(Greg Jenson/The Clarion-Ledger) The natural hair styles worn by (from left) Karl Sykes, Deja Gray, Michael Roby, all of Jackson, and Darlene Adams of Brandon, are a rooted in cultural pride.

Back to natural looking hair

By Sherri Williams
swilliams@clarionledger.com

A hair style can be a simple expression of personal style. But for the growing number of African Americans choosing to wear their hair naturally the decision is also a reflection of fearless freedom fused with fashion, function and pride.

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More African Americans are choosing to discontinue using permanent chemical treatments, like perms (straighteners), jheri curls and texturizers, that alter the hair from its natural state.

Styles rooted in cultural pride including braids, deadlocks, afros, twists and bantu knots, are appearing on more and more heads across the nation from all walks of life.

Natasha Carter, a hair stylist at Simply Beautiful in Jackson, does both chemically treated and natural styles. She said more of her customers have stopped applying chemicals on their hair and on their children's hair and opting for safer cultural styles.

"People want to shy away from the chemicals and they see when their hair is natural it tends to grow and grow healthy," she said. "Ethnic hair styles are in now. I think it's wonderful that more people are turning to letting their hair be natural and getting back to our roots."

Mary Coleman, a political science professor at Jackson State University, said the natural hair styles worn in the 1960s and 1970s were a part of political movements. Today the styles make a cultural statement, she said.

"Some of us have returned to it while a new generation of people have entered into it growing up in a time where diversity gives people the room to express themselves and their personal preferences," she said. "I think young people feel free to express their culture as they see it and understand it."

Deja Gray, a 29-year-old singer and songwriter, said she started growing her dreadlocks four years ago while pregnant with her son.

Gray, who had worn her hair permed for years before, said the transition for her was like "a birth process" which resulted in an untouched and untamed marvelous mane that offered her relief.

"I don't know many people who go natural and go back (to perming hair)," Gray said. "Once you go nappy you never go back, once you get that mental clarity. It also saves time. Women have jobs, homes, children and community organizations to run. So we don't have time to be doing all this hair. Natural hair rolls with you instead of it being like a separate somebody to care for."

Veronica Forestall, natural hair expert and owner of The Braid Studio in Las Vegas, said natural hair is also cost effective because it requires less trips to the salon and the styles last longer.

"It's so much easier and people didn't understand how many choices they had," she said. "It can be combed and styled beautifully. If you do what your stylist says it will be looking the same way a month later."

Gray, who colored her now long golden dreadlocks three months ago, said she will always experiment with styles and colors in her hair but she will not go back to perming it because she now has a "freer simpler thinking process."

Ayanna Amah, owner of the Knappi By Nature salon in Houston, Texas, where only natural hair is treated, said psychological and maintenance issues disappear for many people when they begin to wear their hair naturally.

"Most people don't even know the real texture of their hair since they have been wearing chemicals so long, but most fall in love with their hair," she said. "It's freedom hair. You don't have to worry about curling it or the curls falling in the rain. You can exercise. There is a lot of versatility with natural hair styling."

Cine' Evans, a Mississippi native and owner of the Atlanta-based Pure Cine' organic hair care line for natural and chemically processed hair, said natural hair is a common choice for those seeking a simpler and healthier lifestyle.

She said products using ingredients from nature are best for natural hair.

"It's a holistic approach to the hair and skin," said Evans, whose products are locally sold at Rainbow Whole Foods store. "We are made up of vitamins and minerals. If we apply that to the hair it will grow better."

Darlene Adams, a 37-year-old Rankin County employee, said she feels empowered by her short wavy cut, especially the boldness that the style represents, a stark contrast to the typically ideal long straight hair.

"It kind of speaks for itself, it says what type of person you are," she said. "There is no fear. Women used to be afraid if they lost their hair. Now there is a beauty about it. You can see a woman, her countenance, her beauty. There is not a fear any more if you don't have hair."

The courage to reject traditional standards of beauty may also have more African-American women wearing natural and cultural styles, Adams said.

"They (women) are bolder now and accepting of who they are," she said. "You don't have to have permed hair to look nice. You don't have to have long hair to look nice."

Karl Sykes, a make up artist for M.A.C. in Jackson, said he started growing his dreadlocks in December 1999 because he wanted a style that best reflected him as he entered into a new year and millennium.

Sykes, a Chicago native who has never had his hair chemically processed, said the increase of more natural styles in Mississippi speaks to the social and cultural shift in the state.

"I like being unique and that Mississippi is coming around to embracing people of different backgrounds that reflect their inner beauty and are finding a natural way to express their creativity," he said.

Michael Roby, a 25-year-old forklift driver, said he has been wearing braids for three years because of the various intricate and appealing styles available.

Despite some negative perceptions of the cornrow style Roby said he still wears it with pride because it is a style that is convenient and attractive to him.

"In the professional business world people stop when they see us because they see us as thugs but regular people see it as just another man with hair," he said. "It doesn't both me. If I lived my life about negative I would never move on."

Jessica Weary, a hair stylist who does braids and chemically treated hair, said the convenience of natural hair and acceptance of the styles in the workplace have made them popular.

"It's being accepted more in the business world," said Weary, who also works at Simply Beautiful. "That does not limit anyone to experiment and experience new things with their hair."

Some African Americans may have been reluctant to wear natural hair styles because of negative perceptions others may have of them, especially employers.

However, Coleman said, "Creativity is rewarded as long as it is underscored by competence and excellence."

"The more the boundaries are tested in terms of what beauty is and what it is not, different standards are likely to emerge," said Coleman, who also wears her hair in a natural style.

Gray agrees that an array and abundance of culturally coiffed styles can foster understanding and appreciation among cultures.

"Like the whole genre of African American people, our hair is diverse and beautiful if we just let it be," she said. "Black people need to appreciate themselves in a natural state, then other people will do the same."

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