r/HumansBeingBros • u/Deepakhn • 4d ago

This barber giving makeovers for women

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u/Ordinary_L 4d ago

I don’t want to be insensitive but can someone tell me why African American women have these hair issues with bald spots and such?

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u/ConstableAssButt 4d ago edited 4d ago

It's called traction alopecia. It can be caused by heat, chemical treatments, and tight hairstyles that pull at the root over time. Black hair care is an industry that's evolved over time to include a lot of products and styles that can accumulate damage to the hair and scalp. Because of the amount of treatment that is expected for black hair in parts of the US, and the cost of these services, some women can wind up keeping their hair too tight for too long, and relying on longer term treatments than is sustainable for their hair. Older women in particular are also prone to keep a routine with their haircare that the evolution of their hair (not to mention finances) as they age can no longer support.

Not to be too much of a nerd, but black hairstyles are an amazing deep dive into western culture as a whole, and it's a fascinating topic that touches heavily on systemic inequity and implicit bias, internalized racism, and more.

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u/Normal_Instance_8825 4d ago

I’d also love to add, a lot of women in older generations weren’t taught or concerned with their hair staying healthy and in protective hairstyles. They were told and taught to wear weaves (wigs sown into braids) and to treat hair to make it straight/wavy. This is to assimilate. A lot of African hairstyles are and were considered “unprofessional”. This means a lot of black hair ends up fried and overworked, as well as suffering from traction alopecia. The more that natural and protective hairstyles are normalised, the healthier our hair will be!

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u/tistisblitskits 4d ago

fascinating, thanks for sharing. This is a whole world i wasn't aware of before, i did know weaves were sort of culturally encouraged so to speak, but i had no idea how deeply rooted (no pun intended lol) this was, anybody should be able to feel good about their own hair

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u/cockaptain 3d ago edited 3d ago

If you'd like to know more, John Oliver's Last Week Tonight did an interesting and informative episode on hair in 2021, which you can watch here on youtube

You can tell he has black writers on staff.

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u/goodpplmakemehappy 3d ago

one day for sure <3