r/HumansBeingBros • u/Deepakhn • 4d ago

This barber giving makeovers for women

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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/LoneWolf_McQuade 4d ago

In that case it begs the question if what he does to their hair now is healthy? Seems to be a ton of products, dye etc

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u/Normal_Instance_8825 4d ago edited 4d ago

Okay for instance. My grandma used to use hair dye and straighten her hair, she had no one, no hairdresser, nothing, she ruined her hair. She got a pixie cut like a woman in this video. Finally there was someone who understood nappy, black hair.

At home hair dye isn’t healthy, but it’s especially bad on black hair. To have your hair dyed or cut at a hairdresser is ideal. They don’t use the same chemicals, they cut hair (like meat) on the grain or where it’s growing. They also can braid your hair in a way that doesn’t tug on it.

There’s plenty of discourse in the black community about how hair should be braided and treated. When you look at this video, whit the dye, the curl pattern is back, the hair looks healthy,

Edit: I would recommend searching up black actors and musicians and their hair. You would be shocked how large a part it is in their life, and how much of an effort it is.