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$20/month? That wouldn't be enough even for most white women. Black women's hair appointments are more expensive; many hair salons charge a premium. Plus they
by neilk 10y ago
$20/month? That wouldn't be enough even for most white women.
Black women's hair appointments are more expensive; many hair salons charge a premium. Plus they use a lot of products and elixirs to change the nature of their hair. Plus, many of them wear a wig-like accessory, often of real human hair, every single day. The process of 'weaving' that into their natural hair can cost hundreds or even thousands, at the high end.
Source: black friend in college wrote an essay about this for a journal I was editing at the time, plus, common knowledge. There are some interesting cultural questions about how in North American society, natural black hair is deemed unacceptable, and this has generally been internalized by black women. If you choose to just be natural (as my friend did) you get a lot of flak from other black women.
I don't know if you can get this to work out to $500B; other industry numbers I could find are like $10B, which would be about $50/month for every black woman in the USA.
- sah2ed 10y ago> There are some interesting cultural questions about how in North American society, natural black hair is deemed unacceptable, and this has generally been internalized by black women. If you choose to just be natural (as my friend did) you get a lot of flak from other black women. You've basically identified the source of a "problem" that shouldn't even exist to begin with: an inferiority complex.
- nostrademons 10y agoIsn't this basically the driving force behind every consumer product made since food & shelter became abundant?
- sah2ed 10y agoI agree that mimetic pressures drive consumption but I was trying to dwell on the bit about black women becoming less proud of natural hairdo to make the market for hair attachments massive like it is today. I don't think Michelle Obama ever donned natural in her 8 years as FLOTUS. It used to be that women of African descent would sport plaits, Jheri curls (80s), Afro (70s) etc. These were styles that rarely required the use of hair attachments or wigs. Wigs used to be for masking hair loss ...
- adamnemecek 10y agoYou know how half of the population lives in less than a dollar a day or so? It's impossible that 2.7b can afford $20/month.
- reckoner2 10y agoOf course. It's an average. Also included in that average are girls who get a $1000 weave twice a year plus monthly cuts, coloring and styling. And I'm guessing the product is catered more towards the second group.
- 40acres 10y ago> Source: black friend in college wrote an essay about this for a journal I was editing at the time, plus, common knowledge. There are some interesting cultural questions about how in North American society, natural black hair is deemed unacceptable, and this has generally been internalized by black women. If you choose to just be natural (as my friend did) you get a lot of flak from other black women. I have to disagree here. There has been a 'natural hair' movement circulating through the black female community for some time now[1]. I'm not sure if it's because the dangers of chemically manipulating hair have become more prominent or other factors, but black women in my circle (which includes high school, college aged, middle aged, and 'professional age') have all been transitioning to a more natural style and it's a very well embraced trend. My girlfriend has been natural for a few years now and while it is harder to maintain she's told me that she will never go back. Source (anecdata of course): A black man. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_hair_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_hair_movement