My Nappy Roots Journey Through Black Hair-itage

My Nappy ROOTS may sound funny but the stigma of African-American hair has always been there. This long awaited documentary starts with the beginning of African-American hair in Africa and how the kinkiness and thickness was seen as regal and beautiful. Anthropologists and historians talk of how tribal kings and queens were the ones with the thickest hair. It then goes to how through slavery Africans were shipped to America and shamed because of their thick hair and that started the stigma of the word "nappy" "bad hair" "wool" and other negative synonyms for natural African-American hair.

This documentary then uses well-known African-American stars such as Vivica A. Fox, Patti LaBelle, Ella Joyce and Malcolm-Jamal Warner to name a few to fast forward to give their take on how hair is viewed today in the African-American community. They speak on how our hair and hair care has been built into a multi-billion dollar industry to straighten, weave, braid, curl, press and color our hair to match our current society.

As an African-American woman myself, I grew up in a predominently White neighborhood and at times had to deal with other children in my class saying that my brush look like a dog brush (Thick bristles help pull our hair back.) and that I used cooking oil in my hair (becaue of the way it shined when my mom used our thick leave in conditioner made to moisturize African-American hair.) and I even once had a girl ask me "why my hair didn't look more like Clair Huxtable." (From The Cosbys ofcourse.) I had bad self-esteem because of my hair and couldn't wait for my first relaxer, which was a strong chemical put in to straighten my hair. I lost my identity then and as I still add silken weave to my now straightened hair, I am just now struggling to understand and find it in my own natural place.