Hair debate explored in new york times

But why???

Research shows, and I know I'll have to provide, that eating disorders are less prevalent in the Black community than in the White community. Researchers suggest this is because the black community has a curvier body ideal and "plumpness" has been accepted in the black community as beautiful and also as a status symbol. Since the white "thin" beauty idea is seen as unrealstic among women of the black community, black women are able to disconnect from this idea and are less susceptible to eating disorders than white woman. My question is why do black women become victims of chemical relaxers and develop a dislike for kinky hair and dark skin?

Cost of Beauty

A good way of vaidating my claims is the price of African-American haircare. I need statistics for how much African-Americans spend on haircare products and maintainence compared to other ethnicities. I also need to figure how much of women's income is spent on hair upkeep.

Sheila's Shop

I finished Sheila's Shop and it was an interesting read. The author's purpose was to give working class African-American women a voice. She conducted her interviews in a beauty shop, and led a variety of discussions ranging from racisim to faith. The author even proposed a new theory based on her findings, which I somewhat disagree with. Even though Battle-Waters study had a different focus than my own, the beauty shop setting and Battle-Water's findings provide an understanding of how beauty shops function in the African-American community to transmit ideas and as a supportive "sisterhood." Maybe the prevalence of beauty shops in the African-American community, and the perpetuation of eurocentric beauty standards through their use, causes the stigma associated with black hair to proceed. Battle-Waters racial and gender victorization theory reasserted my question, even though she did not address it, If black women realize stereotypes held about them and reject them, why does natural hair have negative connotations within the African-American community? I will explore Battle-Waters theory more in my lit review. Next, I'll be reading Style and Status Selling Beauty to African-American Women 1920-1975.

Lit Review

I am still working on my lit review and considering people to interview. I am going to schedule some interviews during Mardi Gras break and finish my lit review. The lit review has me bogged down, but I appreciate reading the articles because it provides different perspectives on the issues I want to understand. My lit review also inspires new ideas. I will also set up a natural hair gathering over the break. If the meetup is a success,the meeting can add a lot of insight to my research. I will also incorporate the new question from out last meeting into my interviews, and I'm guessing it will spark interesting conversations.

Randomness

I'm still adding to my lit review, reading articles. I've been considering people to interview. I kind of feel like selecting people would introduce a bias, but then this is sociological research, not psychological research. I need the right blend of people though, a variety of ages and a variety of hair preferences. Hopefully, I can get a lot of participants through word of mouth, maybe once people hear the blog they will be lining up to be interviewed :) It'll come together though. The focus as of now is having a thorough lit review, my main priority.

So What??? Why is this important

I don't want people to think I'm a "straight hair hater." My position is not to persuade every black female to become natural. I simply want to remove the negative connatations from natural hair. I hope black woman can come to appreciate our hair in its natural state and stop denying its beauty. Many woman who I know and have meet allow the state of their hair to dictate their happiness. Sometimes if a woman misses her weekend hair appointment it ruins her entire week. She feels embarassed to be seen in public because of the incoming naps around her edges or the nappy state of her "kitchen." Many woman also avoid certain activities such as sweaty clubs and even swimming because of the threat of their hair "going back." I have nothing against woman wearing their hair straight and I realize it is a matter of opinion on whether to roc' straight hair or kinky hair. What I do not agree with is that black hair is "bad" or not good enough. The implications of black hair as BAD suggests that there is something physical and BIOLOGICAL that makes being black a weakness or a shortcoming.

Randomness

I just finished my rounds in YouTube's natural hair community. Women are prospering from this exposure. One of the ladies I follow is writing a nautral hair book and starting a website, WOW. It's good to see such a positive group of women working together to explore a subject that has been ignored for sometime now, NATURAL black hair care. For years I thought the only options for natural hair was braids. The communities in the blogs and YouTube have enlightened me about the many options available to natural hair. I think a big obstacle for women considering wearing their hair natural is that for years black women have not been taught how to maintain their natural hair. Many women state that they relax their hair because it is easier to manage, but with effort and time it is quite easy to learn to care for natural hair. I did and I think it is worth every black woman learning.