Our hair is often misunderstood—even by us. As mixed, Black, Asian, Latinx, and Indigenous folks, the distinctive nature of hair, when met with societal expectations to assimilate, leaves many at an impasse. As if trying to defy gravity, many hours and money are spent to make our hair something that it’s not. What persistently deters one from embracing their natural tresses?
We all know our outside appearance dictates the way our image-based society treats us. Well before Instagram filters, likes, and fashion magazines, there was always the overarching expectation to “clean up nicely.” That standard is magnified when the color of skin and the seemingly untethered state of hair isn't up to par with fair skin and coiffed hair. Even when societal beauty standards are met, there still lies indefinable insecurity and discomfort.
We all know our outside appearance dictates the way our image-based society treats us. Well before Instagram filters, likes, and fashion magazines, there was always the overarching expectation to “clean up nicely.” That standard is magnified when the color of skin and the seemingly untethered state of hair isn't up to par with fair skin and coiffed hair. Even when societal beauty standards are met, there still lies indefinable insecurity and discomfort.
A 2019 episode of the podcast Code Switch asked in its title: is beauty in the eye of the colonizer? With a history rife with so many white standards, all beauty trends can draw their roots from colonization. Fairer skin, slender bodies, and silky smooth blonde hair have been paramount to what it means to be beautiful. From Botticelli's vision of Venus to early twentieth-century American Gibson Girls to even Gossip Girl, the ideal head of hair has been shown to display soft-to-the-touch, loosely curled, effortlessly styled “no fuss” locks.
Anything deemed by Anglo culture as wild, untethered, and roughly textured, was, and continues to be, socialized as unacceptable at work, school, or even when out the door for an errand. Until recently, our media has only celebrated “messy buns” and other easy straight-hair styles. While lamenting the amount of time hair care takes, there is a silent disregard for the many hours different hair types have to put in to be seen as popularly acceptable. In her book Third Girl from the Left, Martha Southgate writes, “a girl would no sooner have run around with unstraightened hair than she would have run around naked. It would have been worse than running around naked, letting everyone see your naps.”
These white standards of “presenting well” are also seen in sports where U.S. gymnasts Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles were criticized on social media during the 2012 and 2016 Olympics for having a “messy” hairstyle, despite wearing the same style as their teammates and having brought home multiple gold medals.
There is an $89.7 billion-dollar beauty product industry preying on those climbing the upward hill of “ideal” hair and beauty. While all hair types buy products, people of color are most targeted by advertising to feel insecure. In the United States, the Black population makes up a third of the Non-white population but accounts for almost 90% of the spending in the ethnic-hair market. Beauty editor Aimee Simeon attests this by saying, “I spent more hours in the hair aisle at Target than my broke college-student self could afford, buying every leave-in conditioner and curl butter I could find.” Products are known to give that brief moment of satisfaction but fully motivate the continued sense of insecurity.
Anything deemed by Anglo culture as wild, untethered, and roughly textured, was, and continues to be, socialized as unacceptable at work, school, or even when out the door for an errand. Until recently, our media has only celebrated “messy buns” and other easy straight-hair styles. While lamenting the amount of time hair care takes, there is a silent disregard for the many hours different hair types have to put in to be seen as popularly acceptable. In her book Third Girl from the Left, Martha Southgate writes, “a girl would no sooner have run around with unstraightened hair than she would have run around naked. It would have been worse than running around naked, letting everyone see your naps.”
These white standards of “presenting well” are also seen in sports where U.S. gymnasts Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles were criticized on social media during the 2012 and 2016 Olympics for having a “messy” hairstyle, despite wearing the same style as their teammates and having brought home multiple gold medals.
There is an $89.7 billion-dollar beauty product industry preying on those climbing the upward hill of “ideal” hair and beauty. While all hair types buy products, people of color are most targeted by advertising to feel insecure. In the United States, the Black population makes up a third of the Non-white population but accounts for almost 90% of the spending in the ethnic-hair market. Beauty editor Aimee Simeon attests this by saying, “I spent more hours in the hair aisle at Target than my broke college-student self could afford, buying every leave-in conditioner and curl butter I could find.” Products are known to give that brief moment of satisfaction but fully motivate the continued sense of insecurity.
