A White hand reaches, a Black girl screeches – it’s the all too common tale of micro-aggressions towards Black women’s hair.
Hair is not an extension of our bodies, it is our bodies. (In the tune of Solange’s voice, echoed by Black women everywhere, “Alexa please queue ‘Don’t Touch My Hair.’”) This is my personal declaration of ‘me too’ for my natural hair.
Let’s start with some history. Hair has always been a cornerstone in the beauty routines of black women and men. However, our hair also intersects with how we maneuver through business and society. In the early 1900s, Madam C.J. Walker put black hair care on the international radar by creating a multi-million dollar business that popularized the use of pomade and hot- combs.
Today, our hair care is not only important for our health, it encompasses our buying power in the U.S. economy. According to a 2018 Nielsen report, blacks “move markets” substantially compared to other demographics by spending more money in the general beauty marketplace: black consumers account for $473 million dollars in total hair care spending.
In the mid-1960s throughout the ‘70s, our locks were perceived as a symbol of political affiliation. Black women and men everywhere rocked the kinky combed-out afro style. Some people wore afros as a way to show self-love in opposition to racism and the overt influence of White beauty standards. During the era, the style was reinforced publicly by political movements like the Black Panther Party, individual civil rights activists like Professor Angela Davis, and even blaxploitation films including 1974’s Foxy Brown.
Since all black people are not monolithic, our hair is not simply a way to serve a movement. It’s a personal aesthetics. Today, take a look around you while you walk the streets. You’ll see people of color rocking many styles, including: slicked back perms, dreads, faux-locks, fades, and of course our natural kinky curly hair. I wear my hair in its natural state- a curly and coily Afro. So, how does it feel to have my hair (that is already objectified in history and appropriated by mainstream culture) reached for or even grabbed? It’s dehumanizing.
Let’s flashback to the summer of 2015 in my former college town Iowa City, Iowa. My friends and I decided to grab a drink at a local bar across from the University of Iowa campus. We sat at the bar facing the bartenders. Peeping my surroundings, I noticed two young white women sitting to our left. As I was in mid-sentence talking to my friends, I feel an immense excruciating pain in my scalp. My hair is pulled and yanked so hard, that I hear strands crack as they separate from my roots. I immediately screamed out in agony “Ahhh!”
My friends and I immediately turned our bodies and saw one of the white women drunkenly slouching and laughing saying, “Is that your real hair…I just wanted to see if it was real.” My friends immediately gave me that distraught look and calmly repeated my name “Celina, Celina.” The drunk woman’s friend pulled her away saying, “I’m so sorry my friend is drunk, she didn’t’ mean it, I’m sorry.” As my blood boiled I stared them both down with a stone-cold face and a motionless body. I responded to the woman saying something like “you betta get your girl.” You get the picture, I wasn’t happy…at all!
As furious as I was, I did not retaliate physically. This is not the first time or last time I was harassed. Yes, grabbing someone’s hair without asking is harassment. I have experienced random hands in my hair many of times. Typically, when I go out to clubs or bars. Usually, the offenders are white men who are fascinated that my hair can be so kinky and beautiful at the same time. I interpret their urge to grab my “exotic” hair as a way to fulfill their sexual fantasy of being with a Black woman. Nevertheless, no matter how a stranger views the beauty of my hair, it does not give them a reason to touch it. This allure to enter my personal space is disrespectful.
If people of color don’t experience this harassment while minding our business, it often occurs while being employed at a business. As of February 2019, New York City Human Rights Law enforces and gives legal precedent to people of color who are discriminated against because of their hair. This new provision within the law includes harassment. As a warning to those who think it may be okay to touch someone’s hair without asking. Please understand, you may be getting rightfully served in a court of law!
Let me be clear, the audacity for someone to touch my hair without my permission is not always from a place of hate or discrimination. However, it’s often from a place of miseducation, mainstream stereotypes, and deep-rooted ignorance. So, before you attempt to touch my hair, please remember that I wear my hair as my crown. It is beautiful and precious to me. My hair is the garden I water every day, I simply request you let it grow instead of pulling at its roots.