essay about natural hair

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How Embracing My Natural Hair Made Me Who I Am Today

As a teenager my main goal in life was to blend in. As someone who got picked on for wearing glasses in the third grade, I knew being different was the kiss of death in the social stratasphere of the public school system. I wanted to be just like all the other girls—Jordache jeans, bright orange varsity jacket, and relaxed hair done up in a roller set.

It wasn’t until I moved away from my small hometown of Albany, Georgia, to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that I started to realize the cool girls were the ones who stood out in a crowd. Part of the excitement of college is that you can be someone different, someone more exciting than your high school self. I didn’t take it that far—I was still the nerdy black girl with glasses—but I did decide to branch out and go natural. I stopped getting a relaxer and let my natural coils grow out for the first time since I was a little kid.

My transition was inspired by the few girls I saw on my college campus who were wearing Afros or their natural hair straightened with a hot comb (most of them were not native southerners). These girls had a sense of style that was beyond anything I’d seen in my Georgia hometown or even on TV. Whereas many women I admired wore weaves and wigs that were long and flowing—the goal was always longer hair—these ladies valued "the look.” A style that set them apart in some way.

I went natural as gradually as I could. Instead of doing the big chop and going bald, I cut my armpit-length hair up to my chin. I didn’t dare go bald for fear of looking like a boy. My hair was innately connected to my idea of femininity and prettiness. Then for months, I kept straightening my kinky roots instead of renewing my relaxer and trimming away the straight ends. Eventually it had grown out enough that my entire head was kinky.

At that point, I started wearing my natural curls out. I remember being so nervous that no one would find me attractive without long, straight hair—like I would automatically get bumped off the cute college girls list. (Freshman year is a fragile time for self identity—small fish, meet big pond.) This fear became a reality when I went home to GA for the holidays, where long weaves were still the pervasive trend. My family was so confused at my choice to go natural. Was I a lesbian now? Was this some sort of rebellion? Were the ’70s cool again? One family member even told me that my new style made me look like a boy, and I was so much cuter with straight hair.

That’s when I realized that some people weren’t going to like my new hairstyle. Prospective boyfriends, family members, followers on Instagram—everyone would have an opinion. I could either take their feedback and change my look to fit in, or I could let my own voice be the loudest praise around. If I love my hairstyle, is there really any other opinion that matters?

Looking back, it was a pivotal moment in my personal development. That first year of defending my choice to go natural and standing up for the way my hair looked made me more confident in my choices. In the following years, I made a lot of decisions for myself that other people would question. Traveling to Bolivia solo. Moving to NYC without a job. Shacking up with a boyfriend after only a few months of dating. Just like with my natural hair, my attitude became: Don’t like it? Too bad.

The bigger my hair got, the bigger my personality got. I was so used to being the quiet one in my friend groups (although my family always knew that I had an inner drama queen). With my natural hair, I became more noticeable, and I started to embrace that. I became the girl with the big hair, bold glasses, and bright smile. I was proud to walk into a room and be noticed. Now, my natural hair is such a part of my personality that I feel like an imposter whenever I get it straightened.

Finally, the things I learned about caring for natural hair during my transition eventually led me to become a beauty editor . When I went natural in 2007, I had two friends who also had Afro hair. (Now, all of my girlfriends except one is natural. The trend really took off!) In the beginning, information was sparse. My friends and I still laugh about how I would do twist outs in my dorm room with shea butter, aloe vera juice, and olive oil. (I should have started my YouTube channel back then—big regrets.) The journey of finding the right products led me to love beauty. Now I spend my entire day sharing beauty products I love for both hair, skin, and makeup as a beauty editor. I always knew I wanted to be a journalist, but it was the lack of representation of natural hair that really inspired me. I wanted to bring more women of color and Afro-hair ladies to national magazines, changing the beauty standard.

These days I often give advice to women transitioning from relaxed to natural hair . There are so many products and tips that I’ve learned over the years to make the process easier. But I also tell women that the journey—the struggle—is one of the most important parts of going natural. My personal journey helped shape me into the confident, loud, driven, beauty-editing woman I am today.

SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.

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How This Writer Learned To Love Her Natural Curls

Unlearning Eurocentric Beauty Ideals Helped Me Finally Embrace My Natural Hair

Because of the images that surrounded me on TV and in magazines, I didn’t know that I was allowed to be beautiful and natural at the same time. It felt like, as a Black girl, I had to pick one or the other.

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Blog > Essay Advice , Personal Statement > College Essay About Hair: Dos and Don’ts

College Essay About Hair: Dos and Don’ts

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Kylie Kistner, MA Former Willamette University Admissions

Key Takeaway

As an admissions officer, I read quite a few essays about hair. After all, hair can be an important part of your identity for a lot of reasons.

At best, college essays about hair can reveal vulnerable insights into an applicant’s life.

But at worst, college essays about hair can be boring, cliche, and inauthentic.

Let’s go over how to write yours the right way.

Effective Ways to Approach a College Essay About Hair

To put it simply, good college essays about hair are in reality about a lot more than your hair.

Hair becomes a mechanism for telling a meaningful story about your life, and there are two main ways applicants tend to do this.

How your hair relates to or symbolizes another significant aspect of your identity

Hair can be symbolic, religious, political, and more. It can be a significant part of people’s daily experiences in a way that goes way beyond looks.

Maybe you want to write about your experience wearing a hijab. Or perhaps you have an illness or condition that affects your hair. Or maybe you want to write about not being able to cut your hair because of your upbringing, or even the process of coming to terms with your hair texture as it relates to your identity.

There are so many directions a good college essay about hair can take. Relating your hair to a deeper aspect of your identity can be a great way to draw out meaning and reveal important insights to admissions officers.

How hair has been part of your close relationships

If you had long hair as a child, you probably know the pain of having a loved one brush through a knot in your hair or tie a ponytail too tight.

Hair can be a way you relate to those around you.

Whether you fondly remember your grandma braiding your hair or you always connected with your dad because you were the only two in the family with curly hair, using your hair as a way to talk about a close relationship can be an impactful college essay topic.

But as with any college essay that relates to another person, just be sure to keep the ultimate message of the essay on you, not the other person.

Bad Ways to Approach a College Essay About Hair

Like any popular college essay topic, there are wrong ways to write about your hair.

So what makes an essay about hair a bad personal statement ?

It doesn’t reveal any genuine insights that give admissions officers more reason to admit you .

Let’s say you’re applying for a competitive engineering program. You have great supplementals, solid activities, and an outstanding transcript. But you decided to write your personal statement about what it’s like to have curly hair.

Admissions officers breeze through your application—it looks promising. When they get to your personal statement, though, things fall flat. Your personal statement was a good read, but it doesn’t sway the admissions officer in your favor because it doesn’t give them any insight into why you’d be a good addition to their engineering program. They end up voting to reject you.

Avoid the following two approaches to prevent this story from happening to you.

Simple description of what your hair is like

Curly, straight, frizzy, sleek, short, long, voluminous, thin—there are so many ways to describe hair. The topic can actually make for fantastic material for creative writing.

But too many applicants start and stop with a description of their hair. They explain what it’s been like to have hair of a particular type, color, or texture. They might even detail the journey of coming to terms with their hair. But they leave it at that.

Unfortunately, that’s not enough for a college essay.

If you want to write about your experiences with your hair, be sure to connect them to a deeper part of your identity.

Surface-level account of a challenge you had with your hair

Maybe you were bullied because of your hair. Or maybe you finally got the courage to change your signature style, and it didn’t go well. Maybe you got gum in your hair and had to cut it all off and felt lost without it.

Those sound like impactful moments, but they alone aren’t strong topics for a college essay.

When challenges stay on the surface level, they leave admissions officers asking, “So what?” So what if you go gum in your hair? So what if you changed your signature style and had to wait a couple weeks for people to get used to it?

Connecting your hair to a deeper part of your lived experience answers the “So what?” question up front. Don’t leave your admissions officer guessing.

Your hair should be a tool you use to talk about a deeper part of yourself or your experiences. Staying at the level of looks isn’t enough.

That’s why it’s critical that you use the right approach.

It’s all about creating a seamless application narrative , one that shows admissions officers exactly why you’d be a great addition to their campuses.

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How Natural Black Hair at Work Became a Civil Rights Issue

On the 55th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, U.S. courts are still divided about African Americans’ right to wear their natural hair in the workplace.

In 2010, Chastity Jones eagerly accepted a job offer from Catastrophe Management Solutions as a customer service representative. The offer, however, came with one caveat—she had to cut off her locs. Jones refused, and the company rescinded its job offer. The company’s hiring manager reportedly told Jones, “They tend to get messy.” The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a suit on Jones’s behalf in 2013 and lost . In 2016, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s ruling and dismissed the case.

Jones’ case is not unique. Cases filed by black workers alleging discrimination against their natural hair in the workplace have filled courthouses for more than forty years, yielding mixed results. These judicial rulings, intertwined with changing social and cultural mores, have created a contentious and uncertain legal situation, with courts and other governmental entities ruling on both sides of the debate.

How Did We Get Here?

Anti-black hair sentiment on U.S. soil has existed for centuries. In the 1700s, enslaved women who worked in the fields usually covered their hair in head-rags due to the harsh demands of their work . Enslaved Africans who worked in the “big house,” however, sometimes mimicked the hairstyles of their enslavers, either by wearing wigs that had become popular during that era or shaping their kinky hair to emulate them. In cities like New Orleans, however, where free Creole women of color donned elaborate hairstyles that displayed their kinks and coils with an air of regality, the city implemented laws— the Tignon Laws —that required these women to wear a tignon (scarf or handkerchief) over their hair to signify that they were members of the slave class, regardless of whether they were free or enslaved.

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The end of the 19th century saw the invention of the hair-straightening comb, which would be used to “tame” black hair. Madam C.J. Walker, a black woman, popularized the comb, and “by the mid-1920s, straight hair had become the preferred texture to signal middle class status.” As a result, Walker became the first female African American millionaire. Although some historians have lauded Walker’s business acumen, others have chided her for perpetuating the idea that straight hair leads to social and economic advancement. For better or worse, she offered black women an avenue for increased societal acceptance in an era when minstrel songs mocked the hair texture of African Americans, “ comparing it to wool and often describing it as nappy .”

The first wave of the natural hair movement emerged during the tumultuous 1960s. The “Black Is Beautiful” movement assured black women and men that their skin, facial features, and natural hair were admirable—as is. The activist Marcus Garvey encouraged black women to embrace their natural kinks, arguing that copying white eurocentric standards of beauty denigrated the beauty of black women: “ Don’t remove the kinks from your hair! Remove them from your brain! ”

The activist Angela Davis sported an afro as a sign of black power and rebellion against white American beauty standards . Wearing an afro became a weapon in the fight for racial equality, as well as a public declaration of self-love and solidarity within the black community. A 1972 study of black teens living in St. Louis revealed that 90 percent of young men and 40 percent of young women in the city sported their natural kinks , an uptick from the 50s and 60s. Although small in scope, this study captured the larger national trend.

Whether rocking afros or pressed hair, black protesters demanded the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which “ ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination .” The Act also created the EEOC, which operates “ as the lead enforcement agency in the area of workplace discrimination .” When the EEOC was founded fifty-five years ago, the federal government’s primary concern was that black people be granted equal access to public workplaces. It didn’t foresee that black hair would need equal access as well.

Meanwhile, public protests and pop culture pushed the Black Is Beautiful and civil rights movements forward. Released in 1968, James Brown’s “Say It Loud!” became a rallying anthem that encouraged black folks to embrace their blackness and fight against unequal treatment:

Say it loud! I’m black and I’m proud Say it louder! I’m black and I’m proud Some people say we got a lot of malice, some say it’s a lotta nerve But I say we won’t quit movin’ until we get what we deserve

The first natural hair discrimination cases wouldn’t appear until the next decade. In the 1976 case of Jenkins v. Blue Cross Mutual Hospital Insurance , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a race discrimination lawsuit against an employer for bias against afros. The appeals court agreed that workers were entitled to wear afros under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

While afros were technically allowed in workplaces, the social pressure to emulate eurocentric hair permeated American society, impacting black women’s hair grooming decisions. In “Hey Girl, Am I More Than My Hair?,” the communications scholar Tracey Owens Patton wrote that “the progressive changes made during the Black Power movement eroded as assimilation became more dominant in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.”

The 1980s and 1990s ushered in more black women sporting pressed and permed hair, thanks to prevalent hair-care ads on TV and in magazines that encouraged black women to alter the texture of their hair. However, this time period also witnessed the popularization of styles like braids and cornrows. Images of black women celebrities showcasing braids—like Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice —encouraged black women to braid their tresses. Wearing these styles came with a price, as they created a legal firestorm. In 1981, a black woman took American Airlines to court because the company demanded she not wear her hair in braids. The court sided with the airline, stating that braids were not an immutable racial characteristic—unlike the afro. Less than a decade later, the Hyatt Regency used this ruling to make employee Cheryl Tatum resign after she refused to take out the cornrows she wore to work. The American Airlines ruling established the standing legal precedent.

Finally, the 2000s welcomed the second wave of the natural hair movement. Spurred by films and the advent of social media, the movement fueled a cultural shift that has caused legions of black women to abandon their perms and pressing combs. Director Regina Kimbell’s My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage traced the history and politics around natural black hair in the U.S., thus raising consciousness in the African American community. This was one year before comedian Chris Rock would release Good Hair , a similarly themed documentary that focused on the economics of black women buying weaves and perming their hair. One of the most famous lines of the film was delivered by comedian Paul Mooney, who said, “ If your hair is relaxed, they are relaxed. If your hair is nappy, they are not happy .”

While both films raised social consciousness, prompting many black women to ditch their pressing combs, perms, and weaves, YouTube and other social media platforms empowered these women to act on their new awareness. YouTube and natural hair blogs allowed black women to discuss their hair-care journeys, share hair tutorials, and connect with other women—many of whom were learning to care for their natural hair for the first time. In “ YouTube Communities and the Promotion of Natural Hair Acceptance Among Black Women ,” Cameron Jackson wrote that the social media platform not only enabled newly minted naturalistas to “disseminate information about natural hair” but also caused “a shift in the cultural understanding of natural hair.”

Today, natural hair communities abound on YouTube and Instagram. With one million subscribers, Naptural85 is an acclaimed natural hair guru, while Instagram shows 21.8 million “natural hair” posts. These numbers suggest that natural hair is officially “in.” So “in” that natural hair clip-ins are now available , offering buyers an assortment of “natural” kinks and curls. Hair product sales stats reflect this trend. According to the global research firm Mintel, spending on perm relaxers fell 30.8 percent between 2011 and 2016 . Estimates suggest that by 2020, relaxers will become the smallest segment of the market.

Preferring natural crowns isn’t a passing fad, writes Kamina Wilkerson in “ The Natural Hair Movement :” “It signifies an attempt at a healthier lifestyle, a more authentic existence and a redefinition of the meaning of beauty.” According to Wilkerson, it’s also “revolutionary as a self-created, self-perpetuating female-led movement.” The proliferation of natural hair expos and festivals exemplifies this reality. The leaders of this revolution are natural hair evangelists who preach the good news of organic hair products to their loyal followers and the newly converted—while flaunting fierce manes, the same hairstyles worn in countries in Africa in the seventeenth century.

As natural hair care practices have gained increased acceptance in mainstream society, many corporations— and the U.S. government—have welcomed natural styles, even as courts decided they didn’t have to. Last year, for example, the U.S. Navy changed its grooming policy to include braided styles and locs , which follows a similar decision by the Army in 2017 .

However, the debate about what’s professional, presentable, and thus acceptable looms, affecting black children as well. In 2017, a preparatory academy in Montverde, Florida, asked a black teenage girl to change her natural hair because it violated the school’s dress code; and in 2018, a middle-school student in Gretna, Louisiana was removed from school due to her braided extensions.

Undeterred, artists continue to propel the culture forward. In 2018, Netflix turned Trisha R. Thomas’s Nappily Ever After book series into a film, while Gillian Scott-Ward’s Back to Natural documentary (which hit the festival circuit in 2017) influenced the NYC Commission’s release of its groundbreaking guidelines.

Where Are We at Now?

In 2006, the EEOC issued its Compliance Manual on Race and Color Discrimination , which details guidelines around what constitutes discrimination based on physical characteristics in the workplace. The manual protects against “employment discrimination based on a person’s physical characteristics associated with race, such as a person’s color, hair, facial features, height and weight.” The manual states that employers can impose neatness and grooming standards, as long as racial differences are taken into account and the rules are applied equally across racial lines. Employers cannot discriminate against an employee wearing an afro, for example, because that is black hair in its natural state. While employers might be able to request that an afro be groomed, they cannot demand that it not be worn at all. Neither can they apply hairstyle rules more stringently to hairstyles worn by blacks.

The EEOC’s guidelines, however clear, still leave room for judicial interpretation, with the EEOC and federal courts disagreeing. At the center of the current debate around natural hairstyles like locs is whether the style is a racial characteristic protected by the law.

In Jones’ case, the Eleventh Circuit held that the employer did not discriminate against Jones based on race because the locs hairstyle is a “mutable—or changeable—characteristic.” The EEOC, however, maintained that race is a social construct that isn’t strictly limited to immutable characteristics. The Commission insists that race can also include “cultural characteristics related to race or ethnicity,” including grooming practices. The circuit court disagreed, ruling that although locs are traditionally associated with people of African descent, the employer did not engage in any race-based disparate treatment.

Although the EEOC opted not to take the case to the Supreme Court and the NAACP’s subsequent request that the court hear the case was rejected, other government entities have drawn more stringent legal lines in the sand. In early 2019, the New York City Commission on Human Rights declared its commitment to protect residents’ legal right to wear their hair in locs, afros, braids, and other culturally specific styles, granting the city’s residents more protection than the federal government provides. The Commission argues that natural hair—and by extension any natural hairstyle—is inextricably tied to race and thus protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which “prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.”

The Commission wrote: “Bans or restrictions on natural hair or hairstyles associated with black people are often rooted in white standards of appearance and perpetuate racist stereotypes that black hairstyles are unprofessional. Such policies exacerbate anti-black bias in employment, at school, while playing sports, and in other areas of daily living.” The Commission’s statement mirrored the EEOC’s position and implemented on the local level what the EEOC hopes to implement on a federal level.

Two months after NYC released its guidelines, the California legislature passed a bill that would ban discrimination against natural black hairstyles in the workplace. The bill awaits the Governor’s signature. If it’s approved, California would become the first state to ban discrimination against all natural hairstyles in the workplace.

Where Do We Go from Here?

While NYC residents can don any natural hairstyle they want in public schools and in workplaces, and California residents may soon join them, many African Americans aren’t afforded that same legal protection. Black citizens like Chastity Jones are still being denied jobs. Unless the Supreme Court reverses the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling, this judicial and legislative free-for-all will continue. Caught in the crosshairs, many African Americans will be forced to choose between embracing their identities and economic advancement.

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A Stylist's Guide to Caring for Natural Hair

The no-nonsense routine that'll keep your curls looking fabulous.

Meet the Expert

When you have natural hair, it can be challenging to find the best products (including shampoos and conditioners , leave-ins , and stylers) for your unique crown of curls. Lifestyle, scalp health, and whether you have high porosity or low porosity hair make a difference in determining what's best to invest in. And then, once you've finally assembled your perfect collection of products, you need to learn how—and the order in which—to use them. Just the thought of crafting this unique natural hair routine is enough to leave anyone feeling exhausted.

"There is no one-size-fits-all answer," agrees Jamila Powell, founder of haircare brand Naturally Drenched, when I question her on the best natural hair routine. "Listen to your hair and pay attention to how your hair looks and feels."

This means checking for symptoms of breakage, a dry or itchy scalp, acne, frizz, and other factors, which can clue you into what cadence and ingredients work best for you.

"Experiment with different schedules and products to discover what works best for your unique hair needs," Powell agrees. "Also, consulting with a hairstylist or a natural hair specialist can also provide personalized guidance based on your hair's specific characteristics is suggested."

A natural hair specialist herself, Powell is a wealth of information on caring for natural and curly hair of all types and porosity levels. Below, she shares her knowledge, detailing the best methodology for finding a natural haircare routine that works for you.

Shampooing Natural Hair

Keeping your hair clean is fundamental to having a gorgeous mane and healthy scalp. Powell agrees, attesting, "Washing natural hair properly is essential to maintain its health, moisture, and overall appearance."

But one of the trickiest aspects of haircare for anyone (but especially for those with natural hair) is determining how frequently you should wash.

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"The best frequency varies depending on factors such as lifestyle, condition of the hair, and personal preference," she explains. "If it becomes dry, itchy, or greasy, it may be time to wash. Typically, once a week will suffice, but if you work out on a regular basis or are prone to sweating, you may have to wash your hair more frequently. Ultimately, the key is to find a washing frequency that keeps your hair clean, moisturized, and healthy without stripping it of its natural oils."

To properly shampoo natural hair , she suggests "thoroughly saturating your hair with water, and then sectioning your hair in fours so you can make sure all your hair and scalp are being properly cleansed. If your hair has a lot of product build up, I would start with a clarifying shampoo, and then follow up with one or two shampoos using a moisturizing shampoo. You don’t want to dry your hair out, so try and only use a clarifying shampoo once a month."

And when it comes to picking your everyday, non-clarifying shampoo? Powell advises assessing your hair type, porosity, and needs, as well as determining your stylistic preferences. She points out, "The right shampoo depends on the person’s hair, and the desired outcome," she says. 

"For fine hair, a lightweight shampoo with volumizing properties is recommended,” says Powell. “Innersense Pure Harmony is a good lightweight shampoo that won’t weigh the hair down and that will give the hair volume.” The clean, cruelty-free option also works on medium hair, and is packed with ingredients made to enhance both the health and appearance of the user’s mane. Its quinoa and rice extracts, for instance, strengthen strands, while coconut and avocado oils condition hair thoroughly, preventing braekage and frizz.

Pros: clean; cruelty-free; conditioning; expert approved

Cons: some users find it irritating—patch test before use

Customer Review: "I've been using this for years now and after experimenting I've found that a little goes a long way. My hair is just past my shoulders with a 3C curl pattern. I use three to four pumps and make sure to work it through with a lot of water. I detangle in the shower so as I'm working the product through my hair I add a drizzle of water if I feel like a section needs more slip. I lightly rinse my scalp so nothing is sitting on my skin, add in a little gel, and I'm done!" -Ulta

For those with damaged, dry, or high porosity hair, it may be necessary to invest in a shampoo that offers an extra boost of hydration. "If you are looking for more moisture or are struggling with frizz, you might want to try the Innersense Hydrating Cream Hairbath," suggests Powell. The clean formula is infused with shea butter, avocado oil, Tamanu oil, and monoi oil, all of which promote softness and shine by moisturizing hair and sealing the cuticle.

Pros: clean; cruelty-free; expert-approved

Cons: some users with thin hair found it weighed hair down

Customer Review: "The hair bath cleanses all the build up of products used prior to washing, and followed up with the conditioner, with its great slip, locks in moisture and leaves my curls BOUNCING. I have 3C/4A/4B [curls]just past shoulder length; shrinkage is above my shoulder." -Ulta

If your hair is particularly in need of some TLC (if it’s been bleached, for instance, or if it’s suffered damage from UV rays, pollution, or chlorine), then you may be in need of an even stronger option. “If someone is experiencing damage or has color treated hair try Briogeo’s Don’t Despair, Repair Shampoo,” says Powell. The popular option was made with damaged hair in mind and features fortifying plant proteins, moisturizing rosehip oil, and antioxidant-rich algae extract.

Pros: clean; expert-approved; gluten-free

Cons: some find it doesn't lather easily

Customer Review: "A long term staple of mine! I have sensitive skin/hair and it has never flared me up or irritated before! Scent is fresh and not overpowering!" -Sephora

As Powell stated, it’s important to incorporate a clarifying shampoo into your natural haircare routine, particularly if you work out frequently, live in a hot or humid (read: sweat-inducing) climate, or if you use a lot of hair products and stylers that could result in buildup. In any of these cases Ouai’s viral Detox Shampoo is just the ticket. It’s suitable for all hair types and is especially effective at cleansing excess oil from users’ scalps. It also banishes flakes and dandruff—a crucial quality as we head into the winter months.

Pros: cruelty-free; bestseller; works on all hair types; gets rid of flakes and dandruff; suitable on sensitive skin

Cons: some users experienced irritation—patch test first

Customer Review: "I LOVE this shampoo! It's expensive, yes, but it's one of a kind in my opinion. I have sensitive skin and a sensitive scalp, and this doesn't bother me. It clarifies so well without drying out my hair too much. I have extremely fine hair, but lots of it, so it's hard for me to find things that work well for my hair. This brings tons of volume back in too, but doesn't dry out my scalp like volumizing shampoo tends to." -Sephora

Co-Washing Natural Hair

For many people with high porosity or natural hair, co-wash is an excellent alternative to shampooing. This is particularly the case for those who need to wash their hair every day, but don't want to use a potentially stripping shampoo each time.

"If someone is experiencing increased dryness or frizz, they might want to incorporate co-washing, or if they are washing their hair more than once a week, they may use a co-wash for the second shampoo when they are washing their hair," adds Powell. "Co-wash products usually provide a gentle cleanse, but it can lead to product build up if a co-wash is solely used without a shampoo."

"Also, if you have a scalp condition such as dermatitis or dandruff, co-washing might not be suggested," she warns. "The cleansing ingredients of a co-wash might not be strong enough to break done the debris and oil on your hair and scalp, which can worsen the condition." Therefore, it may be best to consult a trichologist, hairstylist, or dermatologist before incorporating a co-wash into your routine.

According to Powell, “a suggested cowash would be the Rawkyn Deep Conditioning Co Wash,” which is formulated with honey, charcoal, and fruit extracts in order to remove build-up and sebum from hair without stripping it of the moisture it needs. She adds, “It has great moisturizing properties along with protein for added strength, and it gently cleanses the hair.” It also promises to unclog pores on the scalp, which is especially helpful for those with oily or combination skin, or who suffer from dandruff or acne on the scalp.

Pros: expert-approved; great for all hair and skin types; protein-infused; cleansing; free of fragrance, silicones, and sulfates

Cons: none found

This moisturizing co-wash from Taraji P. Henson’s beloved haircare brand, TPH, is recommended for use by itself or as a second step in your shower routine, between shampooing and conditioning. It cleanses and softens hair with its no-lather formula, and is infused with nourishing ingredients like shea butter and olive fruit oil. Made with natural hair in mind, it’s also vegan, cruelty-free, and certified clean. Reviewers love how effectively it defines curls, and they rave about how shiny their hair looks after each use.

Pros: shine-enhancing; Black-owned brand; made with natural hair in mind; vegan; cruelty-free; clean

Cons: some users dislike the design of the bottle

Customer Review: "I have very thick hair. So thick it takes hours to dry. My mother also has thicker hair though thinner especially since she’s 67. Both of us swear by this stuff! My mother says her hair has never looked better and I’d agree. My hair doesn’t take as long to dry and gone are the horrendous knots that left me in tears." -Target

Treating Natural Hair

Between your shampoo and conditioner steps, Powell points out that you may want to treat any scalp or hair concerns you have. Most treatments, including protein treatments , scalp scrubs, and scalp tonics, need to be left for several minutes before they're washed out. Thus, feel free to apply, engage in the rest of your shower routine, and wash out when the time's up.

“If your hair is struggling with breakage and dryness, you can use a pH restorative treatment like Rebalance before you apply your conditioner,” says Powell. She instructs that it’s best left on for three to five minutes, distributed evenly throughout from hair's roots to ends, ideally using a detangling brush for even distribution. Use the treatment once to twice per week, or as needed, for soft, defined curls that are free of frizz.

Pros: vegan; expert-approved; cruelty-free; free of parabens; large bottle

While Rebalance is formulated to restore hair’s pH levels, Powell says that Naturally Drenched’s Restore treatment is a moisture mask. It’s best left on for five to ten minutes, after which she says to “thoroughly rinse out all product.” These mask seeks to define curls, improve texture, and enhance shine through a burst of hydration. It’s best used once to twice per week, and it’s safe for all hair types and curl patterns, as well as for color -treated hair.

Pros: color-safe; expert-approved; shine-enhancing; vegan; cruelty-free; free of parabens

Cons: small container

Conditioning Natural Hair

After your hair is thoroughly cleansed and you've washed all the shampoo out, it's time to condition. To do so, distribute product from mid-lengths to ends (you don't need to apply so much to the top of your hair, and you'll want to avoid creating buildup on your scalp). Let the conditioner sit for a few minutes, using that time to shave, wash the rest of your body, exfoliate, or anything else you need to do. Then rinse. You can also condition your hair by way of a moisturizing hair mask , which is typically left on longer.

But conditioning doesn't end in the shower. After you've emerged, Powell recommends applying leave-in conditioner to "freshly washed" hair.

"Select a leave-in conditioner that suits your needs," she continues. "Depending on your hair's thickness and length, you may want to create two to four sections for easier application.  Dispense a small amount of leave-in conditioner into your hand. Rub the leave-in conditioner between your palms, and apply the leave in to the ends of your hair and work your way up toward the roots to prevent excess product from accumulating on the scalp.  Use your fingers or a detangling brush to distribute the product evenly."

This clinically tested conditioner from is especially fantastic for high porosity, curly hair. It’s formulated by Philip Kingsley, the trichology center and brand devoted to creating healthy products that prevent breakage and hair fall in the long term. I love the way the conditioner feels on my hair and how long it lasts—with this creamy formula, a little goes a long way. Whenever I use it, I find that my hair is easier to dentangle and that my curls look more defined.

Pros: clinically tested; developed by doctors; editor-approved; gluten-free

Cons: expensive

“For a conditioner, I would recommend the Restore Moisture Masque,” says Powell. She explains, “It’s aloe vera based and provides a lot of moisture to all textures without weighing the hair down.” To use the 100 percent vegan formula, simply work the product evenly through hair and leave on for 10 minutes. For an extra boost of hydration, you can even put on a shower cap while the mask is on. The brand recommends using the product once to twice a week in order to maintain softness and moisture in hair.

Pros: expert-approved; color-safe; vegan; cruelty-free

Powell specifically recommends this lightweight leave- in conditioner from Innersense for those with natural hair, and it’s easy to see why. The clean, cruelty-free formula is free of phthalates, sulfates, parabens, silicones, and other compounds that could potentially damage hair. Instead, it’s formulated with moisturizing ingredients like Tamanu Oil and aloe vera, along with eucalyptus and honey, which enhance shine and banish frizz. The conditioner is also detangling, so you won’t have to yank and potentially break your hair as you’re combing through it.

Pros: free of phthalates, parabens, silicones, and sulfates; clean; cruelty-free; expert-approved

Cons: strong smell

Customer Review: "It has a nice organic smell. It's not overwhelming. Makes my hair feels fresh after I blow dry my hair. I have slightly coarse hair and it works for me." -Ulta

To evenly distribute your hair mask, conditioner, or leave- in conditioner through your hair, Powell recommends this bruch from Naturally Drenched, which also works as a scalp massager. I own one, and I love how gently it detangles my curls. Each time I use it, I notice significantly less hair coming out in my brush than when I use my other, stiffer brushes. Plus, this flexible tool also features an ergonomic handle that makes brushing easy and comfortable.

Pros: ergonomic handle; minimizes pulling and breakage; expert-approved; editor-approved

Cons: may not be strong enough to get tougher tangles and knots out

Styling Natural Hair

When styling your hair, Powell recommends drying it with a hair dryer and diffuser to ensure long-term hair health.

"Air drying natural hair can cause damage to your hair long-term because the hair shaft swells when wet, which over time can weaken the cuticle layer causing cracking," she explains. "This cracking can occur deeper in your cortex leading to damage and breakage. Not to mention depending on the thickness of your hair—it’s harder for the hair to completely dry."

But how do you use a tool to dry hair without inadvertently causing heat damage? "A better alternative is to use indirect heat," says Powell. "A diffuser paired with a blow-dryer works well. You can place the blow-dryer on medium or high heat with low to medium pressure. Hover with the diffuser, or if you want more curls, you can lightly scrunch the curls using a push pull method. Another alternative is a hooded dryer."

And to style curls for optimal definition during the drying process, Powell says, "In general, you can use a foam, gels, curl balm or a combination of styling products." But it's important consider what level of hold you're looking for before you invest in a new styler.

"It really depends on the persons desired outcome, and how long they want the style to last," she admits. "Foams typically have a lighter hold and can provide definition. Used alone, a foam might not provide the longevity of a gel depending on the product. Gels often have varying holds and pair well with foams."

“If you are looking for a light hold with volume you can try Design Me Curl Balm,” Powell recommends. The balm is made with waves, curls, and coils in mind, and comes in an easy to use bottle that allows you to squeeze out as much or as little as you need. It’s a cruelty-free formula that’s safe for color-treated hair, and it promises to provide a light, buildable hold that never looks or feels crunchy. A mere quarter-sized drop promises to bring you the definition of your dreams.

Pros: cruelty-free; expert-approved; color-safe; light hold

This product is based in aloe vera, making it a multi-tasking holy grail that moisturizes while it styles. It’s perfect for defining and elongating curls, and has enough hold to be used for a quick wash and go look. It’s also suitable for all curl patterns, including twists, coils, and starter locs. For best results, the brand recommends applying the product section by section onto wet hair, styling using your fingers, and finally using a diffuser to dry hair and lock curls into the style you want.

Pros: cruelty-free; free of dyes, sulfates, phthalates, and parabens; biodegradable

Cons: some users reported irritation—patch test first

Customer Review: "Living in a humid climate, I've always struggled with maintaining frizz-free curls, but with Uncle Funky's Daughter Curl Stimulator, my curls remain smooth and controlled even in high humidity. It truly helps my hair withstand the elements and keeps my curls looking fabulous. The application process is straightforward, and a little goes a long way. I simply apply a small amount of the Curl Stimulator to damp hair, scrunch it in, and let my hair air dry or use a diffuser." -Target

“For a medium to stronger hold, you can check out Ouidad’s Advanced Climate Control Heat and Humidity Gel, which is available in both regular and strong hold,” says Powell. Per the product’s name, is designed to control frizz, especially for those who live in humid climates. It promises to deliver maximum hold without causing any dreaded crunch or buildup, and it both tames frizz and prevents it from happening. It contains sericin, a protein that helps strengthen hair strands and diminish frizz, as well as wheat protein, which is detangling.

Pros: protein-infused; great for humidity; good for all hair types; expert-approved

Cons: some users wish it was stronger

Customer Review: "I have very wavy/curly hair and always struggle with frizz. Ouidad advanced humidity gel has been a game changer for me. Beautifully defined curls with zero frizz. One thing to keep in mind, hair will gel a little stiff initially. But with a little shake of the curls, they are soft and bouncy." -Ulta

This styling gel is Powell’s favorite product for those who need something with a”a firmer hold.” It creates shine while keeping curls defined, and is perfect for fixing shapeless, frizzy hair. Its formula is infused with nettle and eucalyptus, both of which increase shine and make hair stronger and more flexible. It also incorporates rooibos tea, which contains antioxidants that rejuvenate damaged, high porosity hair so that you don’t have to sacrifice your hair’s long-term health for your short-term style.

Pros: expert-approved; clean; cruelty-free; sustainable packaging

Cons: some users found it drying

Customer Review: "I have mixed curl patterns. My hair tends to be on the frizzy side. This product together with I Create Volume gives me the perfect balance of moisture, hold, shine, definition and great smell. I transitioned to these products after experience postpartum hair loss and hormonal changes which caused my hair to go crazy. I love these products for my hair. Great results!" -Ulta

Jamila Powell is the founder of Maggie Rose Salon, a top-rated salon for textured hair, and the founder of Naturally Drenched, a haircare brand focused on caring for curly and natural hair. In addition to being an entrepreneur and hair expert, she is also a successful attorney. Currently, she is based in Miami.

Gabrielle Ulubay is a Beauty Writer at Marie Claire. She has also written about sexual wellness, politics, culture, and fashion at Marie Claire and at publications including The New York Times , HuffPost Personal , Bustle , Alma , Muskrat Magazine , O'Bheal , and elsewhere. Her personal essay in The New York Times' Modern Love column kickstarted her professional writing career in 2018, and that piece has since been printed in the 2019 revised edition of the Modern Love book. Having studied history, international relations, and film, she has made films on politics and gender equity in addition to writing about cinema for Film Ireland , University College Cork , and on her personal blog, gabrielleulubay.medium.com . Before working with Marie Claire , Gabrielle worked in local government, higher education, and sales, and has resided in four countries and counting. She has worked extensively in the e-commerce and sales spaces since 2020, and spent two years at Drizly, where she developed an expertise in finding the best, highest quality goods and experiences money can buy.

Deeply political, she believes that skincare, haircare, and sexual wellness are central tenets to one's overall health and fights for them to be taken seriously, especially for people of color. She also loves studying makeup as a means of artistic expression, drawing on her experience as an artist in her analysis of beauty trends. She's based in New York City, where she can be found watching movies or running her art business when she isn't writing. Find her on Twitter at @GabrielleUlubay or on Instagram at @gabrielle.ulubay, or follow her art at @suburban.graffiti.art

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Our weekly newsletter with the latest celebrity news, fashion updates, interviews and exclusive offers, more than a hairstyle: a history of black women's natural hair.

Whether you’re walking down the street or scrolling online, you’re bound to see an increasing amount of Black women rocking their natural hair. Some have short locks sprouting out of their scalp. Others are years deep, and have dark, kinky curls swinging around their faces like sun rays. Natural hair care Instagram accounts are being created in droves, as are hair products. To an outsider, it may seem like a fad, or an extension of the self care movement. But to those who are really down, this explosion of natural hair acceptance has been in the works since the 1960s.

Actress Cicely Tyson credits herself with the beginning of the natural hair craze. To give her character more authenticity, Tyson shaved her head for a role in the 1961 off-Broadway play The Blacks . In an interview for Oprah’s Master Clas s, Tyson revealed that after she was implored to keep her hair cropped and natural for a role in the 60s show East Side/West Side , she began to get scathing letters from beauticians. “I got letters from all over the country, telling me that I was affecting their business because their clients were having their hair cut off,” she said.

Tyson’s braids from the 1972 film Sounder , as well as Bernadette Stanis’ braids in the popular sitcom Good Times , presented mainstream portrayals of cornrows that have been copied for decades since.

Civil rights activists , including Black Panther Party members, politicized the Afro in the 1960s. Kathleen Cleaver spoke about the power of the Afro in a 1968 interview. “The reason for [us wearing our natural hair] you might say is like a new awareness among Black people that their own natural appearance –physical appearance is beautiful and pleasing to them,” she said. Women became increasingly inclined to abandon products and practices that altered the natural state of their hair. This dissimilation, coupled with the ‘Black Is Beautiful’ movement, made for a mass acceptance of natural hair.

I've never changed my hair, never changed my color, always been proud of myself " – Nina Simone #BlackIsBeautiful pic.twitter.com/jwesDDq0 — Yuie (@YusufYuie) December 21, 2012

Scholar and activist Angela Davis’ Afro is nothing short of legendary, but in a 1994 essay, “Afro Images: Politics, Fashion and Nostalgia” , she wrote about the dangers of the hairstyle and how images of it were utilized in political warfare.

Recalling her 1972 trial , Davis wrote, “[T]he photographs identified vast numbers of my Black female contemporaries who wore naturals (whether light- or dark- skinned) as targets of repression. This is the hidden historical content that lurks behind the continued assosciation with the afro.”

Kathleen Cleaver on natural hair pic.twitter.com/kv3GSAt4r0 — venecia (@ebonyangeI) January 18, 2016

Black women’s hair is always both personal and political.

Due to the embracing of cornrows, braids as their own hairstyle—and not a foundation for a wig—became popular during the late 1970s and 1980s. Notable Black figures, such as jazz pianist Patrice Rushen, were famous for their talent, as well as their intricate hairstyles. Rushen in particular wore long braids, decorated with colorful beads, feathers and shells. In a 1979 issue of EBONY , it was written that “braids and cornrows until recently were dismissed as hairstyles for children and ‘country folk’.” That anti-Black stereotype disintegrated, though, and cornrows are now being worn by modern trendsetters like Arnell Armon and Rihanna.

Jamaican-American singer Grace Jones wore her hair natural as well. For decades, she donned a short cut, or small flattop that she groomed herself. During a press run for the 1984 film Conan the Destroyer , Jones spoke about shaving her head annually. “It’s almost like a sacred thing. It’s something that one really never does, and so when you do it, it’s so—I feel like a nun,” Jones said. With her flattop, Jones subverted gendered beauty ideas.

The 1990s introduced a variety of Black natural hair care products , like Shea Moisture and Carol’s Daughter . Shea Moisture, founded by Richelieu Dennis in 1991, was based on Dennis’ grandmother’s recipes, which she sold in a village market in Sierra Leone. Though relaxers were on the rise during this time, Shea Moisture encouraged women to learn how to care for their natural hair, long before it was popularized in the 2000s. Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and Venus and Serena Williams were also champions of natural styles in the late 90s.

Venus and Serena were young tennis prodigies from Compton, California, when they, along with their braids, became phenomenons. “We were not afraid to wear braids. We weren’t afraid to be Black in tennis. And that was different,” Serena said in an interview with Allure .

In 1999, Venus was punished for her style. During the Australian Open, she was penalized after some of her beads fell out mid-match and she went on to lose the match. The way Williams’ hairstyle and it’s unraveling were discussed during the subsequent press conference disrespected the legacy of braids and beads. Her opponent, Lindsay Davenport, said “Well, you can see [the beads], and you can hear them a little bit…I’m not gonna say it was a distraction, but it was a little annoying.” The Williams sisters did not stop wearing beads, which helped pave the way for singer Kelela, who frequently has her locks adorned with crystals .

The most recent wave of the natural hair movement has been heavily criticized for excluding type 4 hair. For a 2018 Madame Noire essay, “Why the Natural Hair Movement Has Been A Gift And A Curse To Black Women”, Arah Iloabugichukwu wrote about natural hair brands opting to use lighter-skinned models with loose curl patterns to be the face of their campaigns.

“But the industry quickly exemplified why all natural hair wasn’t created equal,” she wrote. “It was the packaging that told the story, campaigns full of racially ambiguous women with ringlets cascading down their backs took center stage.”

People have long talked about how the modern movement has become nothing more than a megaphone for light-skinned Black women with silky curls. Sadly, that’s not the only issue this iteration of the movement has faced.

In 2009, when Solange Knowles shaved her head, she was blasted by white media outlets. “Beyoncé’s little sister Solange Knowles has shaved her head, as if making some sort of desperate cry for attention,” read one write up .

Knowles fired back with a tweet, writing “i. have. done. this. twice. in. my. life. i. was 16. i was 18. did. not care about your opinion. then. dont. care. now… i. just. wanted. to. be. free. from. the. bondage. that. black. women sometimes. put. on. themselves. with. hair.” Five years later, those same outlets were calling her a “curly-hair[ed] icon.”

These days, women like Ari Lennox and Lena Waithe gracefully glide across red carpets with their natural hair on full display. It’s a reminder of all that Black women have endured and overcome, all because they dared to toss European beauty standards aside.

The history of natural hair is full of politics, ingenuity, and beauty and it is one that we all should be proud of.

Image credit: Getty Images

The Natural Hair Movement Isn’t Immune to Texturism

This story is a part of   The Melanin Edit , a platform in which Allure will explore every facet of a melanin-rich life — from the most innovative treatments for hyperpigmentation to the social and emotional realities — all while spreading Black pride.

My hair fantasies started during the pandemic. I’d lay in my bonnet and daydream about my childhood blowouts. My mother is a wonderful heavy-handed woman, who hated doing my thick, tangly hair, so she’d drop me off at our local salon every two weeks. Our stylist would place a wooden box on a vinyl salon chair so her hands could work their magic. She’d wash my coils and move the box to the hooded dryer for my deep condition. Then, she’d take her yellow hairdryer — the one with a comb duct-taped to the nozzle — and manipulate my thunderous Afro into submission. I’d leave with an age-appropriate style: moisturized shiny twists, fastened by matching clips, and the smell of grease and hair spritz clinging to my frame. I can chart my life through those hair appointments, like pencil marks on the wall of a childhood home.

So, during the pandemic, when I was touch-deprived, scared, and bored, I’d fantasize about blowouts that would leave me with loads of body, tangle-free hair, and impressive length. I imagined masked strangers stopping me on the streets to ask about my lustrous, healthy hair.

To be clear, my hair isn’t exactly healthy. I go too long without trims and deep conditioner, and I stretch as many days as I can between elaborate wash days. I let protective styles stay in too long, and my edges resist control. But mid-quarantine, I had major hair aspirations. I wanted a professional to take my hair to the next level.

Here’s where I went wrong: Instead of going to one of the three Black salons in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I fished through my closet to unearth a gift certificate from a nationwide blowout emporium. This was a gamble, but it was going to be free, and several Black influencers shared positive experiences on YouTube. As I wrote a long paragraph in an online booking system explaining my natural hair and need for a Black stylist, I thought "a Black stylist will shield me from anything bad."

I walked into the salon: It looked like Starbucks and SoulCycle had a baby that did hair. Each blow-dry station had about six bottles of hairspray and a canister containing thin-toothed combs my hair would destroy. This wasn’t the salon of my youth — with a small stove for hot combs and a holster for six curling irons. There wasn’t a cubby to the left filled with colorful rollers of differing sizes. Nothing about this place made me feel at home. I should’ve run, but instead, I waved at the Black stylist assigned to me. It didn’t take long to realize that she apparently found my curl pattern offensive. She spoke only to tell me that my hair was damaged and eventually seemed to give up on sparing me any pain. She raked through my hair as a white woman nervously swept clouds of coils that had fallen from my head. It felt like someone had pulled down my pants in public.

If you think I got what I deserved, I’m not surprised. None of the Black women in my life raised me to walk into a white salon. And, as a self-proclaimed “bad natural,” I’m used to people remarking about my hair. But something about this experience was different: Beyond the soreness you might have when your hair is being pulled straight, I woke up the next day feeling troubled. It felt like the stylist’s hands (and bad vibes) were still lingering in my scalp. Although my hair was straighter, I was disappointed overall, and I felt a little violated, too. When I found myself talking about this in therapy, I knew something was wrong.

“It absolutely is appropriate to use the word ‘trauma’ to describe some of the experiences Black women have had with regard to their hair,” Donna Oriowo, a licensed independent clinical social worker and founder of Cocoa Butter & Hair Grease , says. “By the time a Black girl is six [years old], she knows the value of having the ‘right’ hair texture and skin tone. That means she is also aware of her value relative to others, how they receive her, and is able to feel the harm … even if she doesn't have the vocabulary to describe it.”

Getting an incredibly rough blow-dry in a white space reminded me of experiences I’d forgotten. I rambled to my therapist about how my mom called me “thunderhead Willy,” about bad experiences in salons, and embarrassment at school. Then I widened the scope: I babbled about friends who’ve had to explain to their grandmothers that natural hair isn’t “messy.” I talked about a viral video showing a mom-shaming her daughter for having thick hair. I mentioned gold medalist Gabby Douglas, whom I hadn’t thought about in years, and how her hair overshadowed her accomplishments.

Yeah, OK, I am probably triggered, I told my therapist. But almost every Black woman has an experience where a family member, friend, or stylist shamed them. My salon experience isn’t that unique. She responded by telling me it was hair trauma.

We are in a golden age of Black beauty and natural hair care. The CROWN Act , or Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, was first introduced in California and expanded on the California Education Code and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act’s definition of race to include Black natural hair and protective styles. The anti-texturism act is now law in 13 states. Legislation like this illustrates that we need protection from white supremacy, a system that harms our minds, bodies, and livelihood. What I experienced from that Black stylist in the white salon is way less severe — but that doesn’t mean what happened wasn’t harmful.

Afiya Mbilishaka, an assistant professor of psychology and a researcher at the University of the District of Columbia who examines hair discrimination, says while many people have positive family and community experiences, internalized texturism can impact how we treat one another. "There were experiences of family members being critical, and even the haircare space became a part of that system where stylists or barbers would be really rude about people's hair texture and openly criticize them in spaces where they're supposed to be helpful," she says. "We have those experiences of internalizing texturism and racism, but it's reflecting the larger society."

Texturism has roots in ancestral trauma

Many Black women have a long and complicated history with our hair. And while we can recount social experiments where Black girls choose white dolls, reducing internalized texturism to some weird fondness for Eurocentric beauty standards oversimplifies the way we adapt and survive. At different points in history, straight hair was linked to a better life. 

During slavery, Black people tried numerous things to loosen their curl pattern, says Ayana Byrd , journalist and author of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America . “There were things like taking heavy wheel axle grease and using that to comb through the hair,” Byrd says. “With babies, [we were] using regular thread that you would use for sewing, and braiding that into baby's hair, hoping that it would pull it down as their hair was growing … and also taking butter knives … and pulling them over the hair, sort of like a hot comb.”

This might sound intense, but enslaved Black women weren’t taking butter knives to our hair because we found white women so beautiful. “The terms 'good [hair]' and 'bad hair' were born during slavery,” Byrd says, adding that straighter hair increased the possibility that you might work in the house instead of in the field. “Within the barbarity of slavery, you might have a safer path,” she says. Straighter hair didn’t save you — working so close to white people came with its own dangers — but it might give you a higher chance of survival, she explained.

We see this relationship between straighter hair and economic mobility over and over throughout American history. When Black folks moved north during the Great Migration, Byrd says straight hair denoted sophistication for folks fleeing rural roots. And, as a Black middle-class emerged, there was overwhelming pressure to conform so that we might have a fighting chance to continue ascending and achieve. In 2021, research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science suggested that Black women with natural hair are perceived as less professional and less competent than Black women with straight hair.

Straight hair is irrevocably tangled with respectability politics, and these long standing attitudes make it clear why a stylist might shake her head when you show up with dry, damaged natural hair or why your grandmother might ask you to get a relaxer. A survey from the Perception Institute found that, while most people who identify as women experience some anxiety about their hair, Black women report higher levels of hair anxiety. Just as there are whisper networks — hushed conversations we have to avoid abuse — side-eyes and comments concerning hair are just another way Black women have helped each other survive.

The natural hair movement isn’t immune to texturism

The most recent natural hair movement — which Byrd says is the most successful natural hair movement in this country to date — has been a respite from that kind of message. It gives so many of us a place to feel beautiful. Still, it isn’t immune to internalized texturism. For evidence, one can look at the ongoing conversations around well-known hairstylist Andre Walker’s hair typing system , created to differentiate between textures. The system uses numbers 1 through 4 as labels: Type 1 hair is straight while 4 types are curlier. From there, we use letters a, b, and c, to explain the tightness of the curl. 4c is often considered the tightest texture.

There’s a robust conversation about whether the hair typing system does more harm than good. Still, a quick survey of YouTube videos for 4c hair treats you to all of the ways you might stretch, twist, pull, and “hydrate” 4c hair into submission. There’s nothing wrong with the creativity Black women use to make our hair pop, but the messages are clear: If there’s a hair hierarchy, then thick, coarse coils aren’t at the top.

We deserve to take our hair trauma seriously

It’s worth mentioning that these implied messages and emotional traumas exist alongside physical damage. “Clients have spoken to me about the trauma of getting their hair done,” Oriowo says, citing things like having their braids pulled too tight or fingers popped for reaching up. She even mentions that being called tender-headed “can be a form of gaslighting and diminishing someone's pain experience.” Breakage around the edges (a source of shame and ridicule) is often called traumatic alopecia .

“Hair traumas happen. Some of those traumas are intergenerational — passed down from generation to generation like warped heirlooms,” Oriowo says, adding that texturism is part of our inheritance. “As a result, some folk grow up and can’t smell certain smells like hair grease ... without almost re-experiencing or having flashes of their own past hair experiences. And this type of flashback sounds a lot like a trauma response to me.”

So what if we take a moment to take our pain more seriously? What changes if we stop shrugging off these small experiences and instead look at them as part of our racialized trauma? “We have to start with naming our hurts,” Oriowo explains. “When we identify what hurts us, we are better equipped to do something about it.”

If you’re in a situation like I was, where a stylist is rough or unkind because of your hair, both Oriowo and Mbilishaka say it’s okay to speak up, advocate for yourself, or even leave. “Some of the people who do the best hair may or may not have their own wokeness,” Mbilishaka says. “I would encourage people to restrict their payments or funds. When you're trusting someone, you're in a vulnerable position, and they're not taking care of you but actually harming you.”

In our longstanding commitment to dismantle white supremacy, we must also continue to heal ourselves. We can do that, Mbilishaka says, by questioning and processing the stories we tell ourselves (and each other). We did not create the system that privileges straighter hair, but we’ve inherited it, and so it’s another thing that we have to process and heal. “I think, as we tell and retell some of our personal life experiences, we can see, ‘No, there's nothing wrong with my hair or my beauty. It's the system that would critique tightly coiled [and] darker skin,’” Mbilishaka says. “And how sick is that? That they have to create this false dichotomy of good and bad?”

And, whether on social media, in salons, in therapy sessions, or group chats, we have to continue to fortify ourselves against a world that tries to erode our self-esteem. “In the face of all that discrimination, you will need a safe haven. Be sure to find or build a community,” Oriowo says. “There is much we have internalized about our worth and value from what folk have said about our hair. Let’s make sure we are equally working to heal what was hurt.”

This piece is part of The Melanin Edit , a platform in which Allure explores every facet of a melanin-rich life. If you liked this story, be sure to read our report on why some women are leaving the natural hair movement as well as the rising popularity of Botox among Black consumers.

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The Science Behind Healthy Hair

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Introduction What does Healthy Hair Look Like? What is the Structure of the Hair Like? Shampoo and Conditioner Go Hand-in-Hand The Demand for Natural and Sustainable Products References Further Reading

What is healthy hair and what is the science behind it? Here we discuss the structure of the hair and its propensity to exhibit a healthy appearance or otherwise. Why is it that our locks can appear lackluster?

Healthy hair. Image Credit: Prostock-studio/Shutterstock.com

A better understanding of the natural properties of our hair has led us to the use of conditioning treatments to better manage and improve its appearance. In recent years we have witnessed an increasing demand for natural and sustainable hair-care products. Here we take a closer look at the use of plants in haircare.

What does healthy hair look like?

Healthy looking hair is generally thought of as smooth and shiny looking as opposed to dull, coarse and frizzy. The virtues of smoothness and shine relate to hair surface properties. Clean cut or tapered ends are further signifiers of health and relate to the hair cortex.

Among the reasons why a person might be left grappling with a less-than-healthy looking set of locks include excess styling and cosmetic treatments, such as the use of chemical dyes or bleaches. Here chemical damage may occur to contribute to a dull, frizzy, and lackluster appearance of the hair. Furthermore, age-related changes such as natural greying or androgenetic alopecia (hair loss in older men) can result in loss of shine and smoothness.

To keep our hair looking healthy involves the coordination of a complex set of elements; an interplay between medical and biological factors, scalp-care habits, hair care procedures and environmental factors. Cosmetics are used to alter the physical and mechanical properties of the hair, which in turn is dependent on internal structure and protein constitution. The hair surface when observed as “structured” at the molecular level has implications for the design of eco-friendly and sustainable ingredients and formulations for both shampoos and conditioners and these products have witnessed a rise in consumer demand in recent years.

What is the structure of the hair like?

The structure of hair consists of an outermost hydrophobic layer along with a cortex. Taken together these layers confer the coveted physical properties of luster (shine) and volume (body) necessary for the designation of hair “health.”

The hydrophobic lipid epicuticle layer comprises flattened overlapping cuticle cells. The normal cuticle is smooth in appearance and allows for the reflection of light. Meanwhile, the inner cortex is made up of closely packed spindle-shaped cells filled with keratin filaments. Permanent changes occur in the cortex when hair is exposed to treatments such as coloring or procedures such as curling or straightening.

Shampoo and conditioner go hand-in-hand

Shampoo works as a cleanser to remove excess oil, sebum, and dirt. However, when used alone it leaves wet hair tangled, difficult to manage and prone to fizziness upon drying. A poor combing technique can cause mechanical stress and lead the outermost covalently bound lipid layer to be removed, leaving the hair surface hydrophilic and ionized.

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A solution to this problem is the application of conditioning treatments to the hair after shampooing or combining shampoo and conditioner into a single application ––a well-worn time-saving maneuver. The challenge in either case (shampoo + conditioner or a formulation in which the two are combined) is to maintain conditioning ingredients on the surface of the hair after the removal of the cleansing formulation. The most common conditioning ingredients consist of cationic surfactants, cationic polyelectrolytes, lipophilic conditioners (such as oils, natural waxes, fatty alcohols) and silicones.

Shampoo works as a cleanser to remove excess oil, sebum, and dirt. Image Credit: Mr.Cheangchai Noojuntuk/Shutterstock.com

The demand for natural and sustainable products

The cosmetic industry has sought to cater to demands for more natural and sustainable products. The big challenge here is to be able to replace traditional low-cost surfactants with new biosurfactants and for a similar price. Great strides have been made in this direction using green science principles and many new ingredients are nowadays eco-friendly.

In the search for more natural solutions, there has been the recent development of solid shampoos which harbor some novel and interesting ingredients. These are based mainly on clays, herbs, or flours, as an alternative to traditional washing bases, combined with the usual synthetic surfactants and other common ingredients.

There are several advantages of solid shampoos over traditional formulations, such as amenability to easy transportation and improved microbiological stability (the presence of water in the composition of traditional shampoos necessitates the use of additional preservatives).  Here next we will turn to focus on the use of herbs.

The use of herbals for cleansing the hair has been known since time immemorial. In recent times there has been a resurgence in the use of herbals in conjunction with the increasing trend in favour of natural, raw materials. Herbal products are also favored because they offer the added advantages of being low cost, as well as proffering a low risk of side effects.

A whole plethora of plants has been discovered to be beneficial for our hair. The benefits are conferred through such sought-after components as vitamins, amino acids, sugars, glycosides, bioflavonoids, phytohormones, fruit acids and essential oils. The challenge lies in the selection of these natural ingredients, together with the advent of novel formulation techniques.

Although these new formulations comprise natural components from which we might connote a sense of protection, it remains imperative they are, in reality, safe and efficient for long-term use. Many available herbal shampoos still rely on synthetic ingredients, though the formulation of ‘pure’ shampoos using only natural ingredients is now known to compete with traditional shampoos in their much-desired characteristics of foaming, mild detergency, and solid content.

• Gubitosa, J. et al. 2019. Hair Care Cosmetics: From Traditional Shampoo to Solid Clay and Herbal Shampoo, A Review. Cosmetics. Doi: 10.3390/cosmetics6010013.
• Luengo, G. et al. 2020. Surface Science of Cosmetic Substrates, Cleansing Actives and Formulations. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science. Doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2021.102383.
• Sinclair, R. 2007. Healthy Hair: What Is it? Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings. Doi: 10.1038/sj.jidsymp.5650046.

Further Reading

• All Hair Content
• Genetics of Hair Color
• Preventing Ingrown Hairs

Last Updated: Jun 23, 2022

Dr. Nicola Williams

Versatile science writer and content specialist (who can offer a unique historical twist too). I broadly focus on biology (including medicine), physics, and technology. I’m passionate about communicating the latest scientific research in an exciting, fresh, and accessible way. As a trained historian, I am also uniquely able to write content with a historical focus. I write about scientific news and research in a variety of formats, including articles, blogs, and scripts.

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Williams, Dr. Nicola. "The Science Behind Healthy Hair". News-Medical . 05 August 2024. <https://www.news-medical.net/health/The-Science-Behind-Healthy-Hair.aspx>.

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Home — Application Essay — Business School — Talking about Natural Hair and Beauty Standards

Talking about Natural Hair and Beauty Standards

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Words: 666 |

Published: Jul 18, 2018

Words: 666 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Do you know what your hair type is? Probably not. I have natural 3c-4a hair. Beyond interesting trivial, I honestly don't think much about natural hair and care less as to what my hair texture is, but at one point in my life I felt as if my hair texture would either make me or break me. Society doesn't help with this internal battle for black teens in America either. The standard of beauty is unrealistic for most and causes them to want to change who they are and become someone they're not. Growing up I wanted to have pin straight hair like all the white girls, because that’s all that I knew.

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I didn't think it was acceptable to rock my natural hair in an afro. I saw that as ugly and barbaric, as awful as it is to say. In hindsight, it almost makes sense as to why l thought this way. All the young black girls on television had straight hair: That’s So Raven, True Jackson V.P, and My Wife and Kids. These protagonists lived up to white beauty standards. Even though I craved pin straight hair, the closest thing I came to having was a bunch of protective styles. Protective styles are styles that tuck the ends of your hair away from being exposed to damaging agents such as sun, heat and constant manipulation. With a little bit of straightening I never had manipulated my hair too drastically.

That’s up until sixth grade, when l made the biggest mistake of my life.

At the time, l was elated because l finally felt like l fit in, one step closer to looking like all of my white friends and the black girls I saw on television. With the new hair came a tremendous amount of maintenance I wasn’t ready for. I had anticipated l would relax it and that would be the end of it , but that’s not what ended up happening. Once every month and a half my mother and l would spend my Friday nights or Saturday mornings in either my kitchen or the salon getting my hair relaxed. I would sit in a chair for no more than ten minutes dealing with the excruciating pain of my scalp being on fire,but beauty is pain, right? I spent around four years dealing with this process. But it wasn’t until the summer before tenth grade where I was getting fed up with putting chemicals into my hair. I began the process known in the natural hair community as “transitioning”. Transitioning from relaxed to natural was personally difficult because all l wanted to do was to get rid of all the curly roots that were growing in. The idea of letting my curly hair grow back in was completely foreign to me because the second I saw growth I would immediately relax the roots in an effort to make everything look uniform.

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During this time, I didn't put any heat on my hair unless it was to blow dry it. The final “big chop” made me feel like a new woman. At first after l cut off all of the straight ends I felt a little insecure. It was a culture shock seeing myself, but over time, whenever l look at myself in the mirror, l actually recognize the girl who’s staring back at me. If you told me six years ago that I would be wearing my natural hair in an afro pouring out self confidence, l would have looked at you like you had five heads. Going natural was probably one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. It has created a sense of personal pride l didn't have before. It has even taught me not to succumb to other people's beauty standards because everyone is beautiful in their own way. Leo Tolstoy once said “It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.” With this, I finally realized that I am beautiful, too.

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Natural Hair Care Products as a Business Idea Essay

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Introduction

Swot analysis, works cited.

Nowadays, there are a lot of hair care product companies that are opening up. It is a result of the increase in demand for natural organic products specifically made for natural hair. Starting a business in the past has been a challenge due to the lack of proper information. Starting a hair care product business is not as easy as it seems. It only gets easier if you have a business mentor, the right information, and the appropriate paperwork. Some people are always afraid of starting a new business because of making mistakes. Besides, entrepreneurs will confirm that making mistakes is part of succeeding in a business.

Starting a business where the target customers are individuals with natural hair is the main idea of the business. Some of the natural hair products include conditioners, hair growth oils, leave-in conditioners, shampoo, and styling gels made from natural raw materials. The youths are among the many people who use natural hair products, thus increasing the demand for natural hair products (van der Zwan et al. 279). The millennials take a very careful approach while choosing natural hair products and products that have natural raw materials. This is the main reason this is a promising business idea since the youth will always buy natural hair products with naturally derived ingredients.

Natural hair products are always customized into new products according to the customer’s preferences and needs. Customization and launching new products increase the product demand, making sure that the business is always promising and successful. To customize and launch new products, natural hair companies should ask customers some questions concerning their hair care habits and hair type (Géraudel et al. 359). It is believed that various people have different hair types and different hair habits, thus requiring consultation. Some of the products that should be customized include conditioners, hair oil, shampoo, and styling gel.

There are some strengths and weaknesses that are associated with this line of business. Some of the strengths include targeting, which is normally amongst the millennials. The young people who are just stepping into adulthood are the main target customers. They are targeted because they are very sensitive with their natural hair care. Products such as hair oil growth and leave-in conditioner have been a solution to their dull hair, itchy scalp, and dry hair (Barnett 69). Such types of problems are very common in their age group. Another strength is the focus on the need of customers. Natural hair products focus on customers’ needs, such as nourishing their hair at their young age. For instance, hair growth oils are made to increase the growth of their hair and make their hair bouncy and bulky. The focus on the need for a product has made it increase in demand among people who face hair problems.

The distribution strategy is another strength in the health care industry. Natural hair products are usually available in both rural and urban areas. Some of the rural areas are not a target to many international companies, thus reducing competition in those areas. Trust and goodwill of customers are also another strength in hair care products. Ensuring that customers trust natural hair care products by ensuring that the ingredients are from natural raw materials is a must-do. Using natural raw materials while manufacturing natural hair products is the main factor of trust.

The inability to keep up with the trends and competition in the market is one of the weaknesses in the hair care industries. The market is changing rapidly as international companies are launching new products, filling the niche, and increasing competition. It might be challenging to much up the speed when the multinational companies have already customized and launched new products in the market (Vlados and Chatzinikolaou 79). The inability to create a powerful image is also another weakness in the health care industry. Customers will always prefer to use products from premium brands rather than from unknown brands.

The opportunities include natural hair products for men. As the concept of metrosexual is increasing by the day, the number of natural hair care products increases. Men also want to have shiny and dark hair, which can only be achieved through natural hair products from natural ingredients. The growth potential in the styling gel market is another opportunity in natural hair care products. The current styling gel in the market is only for relaxed hair (Gaston et al. 91). Manufacturing styling gels that are for natural hair can help fill the niche and create opportunities.

One of the threats that face natural hair products is competition. Competition from well-established and powerful brands is increasing every day, making it hard for start-up companies to thrive. It is because many people trust their products since they are well established. Partnering with others brings together different ideas and information that will help grow the business. Starting a natural hair products company will require an initial capital of around $500 to $25,000, depending on the cosmetic formulator that makes the product (Barnett 69). It is necessary to have a business mentor who works to provide accounting as a legal adviser to the entrepreneur.

In conclusion, starting a natural hair care company is fun but very tedious. To succeed in this line of business, it is important to take note of the target market and the target consumers. The opportunities and threats should also be noted and the competitors to ensure that your business grows. While creating natural hair products, it is crucial to test them before selling them to ensure that you make something that reacts well with people.

Gaston, Symielle A., et al. “Chemical/straightening and other hair product usage during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood among African-American women: potential implications for health.” Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology 30.1 (2020): 86-96.

Géraudel, Mickael, Johanna Gast, and Katherine Gundolf. “New product and service launching in new ventures: a multilevel approach to innovation antecedents.” Economics of Innovation and New Technology 26.4 (2017): 353-367.

Barnett, Michael. “The politics of black hair: A focus on natural vs relaxed hair for African-Caribbean women.” Ideaz 14 (2016): 69.

van der Zwan, Peter, et al. “Factors influencing the entrepreneurial engagement of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs.” Eurasian Business Review 6.3 (2016): 273-295.

Vlados, Charis, and Dimos Chatzinikolaou. “Towards a restructuration of the conventional SWOT analysis.” Business and Management Studies 5.2 (2019): 76-84.

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IvyPanda. (2022, July 29). Natural Hair Care Products as a Business Idea. https://ivypanda.com/essays/natural-hair-care-products-as-a-business-idea/

"Natural Hair Care Products as a Business Idea." IvyPanda , 29 July 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/natural-hair-care-products-as-a-business-idea/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Natural Hair Care Products as a Business Idea'. 29 July.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Natural Hair Care Products as a Business Idea." July 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/natural-hair-care-products-as-a-business-idea/.

1. IvyPanda . "Natural Hair Care Products as a Business Idea." July 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/natural-hair-care-products-as-a-business-idea/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Natural Hair Care Products as a Business Idea." July 29, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/natural-hair-care-products-as-a-business-idea/.

Can You Really Reverse Gray Hair?

Science says: yes and no.

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

Can you stop hair from turning gray?

Some say vitamins like b12 and copper can reverse gray hair. true, can hair products like shampoo reverse gray, are there foods or natural remedies that can reverse gray hair, the bottom line.

But recently, there's been buzz that gray hair may not be permanent after all, along with a slew of solutions claiming to reverse it, from hair products like shampoos to natural remedies such as foods and vitamins. Whether hair can actually change back to its original color again is up for debate. Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab and haircare experts reveal the truth — and science — about whether you can reverse gray hair.

First, what causes hair to turn gray?

Let's start with how hair gets its color in the first place. "The color of hair is determined by melanocytes, which are the pigment-producing cells in the hair follicle," says Christine M. Shaver, M.D. , a dermatologist at Bernstein Medical Center for Hair Restoration in New York City. "There are two types of pigment (melanin) produced by these melanocytes, eumelanin, which creates dark hair pigments that make brown or black hair, and pheomelanin, which produces red or yellow hues."

The many varieties of hair color are created with different proportions of eumelanin and pheomelanin, which are determined by genetics, she explains. "Graying occurs as the production of melanin by the melanocytes decreases over time," Dr. Shaver says. "The total loss of melanin causes hair to become white."

"Non-pigmented hair may have a different texture than naturally pigmented hair and often appears initially in areas like the front temples or around the hairline," adds Kerry Yates, a trichologist and founder of Colour Collective in Dallas, Texas. While aging is the most common cause of hair turning gray, there are other factors that can contribute to premature graying, meaning those that start to see gray in their 20s and 30s, says GH Beauty Lab Director Sabina Wizemann . These include:

• Medical conditions. Autoimmune diseases like vitiligo, alopecia areata or thyroid disorders may lead to premature graying, Wizemann notes.
• Genetics. "Some people may inherit genes that may cause them to go gray prematurely and permanently," Wizemann says.
• Oxidative stress. "The natural antioxidant defenses in our body decline as we age, which leads to increased oxidative stress that causes melanocytes to be impaired and produce less melanin, contributing to the loss of hair pigment," Wizemann explains."A lack of antioxidant-rich foods, regular exercise and sleep as well as smoking, excessive stress and alcohol consumption all increase oxidative stress."
• Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. Lack of certain essential vitamins and minerals can bring on gray hair, too. "Insufficient vitamin B12 can lead to anemia and neurological issues that can affect hair follicles and reduce melanin production," Wizemann says. "The mineral copper is a key component of tyrosine, an enzyme that is involved in synthesis of melanin, so the lack of copper may lead to loss of hair pigment production, and deficiency in vitamin D, zinc and iron may also play a part in premature graying."
• Stress. "Being chronically stressed or going through a stressful period can impact the nervous system, affecting the ability of melanocytes to regenerate or produce pigment," Wizemann adds.

Not entirely. "It is not possible to completely halt graying, but there are steps you can take to help slow down the aging process of hair," Dr. Shaver says. "Since certain nutritional deficiencies can lead to premature graying, maintaining a nutrient-rich diet can help maintain hair color."

In addition, because chronic stress can lead to early graying, reducing daily stressors as well as physical stressors on the hair shaft itself such as heat and chemicals that cause damage is important, she notes. "Avoid smoking, which has been shown to lead to premature graying, and get regular health check-ups with a physician to help identify any underlying medical conditions that may impact the health of your hair and cause early graying," Dr. Shaver advises.

Despite what you may have heard (or read), vitamin supplements aren't the gray hair holy grail. "At this time there is no scientific evidence that taking vitamins such as vitamin B12, copper and folate, among others, can reverse gray hair," Dr. Shaver says. "Deficiencies in these vitamins, while rare in normal Western diets, have been shown to cause premature graying, so if a vitamin deficiency is identified, correcting it could help prevent early graying."

When it comes to the category of shampoos , sprays , serums and treatments purporting to revert gray hair to its original color, it's complicated. "Topical products that claim to reverse gray hair are normally targeting one of the processes that leads to hair aging and a decrease in melanin production which causes graying," Dr. Shaver says. "One common ingredient used is antioxidants (such as vitamins C and E) which can lower oxidative stress on the follicle that can be involved in the aging, and thus graying, process."

Additionally, the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in the hair shaft during aging is also thought to lead to hair shaft bleaching, she adds. "To counteract this, an enzyme known as 'catalase' can help break down hydrogen peroxide, which could theoretically slow down graying," Dr. Shaver explains. "And some products claim to increase the production of melanin pigment through ingredients such as certain peptides which are needed for effective melanin synthesis."

Their efficacy is dubious, though: "These formulas are not well supported by scientific evidence as they fail to delve into the scientific rationale behind their ingredients or provide the backing of double-blind placebo-controlled trials to prove their effectiveness," Wizemann says. "Instead, they rely on consumer perception studies."

Other products aim to kickstart hair growth in order to tackle grays. "They promise to rejuvenate the hair follicle, pushing it from the resting phase into the active growth phase and as a result, hair restarts the melanin production process so any melanin still found in the follicle reappears," Yates says. "I conducted a study on a hair loss treatment in which several participants had over 50% gray hair and daily application resulted in new hair growth that appeared pigmented, giving the overall looking of hair returning to its natural color."

She notes, however, that "the percentage of participants that experienced those results was relatively small and I have not seen gray hair that is completely absent of pigment start to reproduce melanin and revert back to pigmented hair." The primary causes of gray hair such as aging and genetics require addressing biological factors, which haircare products cannot do, Wizemann says.

Everything from coconut oil to onions and ginger is being touted as a gray hair panacea. But what's in your pantry won't help get your hair color back. "A diet rich in vitamins and nutrients can improve hair health and mitigate premature graying, but there is no data to suggest that food can reverse the graying process," Dr. Shaver explains.

The same goes for natural remedies. "While there is a belief that some natural ingredients such as cumin, black tea, black sesame and coffee may slow the graying process by virtue of being high in antioxidants and polyphenols, and amla (Indian gooseberry) is thought to enhance hair melanin production, scientific evidence supporting these claims is limited," Wizemann says. "These assertions are based on anecdotal evidence and lack scientific backing."

Dr. Shaver adds: "These natural remedies often contain the vitamins discussed above or have antioxidant properties to reduce stress, and thus aging, on the hair follicle, but they will not reverse hair that has already grayed."

Whether you've gone gray prematurely or right on time, there are currently no proven foods, vitamins, hair products, natural remedies or any other treatments that permanently reverse gray hair. "Reversing graying related to aging and genetic factors where the melanin-producing cells are permanently damaged is currently not possible," Wizemann says. "For any premature graying tied to medical conditions, lifestyle ( such as stress ) or nutritional deficiencies, reversing gray can sometimes be possible depending on the underlying causes."

"There are rare cases in which gray hair has been reported to reverse, in circumstances that often involve stopping a medication that has caused graying or treating an underlying health condition (such as a thyroid disorder or alopecia areata , which is an autoimmune attack on the hair follicle)," Dr. Shaver explains. "In these situations, hair color can be restored with treatment of the underlying cause and following reversal, hair would then slowly gray at the genetically determined pace for aging." If you suspect an underlying health condition could be causing your hair to gray, visit a dermatologist for an evaluation, Dr. Shaver advises.

And know that there may be (multi-colored) light at the end of the tunnel: "While there is no true permanent reversal of gray hair yet, there are promising studies on stem cells that focus on manipulating melanocytes and reactivating genetic pathways for hair melanin production, so we may see it become reality in the future," Wizemann says. In the meantime, embrace silver strands with haircare products created to treat and enhance gray hair or even dye your hair gray to ease the transition.

Try These Top-Tested Products

L’Oréal Paris EverPure Silver Care Shampoo and Conditioner

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April (she/her) is the beauty director at Good Housekeeping, Prevention and Woman's Day , where she oversees all beauty content. She has over 15 years of experience under her belt, starting her career as an assistant beauty editor at GH in 2007, and working in the beauty departments of SELF and Fitness magazines.

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Puerto Rico bans discrimination against natural hair and protective hairstyles. Grassroots efforts made it happen

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Alanis Ruiz Guevara was 8 years old when she was sent home from her private school in Ponce, Puerto Rico, for wearing cornrow braids.

“I was so scared and I felt so bad,” Ruiz Guevara said, who identifies as Afro-descendant. “I felt like there was something wrong with my hair.”

Now 25 years old, her experience is the driving force behind a new bill in Puerto Rico that prohibits discrimination against natural hair and protective hairstyles in both private and public institutions.

“Puerto Rico needs legislation that protects people who wish to wear their hair naturally or in African styles, which is a personal decision that has nothing to do with our creative, intellectual, or professional performance,” said Ruiz Guevara in a statement following the measure’s approval last Wednesday.

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Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi signed Senate Bill 1282 ordering all establishments to adjust their regulations to highlight this public policy, but efforts to implement the bill have been in the making for more than three years.

Following the incident in grade school, Ruiz Guevara said she used relaxers to straighten her curls. Recent studies show that chemicals in hair-straightening products have been linked to cancer .

“Then when I started straightening my hair, my classmates would say that it smelled like chemicals,” Ruiz Guevara said.

However, upon joining in a youth program by Colectivo Ilé and Revista étnica called Afro-Juventudes, which promotes anti-racism learning for Afro-descendant youth on the island, she realized bias against textured hair was a collective experience that needed to be addressed at a more systemic level.

“It was something that other people also were struggling with on the island and had even worse experiences than I had,” Ruiz Guevara said.

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The youth program is also where she learned of the CROWN Act , which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” The California law prohibits discrimination based on protective styles and textures. Though it failed to gain federal approval, it has inspired similar codification in 26 states.

“I realized that it would be really nice to have a project like this in Puerto Rico,” Ruiz Guevara said, who at the time was studying political science.

As an intern with Jóse Bernardo Márquez of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives in 2021, Ruiz Guevara introduced a similar petition inspired by the CROWN Act known as the “Law Against Hair Discrimination,” but the measure was left at a standstill for two years.

“I realized we needed to do something because otherwise the project is just going to die there,” Ruiz Guevara said.

Undefeated, Ruiz Guevarra revamped her proposal with the help of Mentes Puerto Rico en Acción , an initiative that helps young people create social projects on the island, where she now works as a coordinator. At the same time, she formed an anti-racism activist group called Colectiva de Resistencia Cimarrona , to address systemic racism and promote the bill.

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In updating her petition, Ruiz Guevarra used U.S. data regarding hair discrimination gathered from the CROWN movement to strengthen her Puerto Rican proposal.

Among the statistics used was that 80% of Black women in the U.S are more likely to change their natural hair to meet social norms or expectations at work. The petition also used empirical evidence gathered in Social Psychological and Personality Science magazine that proved a bias against natural Black hairstyles in the workplace.

The proposal eventually garnered attention from Sen. Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, the island’s first Black female senator. Alongside Sen. Rafael Bernabe Riefkohl, she reintroduced the ban against hair discrimination in August 2023.

Its revival initially sparked debate from local government officials at a January hearing who felt that the island’s laws already prevented discrimination, alongside Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The idea was also met with pushback at public hearings, mainly from private corporations and institutions, said Ruiz Guevarra, but it ultimately opened the door for more public conversations regarding race.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t think there’s a problem mainly because they haven’t experienced it,” Ruiz Guevara said. “We haven’t had these conversations regarding this type of discrimination that at the end of the day is rooted in racism.”

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Olga Chapman Rivera, communications director at Corredor Afro , one of the 30 organizations that supported the measure to preserve cultural heritage among Afro-descendants, said the reception to the idea was mixed.

“It reveals a reality of the country, that there is still a job that needs to be done to address racism,” Chapman Rivera said. “Race is not a topic that is discussed daily like it is in the U.S.”

Chapman Rivera said there’s a widespread myth in Puerto Rico that everyone is equal parts indigenous Taino, African descendant, and Spaniard.

“What that narrative does is make race invisible to the African part of the country and hides the profound racism,” Chapman Rivera said.

According to the U.S. Census , more than 1.6 million (of 3.2 million) Puerto Ricans identify as being of two or more races and 230,000 identify solely as Black.

Hair plays a major role in how Afro-descendant communities protect and honor their cultural heritage, a perspective that is shifting in Puerto Rico. For example, one shampoo commercial in April indicated how cornrows were historically used to map out escape routes by enslaved individuals.

“Braids have ancestral meaning to us,” Ruiz Guevara said.

Now that the law has been approved by island changemakers following hundreds of calls and letters of support for the statute and a May campaign titled “My Hair Is My Crown,” Ruiz Guevara said the real work starts now in ensuring its implementation and other anti-racism policies.

“It has to begin with creating more policies against discrimination,” she said.

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Andrea Flores is a reporter with De Los covering the many contours of Latinidad for the Los Angeles Times. She has both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University and is originally from Waukegan, Ill.

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Natural Hair in the Workplace Is Often Looked Down Upon, but That Needs to Change — Now

"Hair should be out of the face. Neat. Polished. Put together."

These are the characteristics I read under the 'hair' section of the dress code at my first fashion luxury retail job. This was in 2011. I saw it again in 2013 when I entered the fashion corporate world, as well as when I entered the magazine industry in 2015, and again when I got my big break at a newspaper in 2018. Nowhere does it mention your hair needs to be straight, and yet it is often implied. I'm not alone, either: Black actors like Gabrielle Union have lost roles because their hair was not part of "the costume design," and Black females have had job offers rescinded or gotten sent home if they failed to adhere to unjust hair policies.

There are some protections to combat the discrimination Black women face in the workplace, like the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act . CROWN prevents enforcement of "grooming policies that claim to be race neutral, but in reality have a disproportionate negative impact on people of color." The law is a way to grant freedom to Black employees to wear their hair in natural curls, braids, dreadlocks, twists, afros, and any style they desire. In January of this year, California was the first state to pass this law and six states have followed in its footsteps .

I'm glad there is legislation in place, but there is much more work to be done. The corporate world must learn to normalize Black hair within its company culture. I wanted to learn more on how Black women view their own hair in the workplace, so I reached out to actress Olivia Battle and senior product marketing manager Amanda Stewart for tips on how to knock down societal pressures to redefine what professionalism actually looks like.

The Fear of Wearing Protective Styles To Work

Based on my own and other Black women's experiences, many employers and coworkers don't see braids or curls as neat or professional, but instead as a political or aggressive statement , or a signal that the employee doesn't want to fit in. Patricia Okonta, an attorney for NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund told USA Today that, " Hair bias often stems from stereotypes that Black hair in it's natural state is dirty or unkempt."

Unfortunately, we've been conditioned to thinking this way. Professionalism was built on European features and mannerisms, especially in corporate America, and anything outside of these 'norms' is often deemed inappropriate for the workplace. It's the reason why I get anxious introducing a new hairstyle to my office — worried that I'll get a look or the questions, "Did you get a haircut?" or "Can I touch your hair?"

Several years ago when I first entered the fashion industry, I interned at a Canadian ready-to-wear brand under the creative director. After a month of wearing my hair straight, I arrived to set in a twist out . I remember being really excited that morning with the bounce in my curls. When I walked in, I was instantly offended when the white creative director said, "Oh my gosh, I love your wild hair." Although it was intended as a compliment, referring to a Black person's hair as "wild" is inappropriate under any circumstance. We are not an artifact on display at a museum.

And my experience is not isolated. As an actress, Battle faces the struggle with her hair daily. To protect it from scene work and multiple costume changes, she tends to wear braids or wigs, but has experienced directors who have said everything from "Can you put your hair into a ponytail?" to "Did you even do your hair today?" to "Is your hair real?" White counterparts can style their hair any way they please and people don't seem to question if it's real or not. But for Black people, that line is too easily blurred.

These microaggressions are often unintentional and go largely unnoticed by everyone but the person on the receiving end.

These microaggressions , or subtle verbal and non verbal put downs of Black traits, are often unintentional and go largely unnoticed by everyone but the person on the receiving end. In other words: they stick with you. The deliverer doesn't understand the implications of their words, and it's really hard to unlearn this narrative when it's been forced on you for so long. For me, it's the reason I debated the big chop a whole year before actually committing. Pondering how scary it would feel to show up to work as myself, instead of this culture-pleasing employee I had morphed into.

Prior to the cut, I would straighten my hair multiple times a week. When my hair broke off from too much heat damage, I was forced to wear it in braids. Attempting to conserve money, I did them myself. I felt nervous to wear these makeshift braids to work, in fear of how harshly I would be judged. It took me back to grade school when I would beg my mom to wear my hair wet with conditioner to school. That was the only way for my curls to look hydrated and — to my young eyes — beautiful. Luckily, my mom always said no. She understood the beauty of natural hair and more importantly, she knew Black hair can't be exposed to all elements and weather. That is why we, as Black women, enjoy protective styles — it does just that: protects our hair.

Why Black Employees Shouldn't Need To Defend Their Hairstyles

While sheltering in place, I've found myself wearing more protective styles. More braids, cornrows, and bantu knots . I've gotten to a point where I really like what my hair looks like in these protective styles, often thinking, "Wow, this is cute. I can totally wear this to work." There is something wrong about that statement. I had to reassess why I was perfecting these styles in private, to later go on 'display' in the office. Why was I putting in so much work to have these hairstyles 'work ready?'

Similar to code switching , or the act of filtering your behavior and language, Black women mute themselves to make colleagues feel more comfortable. Up until last year, I would straighten my hair for every job interview. As a fashion editor, I'm very familiar with the industry standards. The fashion industry has a specific look they recruit: thin, white, and straight hair. Fashion runways have proven this to be the winning equation. Since I am not white nor, by fashion standards, thin, I'd straighten my hair and then put it in a low bun or ponytail, to convey an "expert in my field" appearance and get my foot in the door. After cutting all my hair off in 2018, I quickly started examining this twisted way of thinking and formed my own opinions based on my comfort and ideas of professionalism.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of We Should All Be Feminists wrote, "Relaxing your hair is like being in prison. You're always battling to make your hair do what it wasn't meant to do." I decided to do the big chop because it was inherently clear that my hair did not want to be straight anymore. Trying to force it out of it's natural element became pointless and exhausting. Why was I trying so hard to fit in? Since cutting my hair, I've felt an overwhelming confidence and beauty. I realized I was playing a part that was serving everyone but me.

"I was always skeptical to wear braids to work, and I'm just tired of it," Stewart told me as she recounted why she felt the need to look put together all the time. "I should be able to do what I want with my hair without getting a million questions for it. If that means my hair is in 'neat' braids or bouncy curls, that is up to me — it's not my job to come to work to please you."

Like many naturals, she questioned going the extra mile to make others feel comfortable. It takes a lot of energy to do that and is mentally taxing. We've learned that we don't need to conform, and we've decided to not lower to the status quo, but raise it.

How Corporations — and You — Can Do Better

When Black women showcase multiple hairstyles in the work week, try to avoid questioning if the hair is real or commenting at all. Even comments you think are harmless, like "I barely recognized you," are to suppress and make us feel small.

The corporate world must do better at creating a workplace that grants freedom to all employees. The culture grips onto Eurocentric beauty standards, making it hard for Black females to live in their natural hair truths. They must relook at policies and decide if certain standards affect Black people more. And if the answer is yes, they must rewrite them. I refuse to think the way my hair naturally grows isn't as professional as someone else's.

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Landslides in Southern India Kill More Than 100 People

Rescue workers struggled to reach isolated villages in the state of Kerala, where torrential rains have washed away terrain. The death toll was expected to rise.

By Sameer Yasir and Anupreeta Das

Reporting from New Delhi

At least 108 people were killed and dozens more injured in the southern Indian state of Kerala after days of heavy rainfall set off multiple landslides in a hilly region, in what government officials called one of its worst natural disasters.

The landslides in the district of Wayanad — a region whose natural, rugged beauty draws millions of tourists every year — uprooted trees, knocked down communication lines, submerged roads and washed away a bridge. Rescue operations were hindered by the region’s terrain, which made it harder to reach hundreds of residents in the areas that were hit the hardest.

“This is one of the worst natural calamities Kerala has ever witnessed,” said Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, in a statement. Mr. Vijayan said the damage to homes and livelihoods was “immense,” adding that his government had set up relief camps for thousands of people affected.

The death toll rose throughout the day as rescue workers recovered more bodies from under debris, and the number was expected to rise as the search continued, according to government officials. More than 125 people were injured.

“We are fighting nature at its worst,” said Akhilesh Kumar, an official with India’s National Disaster Response Forces who was overseeing the rescue operation along with the Indian Army and firefighters.

In his statement, Mr. Vijayan said the government was sending tankers of drinking water and rations and setting up temporary hospitals. He said there were efforts underway to identify the dead even as search teams looked for other victims of the catastrophe.

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