Rhetoric of Natural Hair: Cultural Contradictions

Abstract

To accomplish assimilation Black women have often altered their appearance— specifically their hair—to be accepted by the dominate culture even as this adaptation may run counter to their own cultural sensibilities. This cultural battle within the Black community has ostensibly created a sub-culture that not only struggles against Western culture, but the assimilated faction of their own group. This stance clashes with the widely accepted Western cultural standards of straight hair as a symbol of beauty because African Americans are expected to see themselves through a white gaze. Are Black women who choose to straighten their naturally kinky hair or lengthen it with weaves and extensions betraying their culture, as opposed to those women that embrace their hair in its natural state? Can one be included in, but not a part of a group’s culture? This cultural battle within the Black community, has compelled black women to redefine beauty on their own terms as it relates to the symbol of their natural hair as a cultural point of pride, ostensibly creating a sub-culture that not only struggles against Western culture, but the assimilated faction of their own group. Yet, even as Black women strive to claim a place in the hierarchy of their culture, they remain marginalized by the larger society.