Don'T Touch My Hair! A Look At Some Afrocentric Hairstyles

Foreign foreign, how dare you no, you may not touch my hair. Has anyone ever requested to touch your hair? What is your reaction to such a request? Why do some black folks object a social request we'll get into that later? The Way We Were Here is very much a part of our identity and culture today on our culture to the world. I'D like to take a brief journey into some of the traditionally natural ways in which people of African descent, where they're here, in addition to looking at the historical significance of some of these Styles, I have also invited a few guests to share with you why they Choose to unlock their natural hair now as a child growing up, I saw my mother, my aunts and other women in our community straightened their hair with the hot comb. Yes, the pressing comb, uh-huh yeah. I remember that this gave the hair a straight shiny, look and, of course I wanted to have that kind of look as well. You know I would love to be um for to feel like old enough to be able to get my hair first and, of course, sometimes on special occasions. You know they would lighten it up a little as they called it, with the strings with the um with the pressing comb and then eventually, I started going to my mother's hairdresser, who was a family friend to get my hair first straightening with the hot comb, and, Yes, remember: yes, we had to begin chain, because sometimes I want ears on the back of our neck. I would be born with depressing cold. Yes, so during my teenage years, the afro movement was in full swing and my mom started wearing an afro, and some of my older brothers also had afros, and sometimes they would help them plant the plait it so that they could have bigger froze. And on a few special occasions like I'm going to, I was going to a special party or something um yeah. I did wear an afro um from time to time. You know. In my later things I moved to the city to live and at that time, relaxed hair. You know using that what they call the creamy crack. Somebody called it that I can't remember who coined that term. Yes, the that chemical relaxer to straighten one say that was involved that was becoming very popular at that time. So I eventually started getting my hair straightened and relaxed using that chemical process and thus began Decades of subjecting myself to the torture of chemicals scar Burns. To achieve that straight hair, look it's only a little over a decade ago, after a bit of back and forth, but I fully embraced going natural a little over a decade ago, and I have no regrets. I no longer use chemicals relaxers in my hair. Have you ever wondered about the origins of afros, cornrows or other Afrocentric hairstyles? Let'S talk about colonies. I have always liked cornrows and from time to time, during my secondary school years, one of my neighbors, who was just about a year or two younger than me. She would stand my hair in cornrows, however, she migrated she moved away from the area and I was in a bit of a Conjuring. How would I get my hair in Carlos, so I spent hours in front of the mirror practicing yeah, we didn't have YouTube the um tutorials to help us back there, so I spent hours in front of the Moon to try and practice it. Eventually. I got it, of course, I was Never As Good As She uh was, but at least I could do some Basics and get the hair done in some corners. No, what about carbons? How weird? What is their history? The sources I consulted state that corn was originated in sub-Saharan Africa and that their first known depiction was found in a cave painting that dates back to around 3 000 BC. More than just a hairstyle or a fashion statement, these styles could indicate one's position in society. The age, the emerging status, their occupation or their tribe. Now, let's talk about other kinds of points: acid cornrows, the kinds and styles of braids, One More In Our Star Circle, related to one's marital status, one's ranking Society, the web religion, the age. You know so the Stars could tell a whole lot about a person. I even read that young unmarried Warriors in Senegal would have to breathe their hair in a certain way to signify their preparation for war, which, of course, is also a preparation for death because they could die in battle now Twisted locks. Yes, I'm rocking some faux Locs and for me adding these extensions to my hair helps me like right now. I live in in a temperate country, the temperate climate. Rather it's winter, where I live, and when I have my hair like this, it protects my hair. It'S a protective style. I don't have my natural hair out to the elements um. It'S also. I also add this natural looking extensions to my hairs at times. Sometimes, when I need a bit of a restroom trying to manipulate my hair regularly, you know so it helps when I'm in a rush. You don't even have these. I can keep them in for period and keep going about money to here that I have underneath it. This is my natural hair that I have not chemically processed, but we're talking now about the origin of Twisted locks in general. We'Re gon na talk some more about dreadlocks. Now Twisted locks um, you know most people, especially those of us from the Caribbean. We associate locks. It with Jamaica and the Rastafarian movement. Nevertheless, I was surprised, as I started, looking into the origin of these steps in this video I found out that Twisted locks, not dreadlocks Twisted locks originated in India. So far. The first known reference to this view of everyone's here is from over 2 000 years ago in the Hindu Vedic scriptures, the dreadlocks that were popularized by Rastafarians were traditionally worn in some parts of Africa like Ethiopia and Namibia. It is important to note that not only Rastafarians really here in Knox and when I say Knox locks in general, um, dreadlocks um, because really logs have become a very mainstream here, stand among blacks around the world. My natural hair is an extension of who I am as an individual. It is a part of my identity in the same way that I don't feel the need to change the shape of my nose or the color of my skin. I also don't want to change the texture of my hair. I chose to wear my hair in locks in particular, because Lux offers me a sense of ease. It is a symbol of beauty of strength of resilience, and these are the characteristics that I use to describe myself. So Lux just felt like me now what about those really tiny locks that some women really want a little bit different ones? Yes, they call Sisterlocks and Dr Joanne Cornwell is the person who is credited with inventing this method of locking one's wheel using a special interlocking tool, and this was in 1993.. Now, let's go on to talk about Bantu lungs. This style is known by a variety of names. I remember hearing it called pepper, seed or Corkscrew when I was growing up in Guyana - and I think sometimes they still call it that. But at that time, when I was growing on, we didn't actually wear our hair out like that in public. We would um put it in these nuts so that we could achieve a curly offering you know, but it's now it's a style. That'S worn, um! For various occasions - and it's not just something that you would put here and do with Javier here um, you know style your hair with as a product. I don't need to style like like a preparation for a hairstyle, which is how we did it. You know um and, as I mentioned, we call it pepper, seed or Corkscrew, but in um there are other names that is known by. As I mentioned, bantu knots, um, Zulu knots, Nubian knots. Yes, now afros afros s, apples, afros, Afro hairstyles, can be traced back to men in nomadic tribes of Somalia in East Africa. Yes, apparently over time, we're in once here in this vein was frowned upon. However, it appears as though in recent years some Somali youth have begun to reclaim this aspect of their cultural heritage. I want to know why I went natural. I was curious just to see my natural hair texture, my natural beauty. It had been so long of putting chemicals in my hair. I didn't even know what my own hair looked like and, yes, it was the wave of the natural hair YouTubers, and I was so interested in playing with my hair and seeing the versus versatility in my hair and really embracing my own natural beauty. Now I started out transitioning and growing up my hair, and then I decided, let me go ahead and do the big chop and I've never gone back since now. Yes, my hair is blowed out now because I did get it recently cut, but my natural hair Journey will forever continue. I don't plan on going back in Western Society. The afrogance gained its prominence during the era of the Civil Rights and Blackboard movements in the 60s and 70s. Afros were much more than a hairstyle. They were a political statement, a symbol of black pride and a rejection of eurocentric standards of grooming and beauty. In this part of the world, too, there was a period when there was a waning in afro's popularity, maybe like in around the 80s and 90s. However, afros have resurfaced over the past two decades, as blacks have begun to focus more on their natural career. My hair has been natural for all of my life. I love my hair natural and, of course, I've been asked many times why I kept it natural. I think it was easy for me because my mom she was very good with combing and washing natural hair. So the care process was not as tedious for me as many persons would indicated. What so, how did my mom take care of my hair that contributed a lot to me wearing and loving my hair, and she did really nice Styles. She was also very loving to my year, so getting my hair combed was actually an enjoyable experience when once my mom went to one who's going in so wearing my hair natural as a child and growing up has been a really nice experience because of the Care Process that my mom introduced me to another reason for me: uh liking, my hair natural, is that I come to embrace here is different for everyone. For me, my family, Grace prematurely. So, although I'm relatively young and I started Brewing at the age of 14., many persons wonder why do I have so many grays, but I I understood that my family, they agree early and it's a beautiful grade. I'Ve seen it in my relatives and I've come to embrace that, so I don't really feel like dyeing my hair and it's not yet because I like how my hair is understanding. Why is it the way you feel so wearing my hair natural? Because of that is also inspirational. Another reason why I like wearing my hair natural is that products now to take care of natural hair. At least my type of nature here have become close to ubiquita, so there isn't a shortage necessarily on the market for here here. Products they're isn't the need for expensive hair care products. In fact, I guess everyone just needs to find what kind of product works for them, but natural hair, my natural hair, it doesn't demand a lot, loves water and it loves a good wash so maintenance isn't something that would actually deter me from where my my hair, Naturally helps so that's another reason why I like wearing my hair, natural yeah, okay. So now, let's talk about the questions that I posed at the beginning of this video. Why are so many so sensitive for some people so sensitive when it comes to being asked to touch over? Naturally you? No. This was an eye opener. For me. I first learned of this aspect of the historical and cultural significance of dreams. When I watched episode 1 of Dr cilantro Bowman's program on conversations on clear history and popular culture for South Carolina's education teaching as secretly the animated videos in the series. Conversations with crescent are designed for students of the 7th and 8th grades and were created by black senior students in South Carolina. The first video in this series was - and I opened, as I mentioned from me - and created a new Consciousness regarding some of the reasons why asking a black person to touch their hearing or making certain comments about a black person's hair could be a very sensitive issue. I also did some further research into this issue, and so that is one reason why many blacks in the U.S are so sensitive about someone of another race asking to touch the material during the colonial period, some enslaved Africans, kid seeds, rice and other grains in their Hair on their journey to enslavement, their cornrows served as signs of resistance. In some cases, breed patterns told folks when to escape and others. Other breed patterns serves as served as Maps that laid out Escape Routes to freedom from their language. Seeds, grades and messages were also concealed in cornrows and braided hairstyles, as our ancestors made a real to Freedom. This practice did not take place only in the U.S. I read of similar things happening in Brazil, which leads me to believe that the practice was prevalent in other areas of the Americas as well. So cornrows are braided hair in the so-called new world where symbols of resistance to oppression. I really gained a new appreciation for these three styles that I have worn and admired without fully understanding the depth of their significance. The strange thing is that my enslaved ancestors in Guyana may have had similar experiences to those I just mentioned, but I never learned of that aspect of our history. Another historical reason why some are upset about requests to touch their hair or with comments about their natural hair is that it contributes to the othering of blacks, which is largely a product of colonialist practices. What do I mean by ordering? It is when individuals or groups are viewed or treated as fundamentally different from what is considered the dominant Norm, ordering seeks to diminish the individual or group that is portrayed as different in order to consolidate the superiority of the dominant group. You may have heard about Africans, like Sarah Bartman and Otto benga, who were transported from their homelands to London and New York respectively, Batman in the 19th century and benga in the early 20th century in 1906 to be exact and they were brought to these places. So be put on display as exotic beings to be argued at yes, Bangor was displayed in the Bronx Zoo. Just imagine yes, so they were spectacles, they were so different and because they were not The Gnome yes, and so, as we contemplate these historical facts, we come to a better appreciation. I hope that you can come to a better appreciation of why here is such a sensitive issue for some, of course, situational context is everything, as I explained, an acquaintance recently. You know we had this conversation like sometimes people are just curious and the curiosity is not necessarily from a a place of of Presumed dominance. So, as I said to this person um, we can tell most times we can tell if the person is just genuinely curious or whether they commit curiosity comes from a place where they see us as inferior to them. So I'd like to close today's video by sharing a poem from my collection income people in this poem I, which I voice my rejection of neurocentric standards of beauty and I celebrate natural hero. The poem is called affirmation here, like steel wool like wire brush like big board mace Peter bruise, my finger then not even gon na relax. I can't tame it. It'S mushy here I mean anything without commissioner. She don't know that we got a dress code. What is widened? Young girl I'll go back to the olden days, the uncivilized days, the days a great grand mama's Plantation, with the afro, the cdcd like when Coleman brushed the Caribbean you'll notice that I never saw everybody Tony raster and I'm not of the labs. I get so tired here in a minute ears. I listen to them and I cry in the hill, I'm baking the situated even broil it without kind of hot cold and white poison and lotion, and potion so till I didn't even recognize my sales. If you hear only pray, that means you look so nice. Now you look like yourself. I don't believe this. The bus put me in the front office would read the customer there, but if I tell you the truth, how I look outside it didn't match up with our field on the inside. He don't go with me, love for achieving a DJ Angelo, not Myra, Morrison or and more hon. I mean neighbors drink, very beautiful food. I caught me, I took one, can keep wrap up typing Banana Leaf. So watch me now a dash with emotions, portion and person Ally, new man. Yes, you could turn it up. You know if you don't like me now behave. Tell me if I can and you sir. Yes, you are watching me and their smile as if isosaurus act. Listen now I'm loving my curls, my natural curls, I'm loving each night and twist and kink I'm loving what my good God gave me. I know my beauty, you cannot see, but true to me is what I do now. If you want to read some more of my poems go ahead, my book of poetry is called income paper and it's available on Amazon and on and in Guyana, at Austin with services, and you need to visit my website I'll put um. The link is here. I have some other points there and some video poems anyway. I hope you enjoyed our little journey today into looking back at some of the history and the um, also natural Afrocentric natural hairstyles. I hope you've learned something today and I thank you so much for watching and if you're not yet a subscriber, please go ahead and refine this content. Valuable and there's always something to learn on our culture to the world. So go ahead and subscribe share. The video um I have a friend who says, share it like hot food and go ahead, subscribe and like and make a comment and come back to view more videos on a culture to the word. Thanks again for watching and bye now,