Books – Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America

Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America

by Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharps (2002)

Book description from Amazon:

“Two world wars, the Civil Rights movement, and a Jheri curl later, Blacks in America continue to have a complex and convoluted relationship with their hair. From the antebellum practice of shaving the head in an attempt to pass as a “free” person to the 1998 uproar over a White third-grade teacher’s reading of the book Nappy Hair, the issues surrounding Black hair linger as we enter the twenty-first century.

Tying the personal to the political and the popular, Hair Story takes a chronological look at the culture behind the ever-changing state of Black hair-from fifteenth century Africa to the present-day United States. Hair Story is the book that Black Americans can use as a benchmark for tracing a unique aspect of their history and that people of all races will celebrate as the reference guide for understanding Black hair.”

Click on image to buy book. To read excerpts from book, click here.

10 Ingredients To Avoid Putting In Your Hair

Found this Nappturality.com article that talks about chemicals you should avoid putting in your hair. When buying hair care products you often think brand companies would be better than generic ones because they adhere to guidelines, but why would it be any different than the substances that make up what we eat everyday.

Janet Picks: Hair Braiding, Weaving and Styling: Rose Marie’s Braid Book

Author: Rosemary Efundem Abange (2005) 72 pages

I couldn’t find a website of the author. If you do, please email me. –Ms. Janet.

Click image for details.

Janet Picks: Talented Young Singer

Every so often you stumble upon a singer that stops you in your tracks. One such singer is Sherika Sherard. Found her video while trawling YouTube, as you know Janet Collection has its own channel up there. What strikes me about Sherika is that she seems so relaxed and cool for her age – she is, at the most, 16. The second video shows a big example of her personality where while playing intro to the song, makes a slight mistake, and giggles…which says “It’s no big deal, I’ll make up for it in a few seconds.”

Sherika Sherard’s version of Let’s Stay Together

Sherika Sherard’s version of Jenny Don’t Be Hasty

History of Black Hair

The intention of establishing this blog is to bring you more than just hair pictures and instructional videos. What I intend to do more from now on is bring you – no matter how short a post – articles, thoughts, and other information, both in words and pictures on hair. History is important and black history is the most important, I don’t care what anyone has to say about that. Historically, black culture has contributed to the world insurmountable achievements. We appreciate Dr. Henry Louis Gates’s contribution in undertaking a lifelong journey to document black history. Not that I’m saying it was never documented – remember his visiting an 11th century university in Timbuktu, with rows and rows of documented words of science and arts in thousands? – the documents simply took a back seat when racial divide became part of the education. When did the divide in black, white, and brown start? What caused its acceleration?

I know this is going beyond history of hair, but if you know what, it’s all connected. History is history. It has been re-written in the past 1000 years and it’s time things are corrected. Found this article on the history of black hair and culture at The African American Registry. Thought you might like it.   — Ms. Janet