Good Hair Anonymous: Africans Americans Growing Obsession With Good Hair
Good hair has long been a term used by many African Americans behind closed doors. The term means having hair that’s long, soft, flowing or European-like. To have kinky, nappy or coiled locs to many African Americans is to have what many call bad hair. This has caused a growing controversy of late and have often pitted mothers against daughters, sisters against sisters and even husbands against wives. The battles are getting so heated they’re now spilling out into the streets in the form of books, radio and TV talk show subjects and even a major motion picture.
The beneficiaries behind this epidemic is the multi-billion dollar hair weaving industry. In fact, one of India’s largest exports is not spices or textiles … it’s human hair. That’s right. The latest market research estimates the country of India exports over $13 billion dollars of human hair each year … and growing (pardon the pun). The world has grown an insatiable appetite for hair, they can’t get enough of it. Who knew?
This boom is the result of an obsession to have what many in the African American community term as good hair. Critics worry the financial cost alone is causing rifts and divisions in the community, with families and the personal lives of many taking sides.
The financial pressures alone is worth examination. For example, the average cost of weave extensions is upwards of $1,000 with many spiraling at $5,000. Add the cost of maintenance, touch-ups, shampooing and styling and the cost could skyrocket. Many women report spending over $50,000 a year to simply maintain their weave extensions. That’s right ,many spend more on their hair than their car, medical cost or even food. Shockingly most of these women are not rich celebrities but working class women, who by their own admission are addicted to the long, flowing hair no matter what the cost.
This is a problem that may need attention before it gets out of hand. It appears with all the problems in the world worrying about this seems trivial until. Right? But if you look behind the curtain at what price many women are paying, plus if you look at the signs and symptoms they resemble any other addiction we’ve seen in the past. Remember when crack, alcohol and even cigarettes were once termed as harmless and nothing to be concerned about. If you look at the symptoms you’ll see many similarities with this new obsession.
Comedian Chris Rock explores this growing obsession in his documentary, which opens in theatres this month called “Good Hair.” The movie explores that mind-set of many African American women who will pay, do and go though what most sane people would call extreme measures to have the long, flowing mane.
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