Excerpts from Ebony,
May 1946 and January 1969
HOUSE OF BEAUTY
Beginning of Hair Curling Process is
demonstrated by operator Laverne Anthony. New
Methods are a far cry from the days when Negro
women used ordinary heated flatirons to press
washed hair. First step in Negro beauty culture
came when the late, colorful Madame C.J. Walker
introduced a small iron comb she invented to
straighten kinky locks. Her dekinking process
eventually found favor with white women who had
crinkly hair.
Rose-Meta Salon Is Biggest Negro Beauty Parlor in World
Biggest Negro beauty parlor in the world is the Rose-Meta House of Beauty, Inc., in
Harlem. Only three years old, it has zoomed overnight to the top among the 3,000 Negro
beauty salons all over the nation which collect over 3 million dollars in receipts annually.
. . . Co-owners rose Morgan and Olivia Clarke, who rank among the top Negro
beauticians in the country, have built successful careers on the belief that no Negro hair is
"bad," that all Negro hair can be attractive. . .
White people spend millions putting a wave into their hair which is naturally straight;
Negroes spend millions straightening hair which is naturally wavy. Main difference
between the two is the size of the wave. Natural hair wave of the average Negro is oneeighth of an inch in width. White hair wave is one inch wide normally. Basic aim of
Negro hairdressers is simply to widen close narrow wave of Negro hair.
Originator of the modern method of straightening Negro hair was the fabulous Madame
C.J. Walker who beginning as a St. Louis laundress with only "two dollars and a dream,"
built up a great business and established the Walker System of beauty culture. This is the
basic method used in modern Negro hair culture. Since 1925 schools of beauty culture
have been an important part of the Walker System, now number[ing] 36 from coast to
coast. Big three in Negro hairdressing are the Madame Walker System, the Poro System
(its main rival which claims seniority in the field), and the Apex System with
headquarters in Chicago.
Biggest single innovation in Negro hair culture in recent years was introduction in 1941
by the Walker System of a new method known as "cold curling on pressed hair." Method
is based on use of "vapor oil" and applies to Negro hair a treatment hitherto available
only to whites. In less than five years the Walker cold curling process has revolutionized
Negro hairdressing by eliminating use of heated curling irons. A war-time development,
cold curling came into being in answer to critical shortage of marcelling irons created by
diversion of steel to war uses. Walker System experts are currently working on two new
processes which they predict will effect drastic revisions in methods of treating Negro
hair.
In building a typical Negro coiffure there are four main stages. First consists of
shampooing. The second is the straightening process which is done with heated irons and
pressing oils. This is followed by waving by either marcelling irons or new cold curling
method. Final stage is styling--arranging coiffure by use of hand, brush, and comb. Entire
process takes one hour and forty minutes.
Thousands of Negro men and women spend
sizeable sums annually on their hair, purchase
enormous quantities of hair greases and pomades,
and invest heavily in special pressing and curling Rose Morgan has a large personal
treatments calculated to "straighten" kinky hair. to clientele who come from Chicago,
Detroit, Washington and the South to
some de-kinking is synonymous with deget their hair done by the outstanding
Negrofying, and hence improvement. . . .
stylist.
All hair is good hair, Miss Morgan believes. All her life she has been conducting a onewoman campaign against the notion widely held among Negroes that Negroid hair is
inferior. Miss Morgan contends this belief is a reflection of the extent to white America
has warped the values of certain Negroes who feel that the more Negroid a Negro the less
attractive the person. "Hair textures vary from race to race and type to type," she says,
"and it is very wrong to classify one kind as 'better' than another. It's all in the way you
care for the hair. All hair is bad if it isn't well-styled and groomed."
The Natural Look--Is It Here to Stay?
The Scene was the sort where one might have
expected to find a generous sprinkling of
"Natural" wig is new fad gaining "naturals" - sullen-looking "brothers" in dashikis
popularity among whites as well as and "shades," their more conservative
blacks intent on being "in" with the counterparts in Edwardian suits, black chicks in
latest styles. Here Chicago stylist Mr. everything from floor-length Afro garb to
Paul fashions style suitable for face of abbreviated mod dresses - all crowding into a
Norma Crawford Gray, a receptionist Greenwich Village club to pick up on some
whose own hair is tinted. sounds. But one rather hip outoftowner wasn't
quite ready for the sight that greeted him as he
Hairstyle that began as symbol of coolly surveyed others in the audience. There, at a
table to the side of him, sat two attractive girls,
protest is big fashion trend
receiving more than their share of admiring
glances. They were white, by all indications, except for their dark brown, carefully styled
kinky coiffures. With a closer look, he realized that they were wearing wigs. But natural
wigs on white girls? "My God!" exclaimed the incredulous buff. "They're stealing our
thing!"
His heated reaction was not unjustifiable, for like the music, dance and jargon of hipness
born and bred in the black sub-society, kinky hair styles are now being snatched up by
the fad-hungry fashion mainstream. Just as the lighter nine-tenths of the nation annually
spends hours baking in the sun, trying to transform pallor into "tan," some are now
seeking to emulate the noble "kink" through artificial means. Some of the largest
department stores now carry natural wigs and they have become a popular item at "in"
boutiques which feature them in shades ranging from black to platinum blonde. Bold
stylists, always eager for something new, are experimenting with combinations of straight
hair and kinky ponytails or topknots. Even in the nuclei of America's black ghettos,
where women customarily have "grown their own," natural wigs have taken a place of
honor beside the more common and concealing straight hair pieces.
National magazines that serve as arbiters of style are exploring the adaptation of natural
hairstyles to the white market. Only recently, Women's Wear Daily, a bible of the trade,
regarded this trend and declared: "A feeling of inferiority has been replaced by pride."
Quoting a black "girl on the street," the publication noted: "Suddenly it has become
fashionable to be black," adding, "but black girls are perceptive enough to understand that
fashion exploits everything . . . now it's the Afro hairdo. 'Now everybody wants to be a
soul sister.'" Thus white acceptance leading to imitation has added an ironic chapter to the
curious history of the natural hairstyle, particularly among women. What began as a
symbol of protest now has become an item of fashion, though only in the populous
metropolitan centers. Indeed, admiration of the natural by whites is hardly more
remarkable than its adoption by increasing numbers of middle-class black women who
frequently scorned and derided early pioneers in this area. In most instances, it is an
extension of the racial pride that motivated the intrepid few of the early periods but for
others, it is primarily a matter of achieving a certain cosmetic effect.
As recently as three years ago, it was almost possible to determine the degree of a
woman's militance by the state of her hair. Only the brave dared to "do the thing," and
naturals were encountered almost exclusively on picket lines, at civil rights meetings and
protest demonstrations. Frequently the hair style was complemented by colorful outfits in
an African vein, dangling jewelry and other exotic accouterments. Correspondingly, a
natural look was adopted by black men, meaning that they allowed their hair to grow out
long and kinky, abandoning the almost bald look that had been designed to hide the
natural kinkiness and the slick "patent leather 'do" wrought by the chemical process To
both male and female, the "natural" represented a complete breaking away from
oppressive white standards of beauty that were impossible to attain. For those of both
sexes, it was an assertion of self through blackness.
Yet all along, the "change" has been a more drastic step for a black woman than for a
black man. In great part, this has been due to the greater emphasis placed on women as
decorative objects in their traditional sexual role. To "look good" has always been of
utmost importance to the female and black woman who decided to wear a "natural,"
altering her appearance extraordinarily, risked jeopardizing her position as all object of
appeal.
In the best-selling book Black Rage, psychiatrists William
H. Crier and Price M. Cobbs delve into this aspect of the
black woman's psychological make-up, exploring the
Black and Proud, Carolyn effect the hair-straightening process has on her from
Webb, 1968 homecoming childhood on--the insistence by family and peers that it is
queen of the University of necessary if she is to be considered merely acceptable, the
California at Los Angeles, early realization that "her crowning glory is in fact a
chose "natural" style because crown of shame." They explain: "It is against this endless
she thinks "it's more real." She circle of shame, humiliation and the implied
poses with members of her unacceptability of one's own person that a small but
court at predominantly white significant number of black women have turned to the
school, Sue Ann Braithwait 'natural hairdo'; no hot irons, no pressing combs, no oils,
and Gae McElhany who but a soft, black, gentle cloche of cropped velvet. The
sought title. effect is so engaging and feminine and, in light of the
above, so psychologically redemptive, that we can only wonder why it has taken them so
long, and why even yet there are so few. "
So it is that a number of women have chosen the style in a spirit of emancipation. It
remains most popular among the young, but for those others beyond school age, the many
"natural" women who must confront White and black associates in the working world,
motives are as varied as their professions. Bernice Kerr, an elementary school teacher in
Chicago, first made the switch this past summer when she was conducting classes over
closed circuit television as part of an experimental program aimed at ghetto schools.
Being somewhat slight in stature, she considered that a "natural" hairstyle might add to
her height and improve her appearance on the TV screen. She followed through, was
impressed with the results and, subsequently, was able to influence the little girls in her
classes. "If children like you, they like what you do," says Bernice, "and, in this way, I
was able to encourage them to look neater. So many of the little girls would come to
school without having their hair straightened, because their families couldn't afford it or
their mothers hadn't taken the time. Since the children had a certain identification with
me, I was able to convince them that they would look better if they wore their hair
'natural' in a close, neat style that they could care for themselves. By improving their
appearance this way, they began to develop a
pride in themselves they'd not had before."
While the "natural" has found its way into the
classroom and cocktail party, as well as the
strongholds of militance, an adverse reaction has "Natural" teachers, like Dorothy C.
been noticeable among those who fear it most--the Brown of Doolittle elementary school
Negro hairdressers. Many of them readily predict in Chicago, have found style enables
them to impart sense of black pride to
its quick demise, perhaps through wishful
youngsters.
thinking. They see it as a passing fad that just
might diminish their volume of business while it runs its course. "People do all this
talking about black power and going 'natural,' but they don't stop to think that it might all
backfire," contends one irate midwestern stylist. "Money is so much of where it is all at
and they haven't considered that the big 'B's' have been the backbone of Negro business
in this country--the beauty shop, barber shop, bar and barbecue joint. If they go all the
way with this thing, they'll just be putting people out of work."
On the other hand, there are some in the beauty business who have accepted the advent of
the "natural" as simply another challenge. They have developed new techniques and
extended their services to include care for "naturals." One is Paul Slaughtaire of Chicago,
a pioneer as male high fashion stylist for black women and proprietor of Mr. Paul's
Beauty Salon and Boutique in the Windy City's Hyde Park area. His clientele is
composed primarily of middle-class Negro women and he estimates that, since a year
ago, one-fourth of his customers have gone "natural," usually because they liked the Afro
look as a hairstyle.
"I don't try to dissuade a woman when she comes to me and asks for a natural cut," says
Paul. "I merely discuss it with her to make certain whether or not she believes it is the
thing for her. Most of them have made up their minds when they decide to do it, but
others are uncertain." He recalls one woman who went natural when her permanent was
beginning to grow out. Within two weeks she returned for another permanent because, "it
takes me at least 45 minutes to get my head together in the morning." She went back to
the straightened hair, but came back again in the next two-week period, asking him, "Can
you kink it up a little again?" The renewed permanent had brought about an adverse
reaction at the school where she taught.
As a response to the continuing challenge of women who can't make up their minds, Mr.
Paul has supplied a variety of answers. He has mastered the technique of "re-kinking"
permanently straightened hair, "insofar as it is possible." He has devised a method of
rolling ultrastraightened hair to facilitate styling, and for those who still can not make a
definite decision, he carries a line of "natural" wigs. "Women who came to the salon
every week to have their hair styled still do so, after they've gone 'natural,' because it's not
simply a matter of looking nice," he asserts. "Women like to be pampered, to have
someone do something for them instead of having to do for others all the time."
And in tackling the question of whether or not the "natural" look is here to stay, he is
equally open. "I believe there are women who will stick with the style in the future
because it means something to them," says the stylist. "But there are a limited number of
things you can do with the 'natural,' and women like change. Possibly a number of them
will tire of the sameness of their styles and will try something else."
Many might disagree with him.