If there were no wigs/weaves/relaxers.....

[mayoo]

This is a weird question but I was thinking about it so i wanted to get your opinions:

If there was no such thing as wigs/weaves/relaxers/straighteners/extensions... do you ladies think that good natural hair practices would be the norm in black/ mixed households by now and that long natural hair would be the norm??? Or maybe not??

 

[RegaLady]

I think so. Wasn't hair care better in the 60s, 70s and 80s before all that stuff came out?

 

[sunnieb]

Yes, because there are good haircare practices for all the ways we wear our hair now...natural included.

 

[nlamr2013]

Hmm Idk I feel like if we didn't have it someone would invent it. Barring that maybe maybe not. There are people who have been natural their whole life yet their hair is a tangled knotty mess.

 

[sunnieb]

Hmm Idk I feel like if we didn't have it someone would invent it. Barring that maybe maybe not. There are people who have been natural their whole life yet their hair is a tangled knotty mess.

Agreed. There will always be those who don't care enough about their hair to do what's best for it.

Back in the 70s, natural was the way of the black world. My mom made sure my hair was laid in the shade, perfectly coiffed with the tools she had. Some of my classmates looked rough everyday. That's the way it is.

 

[faithVA]

No I don't think it would be the norm. I think there would be a percentage of people with long hair but the majority would do the same as they do now and be SL or shorter.

Healthy natural hair would still take time and effort and for some a skillset that they would not want to acquire.

I grew up before relaxers, wigs, weaves etc were common and I can count the number of young girls and women in a 10 year period who had hair longer than SL.

 

[mayoo]

Agreed. There will always be those who don't care enough about their hair to do what's best for it.

Back in the 70s, natural was the way of the black world. My mom made sure my hair was laid in the shade, perfectly coiffed with the tools she had. Some of my classmates looked rough everyday. That's the way it is.

The bold words cracked me up

 

[imsovain]

Healthy hair practices would be more prevalent than they used to be. It's the internet that has made the marked difference, I think.

 

[yaya24]

Even today..(2013) I still see damaged short natural hair.. & thats with ALL of the information available to those who want to learn about keeping their natural hair healthy.

I think its all about wanting healthy long hair, then putting what you have learned into practice.

 

[Napp]

I think so. Wasn't hair care better in the 60s, 70s and 80s before all that stuff came out?

They still had the pressing comb and Marcel irons

I personally think my hair would never grow past sl if I did not have the option to at least use heat. I was natural for years and my hair was a hard KFC original crispy mess. It's the Internet that helped me figure things out.

 

[Mz.MoMo5235]

I think the bigger question would be "How would our hair be with out European influence?"

Lets say the slave trade never occurred and Europeans decided to stay out of the mother land... We would have never lost our heritage passed down from generation to generation including hair care.

Now that is something I often ponder and day dream about.

 

[Subscribe]

No. I don't think so. Most of us here learned about ways to retain hair length through online forums and blogs. I don't think women/girls who are not aware of the moisture/protein balance "don't care" about their hair, they just don't know about the hair care practices that can lead to long hair.

Proper hair care for our hair texture got lost during slavery. I believe ALL mothers wanted to send their child to school looking their very best. Due to lack of knowledge, depression, lack of money, and working two jobs, to some it appeared that those mothers just didn't care. Not true.

Relaxers gave mothers an easier, quicker way to deal with 4b texture that hadn't seen conditioner or water in weeks.

I think once women/girls learn the hair care techniques we practice here on LHCF, they will implement them.

 

[RegaLady]

I think the bigger question would be "How would our hair be with out European influence?"

Lets say the slave trade never occurred and Europeans decided to stay out of the mother land... We would have never lost our heritage passed down from generation to generation including hair care.

Now that is something I often ponder and day dream about.

And that goes for anything we had prior to colonialism. But that is another topic,lol.

 

[Saludable84]

I think if it wasn't for these products/practices, we wouldn't have these natural care practices today. No one would know the difference between being relaxed and flat ironed, no one would care who rocking a weave or a lace front, hair would mean more than a number and letter and no one would probably care about as much as they do now. Everyone would just "deal" as they did in the past.

It's the abuse of these products OP mentioned that is causing better hair practices, even when we still use these products.

Please excuse my iPhone; it's trying to get it together

 

[Monaleezza]

No way. Before it all there was always HEAT!!!
Before white woman found the perm they too had heat!!!

I grew with natural hair but with heat, sponge rollers and grease!!! Oh and the belief that the less you washed the more it grew!!!

Someone somewhere knew of good practice, but before bad practice was a different set of bad practice!! Lol

 

[girlonfire]

faithVA your hair looks so cute in your profile picture! How did you style it?

My response.
I think that if weaves/wigs/relaxers/etc. did not exist, heat, hats and head scarves would be the norm. I can't tell you how many times I wake up with my hair looking cray and I would love to wear my favorite hat to conceal my bad hair day but I cannot because of my job (not permitted to wear any adornment on head). I think it would be not only normal but ENCOURAGED.

Not to say natural hair would be a minority because just like some relaxed women finally said enough is enough, getting my scalp burned every 6 weeks, some would say this heat is getting on my nerves.

(end my 2 cents)

 

[faithVA]

Thank you girlonfire. My hair is in a rollerset and I just pulled the curls apart a bit with my fingers. Not much real styling done. Just pulled it apart enough to hide the parts and make it look fuller.

 

[kxlot79]

I agree with some sentiments posted upthread:
Even without relaxers/weaves/wigs, curlies would just trade one set of bad practices for another. And I think most of us can cite at least one anecdote of someone doing "bad" things to their hair without it somehow suffering. So I think it's more HOW things are done/used than WHAT.
A lady I see on the bus almost every morning loves telling me how much she loves shea butter, olive oil, aloe vera, and natural shampoos but in almost three years, I've never seen it more than 3 patchy/crispy/greasy inches long.

via LHCF App

 

[LiftedUp]

I don't think it would be any different. It would be the regular shampoo, condition, grease, style not necessarily adding to length retention.

The extras regarding moisturizing, sealing, cowashing, finger detangling etc. would come through research into better hair practices like what was done regarding hair boards and books like Cathy Howse.

 

[Mz.MoMo5235]

I just think at some point we HAD healthy hair practice that was lost due to slavery and the idea that our hair had to look like European hair.

I mean if we could go back to before all that phuckery went on and took a peak at some of the African women, dont you think we would see better hair? Even longer hair? Protective styles, natural oils and butter used, so on and so on?

Or maybe I just want to blame white folk for the crazy heads of hair I have seen.

I dunno, I just feel that with out interference there would be beautiful hair with out weaves, wigs, relaxers and even heat... If natural was the norm and we knew nothing else but what was passed down from one generation to the next.

 

[MileHighDiva]

^^ We did lose a lot of knowledge, regarding the upkeep of our hair due to the Atlantic Slave Trade. I requested that my library get a copy of 400 Years Without a Comb by Dr. Willie Morrow via inter library loan, because DPL doesn't have it.

 

[miss cosmic]

I think dreadlocks would be more common as would plaiting with thread. Based on pics i've seen and the little i've read about traditional haircare, i dont think long natural hair worn loose would be the norm.

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