The 1st Annual “Brothas Speak on Natural Beauty” event was organized by Jessyca Abena Marshall, the founder of Naturally Beautiful Haircare. The featured panelists included:
The headlines are buzzing with stories about the increase of African American women and men choosing to return to wearing their hair in a healthy natural state. Natural black hair is hair texture that has not been altered by the use of hot combs, flat irons, or chemicals (gluing, perming, relaxing, or straightening). In celebration of the fact that an Afro is definitely bigger than a hairstyle, more than a fad or…Read full post
I had the opportunity to interview Isis Brantley, master natural hair stylist, spokeswoman, and activist for Black ancestral culture. Better known as “NaturallyIsis” she has established herself as a well-known icon in the struggle for cultural identity for African Americans.
In 1997 Isis was arrested for braiding hair without a license in the state of Texas. For more than ten years she battled the state regarding its anti-braiding regulations. After countless meetings, a legal battle and conversations with…Read full post
By Norm Bond, BlackEconomicDevelopment.com
In 2001, Sid Credle, Dean of the Business School at Hampton University mandated a ban on cornrows or dreadlocks for male students in the MBA program. The controversial ban continues even today.
In his world, cornrows and dreadlocks, which have been worn for 35,000 years in African culture, are not a part of African American history. Credle says, ”I mean Charles Drew didn’t wear it, Muhammad Ali didn’t wear it. Martin Luther King didn’t…Read full post
Natural hair is the “new black” for many African-American women, including myself who, after 20 years of chemically relaxing, is now a “transition newbie.” So the question for all of us out there in similar shoes is: where to begin?
As I attempted to surf the web for helpful tips on how to successfully transition from relaxed to natural hair, I quickly found myself drowning in a sea of products,…Read full post
And there are some beautiful Sistas rockin’ the natural hair too. So it’s not either “beauty” or “natural” and that is not going unnoticed by the hair industry. This current natural hair revolution includes “the business of Black hair“. Black women and men (I’ve been rockin’ my locs since 2000) are recognizing that we’re 95% of the consumer dollar and a paltry 2-5% of the revenue side. This multi-billion dollar, global market includes beauty supply stores, product manufacturing, and licensing revenues i.e….Read full post
By Chris Lehman, OPB News
Some African-American hair stylists are objecting to an Oregon licensing rule that means they can’t braid hair without taking a two-year course. And they’re asking state lawmakers to take up the cause.
Amber Starks wants to put her braiding skills to work as a volunteer for African-American children in foster care. The Oregon Department of Human Services embraced the idea. But the Portland woman soon found that even a volunteer needs to get a cosmetology license. (LISTEN TO THE AUDIO BELOW, JUST SCROLL DOWN TO…Read full post
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Let me preface this statement by saying that I am now in the process of closing my doors after sacrificing 16 years of my life to get the black community, especially the black business community, to support the Benjamin Banneker Memorial here in the nation’s capital. So, I hope you got the time and/or inclination to read all of this. It’s not going to be pretty.
During this time of daunting challenges and great pain and…Read full post
by The Fashion Bomb Staff
As we all probably already know just from a quick glance at our monthly bank statements, Black hair care is big money. And we all know the first Black self-made millionaire, Madame CJ Walker, made her fortune selling hair care products. But can we say the same for Black-owned hair care companies nowadays? Are…Read full post
The discussion of the Black hair continues to expand on a global basis. The business of Black hair has many tentacles. In this episode of The Stream, various participantss weigh in on whether natural hair is a trend or a movement? The conversation includes Patrice Yursik (@afrobella) and Black Studies professor and author Ingrid Banks. In addition viewers weigh in via Google+ and Lindsay Kite, of beautyredefined.net raises the topic…Read full post
