Ve done the senegalese twist. I i have shaved my hair for the most part too, which is another style that africans do that. Actually women in africa do shaving the whole head, which also looks beautiful but uh. You know for some of us who don't have the good shape, i think uh. You know people like my friend oya ronke, where you me. You know she has the perfect hair for for head for that. I always say that to her so um. My hair is sister locks and i've had them um since 2010 and um i came to sister lux. I think this alox is an african-american invention. We have to say that because dr john cornwell, another of professor of african studies created it and it is done using a tool, but it is my own hair uh when i started it. It was maybe this this long 10 years ago and i love it um. I do it myself now because i went and did the training in 2013 and i installed my daughters also and many other people, but it's little strands of my hair that were used using a tool and then literally um. I would say crochet. But it's not really. Crochet into um little strands, that kind of like look like twist when you start and then you let it sit, and then the hair coils on itself and forms tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, uh dreadlocks. So that's my hair and today i just decided to spice it up a little bit. I took um bunches and then braided them and then actually intertwined them and then put some jewelry to it. Thank you. Well, it looks beautiful. Thank you and um. I i remember those days where hair is a social tool through some gathering tool or people like your husband or your fiance, give you money or give the person that did your hair money for tips so um. Yes, what about you miss, nay or madame day so um here for me here is a complicated thing. It carries the history, it also determines uh somebody's ethnic belonging social status, but also uh socio-economic status. When you think about it. Now, when i was when volo invited me to this, i tried to do some research so that i can use uh the research at my findings to be able to um write the poem. So i don't know paula whether you want me to write the poem or you want me to read the poem or you want me to just talk about the history of hair and then right so you're reading the poem we have to hear it: okay, so um. This form is entitled my sublime hair and and before you uh uh before you start malika. If you can tag me on on a temple, so i can share. I know many of our friends are sending me messages. Looking for a live so uh, i would like to get it, so i can send it and okay and also malik, if you can uh play the slideshow. I don't know if it's possible of the pictures of different hairs while they is uh reciting the poem that would be great all right back to you. So, as i said, the title of this poem is sublime here and it was written for this occasion. This show, but also as an inspiration to uh, give tribute to african american and african hair because it's intertwined with our history, our social status, marital status, religious status and you name it so. My sublime hair ripples of beauteous tangles silky strange strands coiled into the spherical motion to the rhythm of my ascendants dancing, cadence, standing resolutely rooted into the rails of my unbowed head dancing in harmonious unison. Until the dawn of my ancestors liberation, my hair, my beautiful silvery, shiny, strong hair, a force of life and giver of power, profusion and prosperity, a concurrence of communal elders, conversing under the baobab tree, my magnificent magic hair, the color of coal, cocoa and caramel amalgamated my Hair, the conveyor of my four mother's spoken missives, the indicator of my divine clanman's pedigree, my locks, the image of my rebellious creativeness, my round textures afro symbol of my people's pride and power revolution and revolt interlocked in abundance. A connection to my elders, progenitor. This hair of mine, this hair, my bosomy cradle, that gives me life this unique hair of mine. That entrusts me individuality. That makes me the true mitochondrial offspring of my mother's genes. You give me identity, uniqueness and pride of thee. I praise you are mine and nobody else's the reflection of divinity. I reveal you my subliminal, hair, the true embodiment of my empowered people. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, nay, that was very, very, very nice, very nice and uh every blood girl or anybody that ever had a problem with their hair can identify, and it gave me chills when i heard it the first time. I couldn't wait to hear. Thank you. So much and um, i think we should have a number on the screen for those who want to call to to to contribute uh, miss anne passing to you yes good evening. I sat here um with a certain level of envy when um dr maryam was sharing about the history such rich history - and i know some of it has been passed on uh from our ancestors from um from the motherland to, along with the enslaved africans. Those who landed in jamaica, much like my people and those who landed in african america in africa in in america, uh and i think, about um bits and pieces of of of the history that has been passed on and some of it has been convoluted and influenced By our colonizers in in so many ways where the work that i do around here and where i usually see it is really uh the impact of the hair. The black hair is with my uh teen girls, that i work with, whether as um in my girls program or as a clinician and how their hair directly impacts their self-esteem right. And we see this in black girls all the time. And we see it as also a divide in our black girls as well um, where the the narrative has been passed on of who has good hair and who don't have you know whose hair is not considered good, hair right and it's considered the more straight. Your hair is the more um fine, your hair is that's considered, good, hair and, and just the narrative that has been passed on to our black girls, that directly impacts their self-confidence and their self-esteem is. Is such a strong narrative and one that we have to continually. Pluck up at the root right, because what we're void of that rich history that um mariam shared earlier and and so it's important uh. There are many many others who are qualified to be here to talk about the their history and uh their studies on the hair and, again my perspective is more from a clinical perspective and the impact that it has had on the the clients that i serve. But before i talk about them, i talk about me growing up. I was born and raised in jamaica and my hair was a issue. It was not something that i was proud of when i was coming up right. I didn't have the luxury of information. I didn't have the luxury of history. I didn't have the luxury of that pride of our ancestors, and so you know there was the constant complaint about how hard it is to to take care of my hair, how hard it is to comb my hair, where um you know, without the information and without The education we could turn something so good and so beautiful into something so negative, right and um. Consequently, when i had my daughter who was my first born, i would just comb her hair all the time, and you know just give her these beautiful hairstyles, but, along with that, i would put her in front of the mirror ever since she was a baby. Two months old, i would put her in front of the mirror and share with her over and over how beautiful she is and how you know her insides are beautiful. Her outsides are beautiful because my goal was to build that self-confidence and to build her self-esteem. One around her complexion and two around the texture of her hair um texturism is real right. Colorism is real and those are both things that directly impact the psyche of um our black women uh, and i have so much more to say about that. But i'll pass. Yes, uh very, very uh, insightful and, and and that's very through uh. What you shared about, having the pride of inheriting your hair, do and style which differentiate, probably people who are african immigrants to people who were born here or whom ancestors were brought by force and lost some of their identity and lost some of their history. To hang on too, yes and and you're right, uh teaching your girl about her hair and to love it. That'S a very important parenting style and that's what we also do, because there are so many stories here about kids who went to school or sent back home because of how their hair look and it doesn't fit the standard or they have locks. And that's that. That'S not something that boys who have dreadlocks should not go to school; they should cut them and uh honestly uh. Our hair texture is different uh than the european hair texture. So there's a reason why we have our braids. There is a reason why we do it. The way we do it and that's what adapts that's what's helping our hair, not leaving it just freely, it won't grow like that. That may not work, and i was reading history about uh, like in the 1700s, how how enslaved women, as dr gay said, used to be wearing rugs and handkerchiefs on their on their around their hair uh when they're working and they they brought it back. They brought that from africa. You know that kind of uh those tips from africa to wrap your hair when you're walking and there was a difference between them and the ones that work inside of the masters house and those are trying to style their hair. To look like the masters and when, like throughout the history, when, when slavery was uh abolished, the the the african descendants or the slave descendants were forced by law to still wear the rugs to still wear uh, the the handkerchief so that that will symbolize. And that will show them that they are uh part of slavery and, and that, like you, said it's just going from something that that is a positive to something that is connected to negative and nobody wants to be associated with negative. That'S probably why our brothers and sisters who are who are, i mean african americans, hate their hairs too, and you know with all that self-esteem issue or psychological problems that go with it, so go ahead. Ma'Am. I also i wanted to say also that there is some resistance and agency in in tying your hair, because when uh the mask or the mistresses actually when they had uh the enslaved women inside the mistresses house, because the one that were more fair skin, they had Long hair, that's curly hair and because they they were sexualized, the mistresses felt very uh threatened by this hair, and then they were asking these women to tie their hair and the women because they they had to tie their hair. They tied it in certain styles that actually actually enhance their beauty. So we also need to remember that the way that they tied their hair - it wasn't just like you, you just take it and tie, but you just the way that african americans found power in music. That was forbidden the same way. Women found power in tying their hair and styling their their entry shifts in a way that actually enhanced their beauty. But the other thing that i wanted to talk about is that as us also africans, we have this relationship with hate, love, hate relationship with our hair. Even though we stayed on the continent because of colonization, we were made to believe that our hair is unruly. Our hair is not nice, our hair is not the type of hair that you go to. The club with our hair is not the type of hair that you enter certain spaces, even an african soil um. So there was a time when we actually really valued our traditional hairstyle, but you could see now that we validate our hairstyle less and less, even though the nappy movement is going back to africa and starting. But there was a time when we would rather hide our hair than show our hair, so i i think that we we need to make this this uh connections with the african-american experience, also as colonized people. That'S right, so you allow me yeah. I just wanted to also come in from the angle, the religious angle, if you think about hair with women, it's a source of sexual, let's say maybe it's associated to our sexuality and if you look at the religions like christianity, you look at uh islam and you Look at judaism: you could see that most of the time or all of them recommend or want their women to cover their hair, sometimes they're doing it, not because it's like a source of oppression, but it could be a source of empowerment, but also a source of Protection because i remember living in the middle east and speaking to one of my students about why do you cover your hair and she's like miss? You have no idea, it's not it's, not my dad who told me to it's, not my mom, who told me that it's just that it's for protection, because even when you walk outside with your hair down they'll be happy. They will like kept calling you just like you want to ride. You want it's just amazing how hair can be tied to sexuality, but also, i think, coming from the angle of uh revolt, when amer african americans started in. I think it was in the 60s when they started um wearing their hair in afros. It was a source of revolt. It was to show that they are proud of the hair. They have it's pretty much trying to show power, try to show profusion, but also prosperity, because this hair is rich. This hair that we have as black people as african americans in africa, is something that's unique to us and being um, confident enough and rebellious enough to come outside with. It was something that was really empowering during those times, and i think that's something that we. I understand when madam said that um people, even though they were there's a nappy movement, people are still reluctant to uh to kind of leave their hair natural. I totally agree, but i think things are coming. These things are changing they're, going towards the way where we are showing more pride in our own hair with our children are starting to figure out what are the ways they can carry their hair or they can have their hair done in a natural way and still Look beautiful and i think we need to continue to talk to them about being proud of that hair talk to them about the power of what that hair comes with, and i think if we do that um they will be more owing or owning of their own Identities because hairs our hair, identify us. Our hair, give us uniqueness, but it also give us that confidence to know that you belong in a group of people who have a rich history who is powerful and who pretty much uh is the beginning of everything. So the way i see it can, i say a thing about the religious part that they talked about in terms of islam: christianity, judaism. All of those are religions that come from foreign places and that were brought to africans and the sexualization of hair is not the same as in the african context, where, for example, uh out of women with long hair white women with long hair hair is seen as Like long hair is seen as what is beautiful, what is sexualized um? I think that with africans, i'm talking about prior to islam prior to judaism prior to christianity, the hair did not have the sexual connotation. It'S uh it's more about um, who you are as a person uh, not who you are as like. Like are you a woman or is your hair out and then i'm attracted to you? I don't think it was like that. I think that this connotation about long hair and having to cover your hair, because you want to be safe in certain environment - that's something that is foreign to to to africans, brought by also these foreign religions that were brought to us too. Yes, that that that's a great point, yeah many things have changed since uh africa was invaded by uh, either uh arabs or european uh. We lost the track of the historical uh perspective of our culture, and did you want to add anything to this? I think i think that the the conversation is really enlightening and it's important to to see the different perspectives again. Hair is directly um. It'S directly connected to our self-esteem, our self-confidence. I know that when i wear my my turban, my head wrap, i feel totally different than when i i don't there's a way that i present myself when my hair is is done and the style that i have in my hair now is senegalese crochet twist, when My hair is freshly done i project in a different way than when i need it to to get done. So it's amazing how this uh part of you is so interconnected with all aspects of the human of the human being, and you know we're talking about women and hair. But something struck me this week because you know we put a lot of focus on the the girls um young women and their grooming and their hair and in their self-pride. But i was talking to my daughter this week and she um she's a new mom and uh. She has a son who is probably about seven, seven weeks old, almost eight weeks old and she said well. I just purchased some black hair products for him, and you know when i when she was born. That was unheard of that you know we're buying hair products for a little a little black boy, and - and so it just it struck me, but it gave me much delight as well, and i said wow, that's amazing and uh just like we're talking about how different Things has evolved, we also look at not just black women and how their hair impacts them, but black boys, black men, and how their hair impacts them and um. Dr gay talks about the community that it fosters. You know, for black men going to the barber shop. That'S a community um gathering that is really significant, has and has been a part of that culture that uh creates that bonding for so long and and helps to um foster so much similar to what the church is um to to your spirit, you know the the Barber shop or the beauty shop has been that to um foster that community through black hair. Yes, yes, um very, very, very good point and and uh the the other part. The other issue is that, yes, we went from having you know the uh right after the slavery when, when, when women started to the hair, size are different based on how closer to european you are with straight hair or how closer to africans you are, is kinky, Hair and uh the kinkier, the less uh value it is, and also it's associated with, with a low self-esteem. Like you said, it's associated with um health issues, because because people are using chemicals to straighten their hair, which was really really bad for us - and it took us a long time to realize that chemicals that we don't know what's in it and and if you might Have any remember that's like i can't i don't even know what what those chemicals are and if you do too much, it can burn your your your skin to the point people have hair ripped off in the skull for four months. You know they they burnt and and hair wouldn't grow back so yeah, it's just to have straight hair and people have done braids. You know to just have longer looking hair and and have all of the temples here get get pulled out and, and you you end up with alopecia, which i i i suffered at some at some point with braids and um. All of that is a health issue and also um the the low self-esteem the psychological issue related with it. That'S why black women are, or that girls are always having. I mean most of them have low self-esteem when they are in a school where the majority is widely straight hair and they have their thinking here, and i i noticed that when my daughter was doing dance class like ballet and you know when they do recital there Is a certain way to do the hair and there is no way i can put hair like that, because hair is not designed, as you know, the prototype, what it should be, so it took a long time i. What i did is i graduated hair and part it and went to the middle to to to to to get what i wanted, but that may make her feel like i look different. I don't have the same style as the other ones, and it's not just like. There are so many other kids being here, because the example of a diva who who's entirely getting his hair at school and and also um also yeah. One piece of recipe that i wanted to share is that i i was listening to a very nice somebody talking about the black history month and here how uh enslaved people used to use their design to allow them to know what way to take without being when They'Re running from the south, going up north to canada, so every path on your hair, it symbolizes. What way you should be taking either straight or zigzags. So that's like a way of communication, it's not just social or for status, but also communication. That masters don't understand. Yeah yeah. Definitely there are lots of codes that actually were included in the hair, whether it is for enslaved people, but even uh. In africa i mean i touched a little bit on on how women will communicate or will fight with each other depending on their hair or how they will tie their head tie to to to kind of like communicate a mood. For example, i mean you've seen women who will just like cover it and then just put over there. That means it's very blase, it's very casual, as opposed to, for example, when they do the travel, which has a like a much more bigger status than than than the specific kind of hair. But even talking about the history, i forgot to talk about and - and thank you so much for reminding me of that when we're talking about babies, for example, the african babies, especially in senegal, the first set of hair has to come off within a week like during The naming ceremony the day that you were named your hand is completely shaved because that hair is seen as not good for you to have good hair, and you could see that, for example, people keep shaving their kids hair to make sure that the hair comes back. Much more thicker much more luscious, but i also wanted to to talk about extensions to to to to specify that extensions were not to come closer to the white person. Africans used extension to be able to do specific styles, for example, or to to um to celebrate certain uh um ceremonies or or what have you so they used to put like horse hair to make sure that the hair is longer. So they can do specific things to it, because our hair doesn't grow uh like uh caucasian hair in and straight it it coils itself like. It goes like vines, so in order to make it longer to do specific styles, people will add. Certainly, like you can add fabrics to it, you can add so many other things to make it longer so that you can have a specific style. So that was not to imitate the white person, because these hairstyles were present prior to the arrival of the white people. So that's something that we need to actually really specify when it comes to talking to the children. I think that we need to continue to have this conversation with our children, but at the same time we need to model. We need to model as much as possible because our children look at us. They look at what we do. They look at what we do to our hair. So if we are not proud of our hair, there is no way our children are going to be proud of their hair. So we need to have this conversation about children saying that they want ponytails to make it clear to them that they can't have ponytails, but they can have really nice flags and the flags are not less beautiful than the funny hair ponytail. I'M sorry, that's true. That'S true and thank you for clarifying the history. Um, yes, and - and we went also from from from the the movement of uh revolte from james brown, where they had afro and celebrating it and embracing it two. When we come back to again in the 90s, where we have beyonce and and janet jackson, with more straight hair and more like uh, braids and stuff, so it's just going back and forth younger generations trying to find themselves. But i am very happy with what we have right now with the modern times i feel like, since, after after that movie wakanga things have shifted, you know the the identity has shifted where people were in the middle did. I know where do i go from here, but i see more now: natural hair, i see more natural hair product which include baller's body butter. We have boneless body butter for our natural hair and all natural stuff, so we be trying to stay away from chemicals. Just do something natural and have your natural hair, no straightening, no pruming, i mean no, no using chemicals and it works, and and and we have so many beautiful women with uh with this beautiful hair, look at madame's hair, look at they. They they have shaved. Her hair, she has a very nice shape of hair that looks beautiful and so um, yes, and - and we just have to continue to to to to promote that, like madam said, to help the kids uh model us and build their self-esteem. Well, i think that's really critical um and i love the idea that, yes, we have to model for our um, our children, because we are the 24-hour commercial that they see right and that's so important and - and you know i i also want to to say - for Those who have not um embraced the natural hair, you know we have sisters and brothers who still choose to get the chemical in their hair and still you choose to to um to to embrace um that that type of hair, and so i think we we um. We also acknowledge them to say: hey, your hair is still beautiful. It is still wonderful right and, let's see how we can still encourage care, proper care of your hair, whether it's straightened with chemical, whether it's straightened with just heat or whether it's natural or it's braided. How do we embrace and help to foster good care, manageability and um and and personal pride, yes, yep and, to guess, add to what ann said. I think personal pride is key here for them to be able to be comfortable with who they are where they come from and embrace that hair of that they have as a source of dignity, i could say a source of confidence. I agree that we have to model for our kids because, as they say, they don't do what you say they do what you do so as parents we have to be able to have that confidence. We need to foster that confidence in ourselves in our own hair. So that we can project that um to our children, because to this day, most of us are struggling with that, but like embracing this beautiful hair that we have embracing it even be proud enough to show it. I mean i personally still struggle with letting my hair like the way it is and with the imperfections of it, because i'm thinking people will think less of me not because i'm not proud of my hair, because it's just that. I'M thinking there's something lacking and i think we need to foster that confidence in ourselves so that we can teach it to our children, our boys and our girls, so that they can be um very proud of where they come from and their origins. I love what you say about that our boys and our girls, because one of the biggest issues that i saw when um i had clinic in the in the middle school was that the girls wanted to straighten their hair. Because the boys, the influence of the boys and what they thought, what the boys were saying, look cute or was sexy or they were attracted to, and so i found a lot of my girls wanted to straighten their hair, because the narrative that the boys were given Was that if you had kinky, hair or um, your hair wasn't wavy and straight where you could shake it? They weren't attracted to you and i think that weaves throughout whatever age you're in and so as parents. We also have to instill that pride in our boys. As well yeah, where do the boys get that that long, hair, silky hair is beautiful and sexy and then kinky is not as they themselves as black men are actually going to grow up and then be attracted to something that doesn't reflect them. Yes, that's a good question. That'S another conversation, i guess yes in in in shifting to the workplace, uh, microaggression and discrimination based on the hair, uh style or hair type. So i i was reading an article where they were talking about mindy hearts, she's, an african-american recruiter um, who went to a recruiting gala, and she was only black over there by the way, and i think she has dread sister locks and she was talking to another Recruiter who told her i have i'm having a hard time having women exec black women executives to hire and her question was tricky and helped to reveal why so what she asked her was um. So let me ask you a question: that's what she said. Would you rather, who do, who are you more comfortable, hiring the one with just straight hair or one, with different type of kinky, hair or different type with locks and stuff? She said she prefers the straight hair and she said you answered your question. That'S the reason why you can't find what you want, because you going past the great ones, the great potentials, just because by the look of their hair, you're missing that and that that that's something that many have encountered in workplace where you uh you! You go for an interview and they see your hair. You have dreadlocks, or something and or or or kinky, hero or tuban or like a veil. Then you lose that job because that that's not a standard. That'S not acceptable. It'S it's getting better, but for some in some places in many places, but it's so it's a long struggle that that we're going to go through and the micro aggression at work where people are touching your hair or or wanting to know what. What is this, or you know, touching kids hair? So, let's, let's briefly talk about that, i know we have few minutes left. So we can that's an important point that we cannot leave out so okay, i just wanted to say a little bit about the micro aggressions. You talked about at work, but before we go to that, i would like to talk about how we are viewed by our own people - african americans, according to how we style our hair, for example. Usually when we see a man with dreadlocks, i don't know now. Maybe things have changed, but when you see an african-american with dreadlocks as an african person, we used to kind of have a negative um view of them, because we would, i don't know it's bet, because that's not something that we are used to or we're just associating It with a negative connotation because we used to say oh look at him like look at with their dreadlocks and forget about a woman with dreadlocks. That would be that that was a scandal, but now the trend i see is just like everybody: everybody want to have sister locks, and that makes my heart really happy, because we are now an open society. We are a society where we're trying as africans and african-americans, we we're starting to be more open-minded because in the traditional sense of an african person, your hair has to be a certain way. It'S accepted in society you're conforming if your hairstyle is a certain way, but when you come when it comes to rasa or dreadlocks or sister locks, they used to frown upon a woman or a man with who has that style? I, i think yeah you're right. I think we have internal eyes, though uh the the the europeans or or white people's uh stereotypes of us, so that we are ourselves actually afraid of ourselves. I think that's what that's what is happening when you see there's a specific stereotype of the the dreadlocks person and then we we bought into it and when it comes to africa, we think that people who have dreadlocks are smoking, marijuana or weed and um. If, if a girl has that, god forbids, i remember when i first had my sister locked and i went to senegal. Oh my god, everybody wanted me to wear a wig to go, see my mother-in-law. Everybody everybody was like you're, not gon na go to your mother-in-law. In this hairstyle point blank, my aunt was like no they're, not gon na respect. You they're not gon na this and that same thing happened when i had my hair also shaved, so you cannot win because we have come to ourselves hate what we look like what we look like we're, not comfortable with that. We want to. We see something that what is appropriate is what looks like the white person. You know you have to have straight hair. You have to have the long week and yes, of course, we have made many strides now and people are going back, because i know that now, when i go to senegal, everybody wants to have pizza locks because the hair, the natural hair movement, has caught up and People have seen actually that you can have locks and be really professional and to go to bolo's question about the macro aggressions at workplace or whatever. I think i am lucky to work in in academia when that that is not really a big issue, at least from my experience. I never had anybody talk to me in a certain way or act with me in a certain way because of my hair, but at the same time also it's because i'm very comfortable with my hair. Even before i had sister locks, i will come to class first day of class in my big head time, because you just have to take me how i am. I think that we need to push those boundaries and impose ourselves as we are in these spaces. Right right, yes, very, very good point, the way you view yourself, that's how others will will hold you up and yes, i i also haven't had any uh issues with my hair at work. I i mean people embrace it and love my different styles, because i always change style and you know i it's fun and - and at least i i haven't put, i i'm sure so many have and yes and do you have anything, did you have anything yeah? I i think it's it's when we think about hair in the workplace, it goes back to the narrative of um. What what does uh society say that hairstyle um says about you right? It goes right back to the narrative being confident is really important. When we were talking about the revolution and the afro being associated with the revolution, there are still workplace microaggressions, where people think that if this person comes in with an afro or if they come in with the locks or if they come in with anything other than Straight they they're not manageable or um management, material, and so we'll have problems in the workplace and that's because of the narrative and and also, i think what is also important that we look at. Is it's important that we look at what does media? How is media influencing our views on hair black hair what's acceptable? What'S not acceptable right? I think media plays a very important part of the of enforcing the narrative or changing the narrative. Yes, yes, the media has a huge influence in our lives in so many ways, and that's one of them. Thank you and that's right. They do. You have anything to add um. I just want to say that personally as well, i haven't - i don't remember ever having been a victim of those mic aggressions when it comes to my hair per se, but maybe to the way i style like the the head wraps. I wear, for example, or the way i style because you're talking about attire as well, you will walk into a place and they will think of you, i'm an educator, and so, when i come to school with the way i dress with my big um head, wrap Either my students would ask me miss what's wrong with you. Did you hurt your head? Is that? Why? Because i remember one time yeah, i remember one time wearing a white hair, wrap and one of my students genuinely asked me why i was wearing this and - and i think she was he was asking out of curiosity. But sometimes they have a certain stereotype that they associate with the way you dress as an african african-american person, especially if you're wearing a head, wrap and there's a certain class of people or certain professions or certain jobs that they associate with you. For example, i walk into the classroom, i walk into the office and they say: oh, are you the sub today and i'm like? Oh, not really, but you could see or you're like. Oh, are you here to? Are you coming to school? Are you here for your classes and things like that, so those are the only microaggressions that i can think of, but not per se. For my my hairstyle great great yeah, and i think i think we missed. We missed, though, an opportunity when michelle obama was in the white house. I would have loved for to see her wear the african-american styles more often that, because we need to have black women at the front to actually shatter these walls wear their hair. The natural way, the african-american way so that we can have more representation. That'S just my my opinion, so i was sad to see that she always always had her hair straight. That'S true yeah! I mean the more we have like. I know. Beyonce sometimes did some afro and uh. You know she has a lot of followers and and and fans who also would do that so yeah people who are in their status uh are role models for many and they have to. They should be the ones also that can help pave the way because uh, what they their expression matters to benny. So it's a wonderful thing. Go ahead, yeah. I think i think that that is um. That is correct if it's available, but i think also um when we talk about wearing our hair the natural way. I think we also have to include in that conversation manageability right and education around uh, proper hair care and manageability, because, with the way that society um has been pre-coveted and during covet um, i remember when my daughter was young. I had to set a whole day aside to to to care for her hair. You know wash her hair condition it and then um, you know, make sure that i'm detangling and and combing it and then braid in it. So it'll last you know a week or a few days, so i think also with the fast-paced lifestyle that many people live. It'S also important that we consider manageability as well.