Untangling Mishmash!
My Day
By Dr. J. Ester Davis
What happened to the black hair industry in America? More importantly why did we abandon the once profitable black hair care brands? Why did they go out of business? How did these black-owned companies disappear so quickly? Where did they go? Is the return to natural hair enough to make a difference? What would Madame C. J. Walker say now about black hair today? What is our black hair creative job equivalency worth today?
Warning: This is not a feel good, holiday trending article. However, it is a look at gratefulness, growth, prospectus for all women regardless of continent.
For about two months, I have been consumed with ‘missing-black-girls’ in our country. The pain of realizing that we had over 100,000 black girls missing in one year was overwhelming to me, so we started ‘an awareness campaign’ . I am not sure I am going to have time to connect this ‘round of understanding’, but here we go. I read a very disturbing article last week published by BBC which asked the question ‘what’s behind the suicides by thousands of Indian housewives?.’ Their numbers released by the government’s National Crime Records was 22,372. That’s an average of 61 suicides every day or one every 25 minutes. “Why do thousands of India housewives kill themselves every year?” And these are young women, with young babies, by the way, mistreated by their husbands and subjected to aged cultures in their country. Housewives accounted for about 15% of the total 153,052 recorded suicides in India in 2020 and more than 50% of the total number of women who killed themselves. So, what do you say is the relationship between India women and American women? So glad you asked. The dynamics are appallingly related, profoundly disturbing. They are young women! Number two one group sells their hair to survive. We, African American women buy the hair to the tune of 86% (spent by black consumers)…..they sell to survive. And for what reason!! American women, the most admired on the planet, buy hair, origins unknown, from other women shrouded in secrecy and poverty from beginning-to-end. The relationship here is a look at two country’s disrespect of the gender that gives birth.
The black hair industry in America is propelled by black women shoppers who spend about $475 million on hair care according to Nelson. In 2005, when Black Enterprise Magazine held one- of -three conferences in Dallas, the black hair care industry was appraised at $500 million by Earl Graves, Founder, with interdependent black jobs appropriately aligned to spending, GNP and population. Simply put black women had money of their own, a trade they controlled by turning their dollars over to each other; thus, stimulating the economy nationally without the third middleman. Today, the gathering of human hair is a secret, a whole backstage business where little is known about the trade or the global traders. What is certain is a lack of regulations, a lot of mislabeling, painstaking intensive work 1.5kg (3.3lb of hair) can take 80 hours of untangling for about $.80. One writer writes, ‘vast majority of hair entering the global market is black at the time of entry.’ That statement is another topic for another time. In the center of the “mishmash of hair” are abused, neglected women who are broken-with-children, not happy or whole. And to not forget, in countries where the wages are super low.
Where do we go from here? Is there a balance? This subject is so vague and totally avoided like round five of the global pandemic. Can we at least make the “New Year” brighter with a conversation?
Esterdavis2000@gmail.com
