Is Natural Hair the "End" of the Beauty Salon?

Is natural hair the end of black hair salons?

A recent Huffington Post.com article that called natural hair the end of "black beauty culture" has made the rounds on the Internet.

Written by fellow curly Cassandra Jackson, I read it and promptly thought: Bullshit.

But after taking a second look, I can see the author's viewpoint on some things. Many naturals, though not all, go the hair salon a lot less because we're doing hair ourselves. Instead of a like clockwork weekly or bi-weekly appointments, you're lucky if you see us once a month -- and that's for things we have a hard time doing, like trims. Our "stylist" is YouTube, hair bloggers and good old fashioned trial and error.

The author spoke of the bonding experiences at hair salons, and what they have historically meant to Black women. Below is an excerpt.

Hmmm...

I don't want to wax all poetic about getting forehead burns from relaxers and singed earlobes from pressing combs. That part of the experience? No, thank you. Not all of us had good hair salon experiences. Black women and hair salons are a murky issue, complicated issue.

I don't regularly get my hair done in a salon, although I have now began taking my girls to a Dominican salon (good experience, though not exactly the same) after they had some plenty bad experiences with rough-handed stylists when they were younger.

Here's what I don't miss:

• Hours spent in a chair in a salon on a weekday (I stopped going regularly to the salon when I had two toddlers, 18 months apart. My stylist was good and didn't overbook, but I just didn't have the time to drive 30 minutes to her salon AND then get my hair done. Stopped getting hair done regularly in a salon then.
• Cattiness. For all the Kumbuya moments of bonding over hair in a hair salon, I've seen an awful lot of hair salons where I wouldn't step foot in without my brass knuckles. Salons are fight havens, with annoying customers and stylists, too. Any place with women and gossip and you know it's gonna be a fight.
• Stylists' envy. Yup, you got to be careful who you let in your head. You might walk in with a handful and leave out with a few wisps. Since this activity would probably cause me to catch a case, I'm glad that I don't have this to worry about. I grew up with a great stylist who didn't allow foolishness in her shop. But I've heard plenty of stories ...

Now, I do miss a few things:

• Getting the low-down in a salon visit. You talk about everything, from politics, pop culture and current events, to juicy neighborhood gossip of who is sleeping with so-and-so. Don't judge me; I like gossip, LOL.
• Relaxing while someone ELSE does my hair. If I could find my stylist back home in Detroit (where are you, Dorothy?) , I'd feel totally comfortable with her doing my hair.  Anyone else, my guard is up.

I guess it all depends on your salon experiences as a child. There are some experiences that I don't miss at all about the salon and were quite painful to many of us. Is the beauty shop an all or nothing proposition?

Maybe. There are natural salons, the author writes, in major cities. But if you might be pressed to find one in some cities. Smart salons are those who embrace, not fight, natural hair. It's business: If my customer base is heading towards natural hair -- sales of relaxers have declined double digits in recent years -- then guess what my stylists will be focusing on? Natural hair!


 The author writes:

As more and more women make the choice to go natural, I wonder what it will mean for the beauty shop. Right now, the beauty shop is still there, but I am not. I will not take my daughter there because I want her to love her perfect springy curls. She will hear me laugh with my sister about the time that she 'kissed' my ear with a hot straightening comb, but my daughter will never know how such a tool of pain could evoke such warm intimacy. I want her to love her hair as it grew out of her head, but I also want her to know a place where tired black women can shame a man with a word and look. But I cannot have it both ways.

What was your salon experiences like as a child?

While many, including me, celebrate the natural hair movement's emphasis on self-discovery, I cannot help but wonder if something has also been lost with this cultural shift. For all the horrible things about hair straightening, the experiences associated with it have created a powerful thread that connects the vast majority of black women.

Even if you have kinky hair now, you probably have memories of time spent with family and friends in kitchens getting your hair done by someone who loved you and who you trusted enough to wield a sizzling hot straightening comb next to your ear. You probably remember that first trip to the beauty shop where black women talked about grown folks' business, and nearly every sentence began with the endearment, "girl." It does not matter if your mother was a teacher or housekeeper, or if you were in New York or Alabama because these experiences crossed class and region. Hair straightening was a rite of passage, an entry into the world of black women.