The creamy crack
An anthropological study on the natural hair community in
Sweden
Author: Maija Vierimaa
Department of Social Anthropology Bachelor’s thesis 15 credits
Social Anthropology III Spring 2017
1 Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Purpose and framing of research question 3
Disposition 3
Empirical material and method 4
Selection and list of informants 4
Semi-structured interviews 6
Reflexivity and ethical considerations 7
Previous research and outlining of the theoretical framework 8
Hair, ethnicity and the social body 8
Digital anthropology, YouTube and the natural hair community 10
The practice of ‘othering’ 12
Don’t touch my hair 12
Normativity and the making of the ‘other’ 13
Changing aesthetic norms 14
Long, straight and flowing hair 14
The social body 17
The social dimension of hair 17
YouTube as a holy grail 20
Yes mam’ lets do this – about going natural 21
The natural hair community and the agentic body 22
Conclusion 24
2 Introduction
Matters of race and the normativity of whiteness have during recent years been given attention within the public forum of Sweden. For instance, the antiracist feminist forum and podcast “Rummet” emphasizes and discusses issues of structural racism and discrimination. The Instagram account “Svart Kvinna” has over 33 thousand followers, and pictures and stories of racialized women who have experienced discrimination, racism and prejudice in their every day lives are shared and discussed there. Also, the Afro Swedish Association actively discusses and raises questions surrounding the racism and afropfobia that people from this minority experience within the country. The issue of afro hair, has at times been given attention within public media. For example, Haley Quantz, board officer of Unga Feminister, writes on SVT debate, that western beauty ideals do not incorporate afro hair. She continues by arguing that the straightening of the afro hair is for many Afro-Swedes a way to pass as less black in a predominantly white society. In this way they may also be able to better conform to the narrow standards of normative whiteness and enjoy the privileges of the white (SVT 2015).
The discourse around body hair and its social, cultural, political and symbolic significance and value have been recognized within several academic disciplines, including anthropology. Biddle- Perry and Cheang (2008) have argued that body hair and its physiological and
symbolic characteristics, and the rituals and norms surrounding it, can be related to and understood in relation to class, gender, race and sexuality (ibid: 3). Ellington (2015) argues that hair is an ethnic signifier as well as a means for self-expression (ibid: 21). Likewise, other scholars have focused on hair as a medium by which people define themselves and others, and as something that can reflect notions about perceptions, identity and self-esteem (e.g. Banks 2000:26).
Based on the above, this thesis explores the impact that dominating Swedish aesthetic norms and beauty standards have on the subjective experiences of Afro-Swedes and their hair. Also, this thesis examines why Afro-Swedes who previously have been straightening their hair have chosen a natural hairstyle. Chemical relaxers, or the creamy crack, that straighten the curly, kinky, course, wavy and nappy texture of afro hair are commonly used world widely. However, an increasing number of women are embracing their natural hair, and reports confirm that hair relaxers have decreased dramatically in sale during the last decade
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argues that: “social networking sites present support for the movement towards acceptance and appreciation of natural hair” (ibid: 21). Based on this, this thesis will also touch on the influence that YouTube has in encouraging women to choose a natural hairstyle. I will discuss the growing importance of social media in contemporary society by introducing the narratives and hair stories of Afro-Swedes that have chosen to go natural.
Purpose and framing of research question
Several academic studies have focused on issues of identity, gender, racism and
discrimination in relation to Afro-Swedes (e.g. Hübinette et al. 2012, Habel & Sawyer 2014). However, this study focuses on the issue of afro hair, and places it within the wider context of both aesthetic norms and the growing importance of social media. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how women with afro textured hair in Sweden relate to their hair. More
specifically, I am interested to contribute with growing knowledge on what motivates them to go natural, how their understandings of themselves are shaped by surrounding beauty
standards and what role YouTube has had in encouraging them to go natural. By shedding light on these issues I wish to show that hair does matter within the Afro-Swedish community and that issues of hair can be related to wider questions of representation, beauty, norms and identity. The research questions that this thesis aims to answer are:
• How does existing aesthetic hair norms impact the way Afro-Swedes understand their own hair?
• What motivates Afro-Swedes to go from straightened hair to a natural hairstyle? And moreover: which influence does YouTube have in encouraging women to go natural?
Disposition
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the stories of the participants at the same time as the social dimension of hair is discussed. The central issue of the final section is the role that YouTube has had in the natural hair journeys of the women. Here, the concept of the agentic body will also be discussed. In the concluding chapter I return to the research questions of this study and the overall themes and arguments are tied up.
Empirical material and method
This study should be seen against the background of the growing interest among
women to go natural by wearing their afro hair free from chemical relaxers. Through online communities, support groups, popular press, video and music, blogs and other social
networking sites women with afro hair have formed a social movement that celebrates and embraces natural hair. Black women that go natural are often understood as belonging to the natural hair community (Taylor 2016: 11). The natural hair movement/community can therefore be understood as a social grouping of women that are loosely linked by their choice to go natural. This research concentrates on the hair stories of women that I would describe as members of the natural hair community.
Selection and list of informants
Five out of the seven informants were located through “Afrotalk – hårforum för dig med curly/kinky hår i Sverige!”, which is a Swedish Facebook forum that addresses questions surrounding curly and kinky afro hair. The forum is open for people with afro hair and also for parents of children with afro hair. The discussions on the forum revolve around hair tips, product reviews, personal hair stories and other hair related topics. I posted a description of my research on the general feed of the forum and asked if any of the members were interested in meeting me for an interview. My only criteria for selection was that the participants should have natural afro textured hair, and that they previously had their hair chemically relaxed. I did not specify gender, age, ethnicity or background. All of the five informants thereafter took contact with me by responding to the post or by sending me a personal message through Facebook. The sixth informant is an associate of a previous course companion at university level, and the final informant is an old work colleague of mine. All except one of the
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However, their decision to stop using chemical relaxers is what links them together. All informants have been given pseudonyms to protect their anonymities. As has been argued by Aull Davies (2008:60), this is a way for a researcher to make sure that the privacy and anonymity of the participants is respected. In the following section the participants are introduced briefly.
Amelie is 20 years old and she is born and raised in Kenya. She had her hair natural for a couple of years. Her hair was cut short at the time of the interview.
Elin is 45 years old and she was adopted to Sweden from Ethiopia at young age. She has had her hair natural for about three years and had her hair tied in a bun at the time of the interview.
Elani is 34 years old. She has her roots in Germany and South Africa. At the time of the interview her hair was let down.
Moa is 20 years old and was born and adopted from Zimbabwe. Her hair was braided with extensions when we met for the interview.
Ida is 25 years old and her mother is Swedish and her father Jamaican. She has had her hair natural for about 2,5 years. Her hair was let down at the time of the interview.
Bianca is 27 years old and she was born in Congo. Her hair has been natural since 2014 and during the time of the meeting she had her hair in crochet braids with extensions.
Livía is 25 years old and she was adopted to Sweden from Brazil at young age. Her hair has been natural for a few years. She had her hair let down at the time of the interview.
6 Semi-structured interviews
The empirical material of the thesis is based on semi-structured interviews. The interviews took place within a period of a week, between 27/3 – 2/4 2017. By asking questions and listening to the experiences of the participants I could gather empirical material that originated in their own lived experiences. Following Skinner (2012) I have chosen this method and it allowed me to get detailed information of what goes on “inside people’s heads” (ibid: 83-4). In this way the method was suitable as the research questions revolve around the subjective experiences of the participants. Sets of questions surrounding different themes were prepared before conducting the interviews. In the process of the interviews the issues that the
informants brought up guided the talks, and consequently supplementary follow-up questions were asked as the interviews proceeded. By doing the interviews in a semi-structured way the questions were open ended and the responses of the informants were not restricted to my preconceived notions (see Aull Davies 2008:106).
All of the interviews were conducted on an individual basis. If group interviews had been done the discussions would perhaps have been less centered on one informant, which could have made the talks more informal. Furthermore, the participants would have had the possibility to interact with each other and share their stories. Therefore I would have been able to take less space within the discussions, as the participants of the group would have created their own dynamic (Aull Davies 2009: 117). Individual interviews contributed to deeper talks with the informants and also I had more control over the general areas of discussion as well as over the more specified topics (ibid: 116). Moreover, individual interviews possibly enabled me to build stronger relationships with each participant.
Most of the interviews were carried out in cafeterias in Stockholm, Malmö or Lund. The informants had the opportunity to choose the location; however, ultimately the decision of the location was left to me and I suggested cafeteria meetings. The environment in cafes is often quite informal and familiar to many. One of the interviews was conducted at the library of a university because of practical reasons.
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2008:125). Therefore their meanings might slightly differ from the original statements. All of the interviews were recorded and transcribed by me, with the consent of the participants, and in this way it has been possible for me to go back to the original discussions if I had any doubts regarding the contents. By doing so, I could overcome my personal influence on the translations to certain degree. Sound recordings make it possible for the researcher to not only go back to the original sayings of the participants, but it also allows the researcher to enter more fully into the development of the interview (ibid: 126).
Reflexivity and ethical considerations
In studies where the researcher is an insider she or he shares identity and language with the participants. A researcher who is an insider may be considered as legitimate and be better accepted than an outsider. However, an insider can also experience stigma from outsiders that may view the role of the researcher as damaging for the data analysis and collection (Buckle & Dwyer 2009:58). I have therefore in the research process considered how my own insider position as an Afro-Swede may have influenced the outcome of this study. When I did the interviews I noticed that I could at times relate to the topics that the informants brought up and also to the happenings that they encountered. However, I made sure that my position would not influence the outcome of the interviews by asking open-ended questions and by letting the informants themselves direct the interviews. I believe that the fact that I could relate to the informants and their experiences had the advantage that the informants possibly felt more comfortable to open- up to me. This, in its turn, may have contributed more depth to the collected data. Also, as the interviews proceeded I noticed that my informants used the terminology surrounding afro hair freely as if they assumed that I was familiar with it. Nevertheless, I am also an outsider because of my research position and my anthropological objectives.
As mentioned previously, the participants have been given pseudonyms to keep their
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doing the interviews that the subject of hair was for many an important personal topic, and therefore I have been cautious not to generalize or exaggerate their sayings.
Previous research and outlining of the theoretical framework
This study is located at the theoretical meeting-point between hair, ethnicity, and the social and agentic body, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, digital anthropology. This study understands hair as something that is beyond symbolic, by looking at the social dimension of hair and how the hair, as a part of the body, has the capacity to participate in the creation of social meaning and also, enables agency in the social world. As argued by Reischer and Koo in the article “The body beautiful: symbolism and agency in the social world” (2004), the body is a symbolic medium of expression as well as it is social and agentic. The reason for this is that bodies mediate social relationships and they therefore participate in the agency of selves (ibid: 307).
Hair, ethnicity and the social body
Several scholars within anthropology have been giving attention to body hair in various ways. In “Shame and Glory: Sociology of Hair” Synnott (1987) writes about hair as a physiological phenomenon with symbolic value within society. Hair is according to his view a symbol of the self and of group identity, at the same time as it is an important medium of self-expression and communication. Synnott is partly influenced by anthropological works surrounding body manifestations and symbolism, such as the work “Les techniques de corps” (1936) by Mauss and by Mead’s article “Ways of the Body” (1949) (Synnott 1987: 405). Other anthropologists such as Leach and Hallpike have instead focused more specifically on hair and its symbolic, cultural and social meanings. For instance, Leach argues in “Magical Hair” (1958), that body hair is symbolic and that it has public origins. He bases his theoretical claims on ethnographic material surrounding hair rituals in South India and Ceylon (today known as Sri Lanka). Leach concludes that hair behaviors and practices are consciously ritualized and symbolized, both within the private and public sphere (Ibid: 155-7). From another perspective, Hallpike’s article “Social hair” (1969) argues against Leach by meaning that hair practices are
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A recent ethnographic study surrounding afro hair, is “Look at her hair: the body politics of black womanhood in Brazil” (2003). In the study Caldwell explores how Brazilian women attempt to reconstruct their subjectivities by contesting dominant aesthetic hair norms. She examines how social constructions of female beauty and femininity affect the way Afro-Brazilian women view their hair. The article concludes that different practices of othering, in for example media, reinforce dominant notions of gender and race that perceive whiteness as a standard of womanhood (ibid: 19). Also, the empirical evidence revealed that the (black) body was an important political marker of racial and gender identity (ibid: 24). The study clearly illustrates how the body is given agency by different means of resistance and
expression. This study will on the one hand, apply the concept of othering to the narratives of the participants, and, on the other hand, build on the concept of the agentic body. The hair acts as an extension of the body, that contributes to the creation of social meaning and mediates social relationships, which means that it also participates in the agency of the person
(Reischer & Koo 2004: 307) The body is a fundamental aspect of acting self and therefore the social body can be used to actively transform social reality (ibid: 315).
Scholars concerned with subjects of race and ethnicity have argued that hair is the most prevailing signifier of ethnic and racial group (e.g. Ellington 2015, Mercer 1990, Synnott 1987). Hylland Eriksen writes in “Etnicity and nationalism” (2010) about how ethnic classifications are used to make distinctions between people. He continues by arguing that ethnicity is something that is constituted through social contact, as distinctions between people are only made visible in relation to others (ibid: 23). Hair can therefore be understood as an ethnic characteristic that enables ethnic classification. The distinction between “good” and “bad” hair can be related to the fact that hair in its European appearance has been perceived as “good” while the kinky textured afro hair has been viewed as “bad”(ibid: 23) This is an illustrative example of how ethnic/racial (physical) characteristics are used to categorize and differentiate social groups from each other, and indeed it shows that hair is an important symbol of value.
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impact on how the body is experienced and understood. She continues by arguing that the experience of the physical body is dependent on the way it is categorized and viewed by the social environment (ibid: 69) Based on this, the thesis will apply the idea of the social body to the context of afro hair. As hair is an extension of the body the idea of the social body is useful to discuss in which ways the surrounding social conditions, norms and values affect the way Afro-Swedes understand, experience and treat their own hair.
In summary, this study applies the concept of othering to the experiences of the participants. Furthermore, the ideas of the social and agentic body, are applied to discuss how peoples’ understandings of their hair has been influenced by the surrounding social environment on the one hand, and, on the other hand, how the participants’ decisions to go natural both reflects and motivates social transformation of aesthetic norms and beauty ideals through the support of the natural hair community. Lastly, as mentioned, it has been argued that social networking sites present support for the transformation towards acceptance and appreciation of natural hair, and therefore this study focuses on how new form of community construction is enabled through YouTube.
Digital anthropology, YouTube and the natural hair community
A growing number of anthropologists have focused on digital media in studies surrounding e.g. migration, diaspora, material culture, popular culture, and social movements (Uimonen 2015:601). As Coleman (2010) has argued, digital media has stimulated new forms of communication and self-hood, reshaped social perceptions and forms of self-awareness and established collective interests, institutions and life-projects (ibid: 490). Indeed, the use and development of digital media and other communication technologies within different social and cultural contexts is explored within the field of digital anthropology. Furthermore digital anthropology explores in which ways changes within different cultural environments
influence and are influenced by the use and development of digital media (Uimonen 2015:601-2).
Some scholars have studied the impact and influence that YouTube has on individuals within the field of digital anthropology. In “Kids on YouTube” (2014) Lange explore how
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Anthropological introduction to YouTube” (2008), Wesch highlights patterns of replication, engagement and connectivity, and explores how new forms of empowerments and
communities emerge that transcend space and time. Wesch concludes that media is not just content or just a tool of communication, but instead new media is mediating human relations (ibid). Wilson and Peterson (2002) similarly argue that the Internet and media have enabled the emergence of new forms of online communities and communicative practices. They conclude that a fluid concept of community, that includes complex multisided and spatially diverse forms of communities, is useful when doing ethnographic research of online
communities (ibid: 455).
Studies regarding the natural hair community and its relation to YouTube have however mostly been done within other fields of study. Jeffries and Jeffries (2014) write about the influence of social media on the natural hair community by examining two specific cases of media production, more specifically Kennedy’s show, “Funnyhouse of a Negro”, and Rock’s documentary “Good Hair”. The article explores how afro hair is used as a cultural signifier in these media texts (ibid: 160). Phelps-Ward and Laura (2016) instead examine how young African-American girls navigate through and relate to YouTube videos surrounding natural hair and the natural hair movement. Likewise, Ellington (2015) has ethnographically explored how social networking sites, such as YouTube function as support systems for
African-American women that have natural hair.
Based on the concept of community this study will explore in which ways YouTube and the natural hair community enables Afro-Swedes to engage in a new form of community
construction through digital media. The aim is to investigate how a new form of community emerges from interaction on the platform and also how YouTube influences the hair practices of Afro-Swedes. This paper argues that natural hair videos have had a crucial role in how the participants of this study perceived their hair, which hair styles they chose, and at times also influenced their choices to go from relaxed to natural hair.
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and I will illustrate how YouTube enables new form of community construction and engagement.
The practice of ‘othering’
The concept of othering is in this first chapter discussed in relation to some of the participants experiences of hair touching. As has been pointed out by Caldwell (2014), othering includes different social practices that reinforce dominant configurations of race and gender (ibid: 19). I show how the practice of hair touching creates a distinction between what is considered as the norm and what is excluded. I will argue that the practice is related to structures of whiteness and that dominant constructions of race are reinforced through it.
Don’t touch my hair
All of the women that I interviewed had stories of how strangers had commented and touched their hair without permission. Moa and Amelie both recalled situations when strangers had touched their hair. They both remembered the instances as moments when they were viewed as animals in the zoo. Amelie explained this by telling me that she often felt like people looked at the hair as it was displayed as something exotic and different. Also, she clarified that, even though the hair looks different from what is considered as the norm, it is not acceptable for anybody to touch it without her permission. The patting of the hair was something that made her feel uncomfortable. Livía similarly told me that she often felt uncomfortable when somebody was commenting or touching her hair. However, she explained that what the person says and how it is said does matter. She enjoyed getting attention around her hair from other Afro-Swedes but mainly disliked when others commented or touched it. She explained this by saying:
I think it is really fun to get attention from other blacks […] I love sharing knowledge, and I love other people’s hair. But with white [people] I think it depends, sometimes I think it is annoying and sometimes it is fun. Annoying if it feels like it is done in an exotifying way…like if they would like to touch it or if they say something like “Oh! Your hair is so nice and exotic”. It is annoying because it is so exotifying.
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stressed and thus a boundary between what is considered as the norm and what is not is created (Hübinette et. al 2012:195).
Normativity and the making of the ‘other’
During my interview with Elani she told me that strangers touch her hair at least two times per year. This was something that she disliked and opposed directly. She continued by telling me that she believes that some people think it is acceptable to touch her hair because it differs from the dominant hair norm. She explained that: “I think it is more about the thing with ‘the other’, that it [the hair] is something that for them is not the norm”. Elani later told me that she avoids having her hair let down when she is working at the hospital. The reason for this was because she has noticed that the hair often becomes a distraction that people tend to discuss and touch. Bianca similarly told me that her hair attracts attention, especially at her work. She seemed to enjoy the attention that she got at the same time as she explained that she did not want strangers touching her hair without permission. When I asked her why she
believes that people are interested in her hair she answered:
I think people are mostly curious. I don’t think that they necessarily mean something bad when they are touching my hair. […] People are always curious of what they don’t know. They are just like “Oh, so
interesting, what is that?”
As both Elani and Bianca expressed, the hair was often viewed as something interesting and different because of its differing texture and style. The practice of hair touching becomes a way in which a distinction between what is considered as normalized and what is not becomes clear. A racialized boundary is drawn when the afro hair is touched and commented on. As the stories of the participants illustrate, the hair and the touching of it reminds them that their hair type is not perceived as the norm, and that their hair and bodies in some way differ from what is recognized as the idealized Swedish body. The binary between the white aesthetic norms and the non-white emerges as a result of the normative categorization of whiteness.
14 Changing aesthetic norms
I argue that Eurocentric beauty standard of long and straight hair has had an affect on how the participant of this study understood and related to their hair. Also, the narratives highlight the discussion that I later make on the influence of social comparison and how surrounding social norms ascribe aesthetic value on body and hair.
Long, straight and flowing hair
The idealized Swedish body is frequently associated with physical features that include blond hair, blue eyes and light skin. People that have darker skin, hair and eyes are at times viewed as less Swedish as their physical appearances differ from the idealized Swedish norm
(Hübinette et al. 2012:30). The black afro hair is therefore a physical characteristic that does not fall within the framework of the dominant aesthetic norms. Bianca told me that she had her hair natural until she moved to Sweden and she explained that:
In this society, everybody has, you know, this straight hair that is supposed to be long. It should be long, preferably blond and colored this way and that. And of course it affects you, because all of my friends in school had long blond hair, […] all my friends had beautiful hair and I also wanted straight hair because it was beautiful […] To have an afro, it was not beautiful.
Bianca’s decision to start relaxing her hair was influenced by the fact that the majority of people in her surrounding had straight hair. She associated the straight hair with being beautiful, and by relaxing her hair she also could conform to the beauty standards. However, she did not dislike her hair before moving to Sweden. The reason was that everybody around her had similar hair as she at that time in Congo. She continued by telling me that her attitude towards her hair changed when moving to Sweden:
When I moved here I got a completely different perspective. Everybody had different hair than me and I wanted to fit in. I wanted to be a part of the society and therefore I also wanted straight hair […] It was the ideal, you should have it like that to look beautiful, to fit in.
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views of their hair was shaped by the dominant Eurocentric aesthetic norms. These standards of long, flowing and straight hair played a crucial role in how the women constructed their identities and experienced their hair (ibid 23-4). Bianca’s experiences of her hair illustrate how the beauty standards of the surrounding society influenced not only on how she understood and related to her hair, but also on how she wore it.
Livías stories reveal similar tendencies. She was raised in what she calls; “a very white neighborhood”, and she started straightening her hair when she was around 10 years old. Neither she herself nor her mother had knowledge about her hair and therefore she thought it would be more manageable straight. However, she also told me that, since she was the only black girl in pre – and elementary school, she felt the desire to fit in with her classmates. When she started to relax her hair she wanted to have it as straight and as long as possible, and therefore she avoided putting her hair in a bun. She explained this by telling me that she did not feel feminine in a bun because her hair looked shorter that way. As the narrative reveals, Livía was struggling with taking care of her hair, and moreover, she viewed straight hair as more beautiful than her natural hair. She saw long and straight hair as more beautiful and desirable and she associated it with what womanhood meant for her.
Both Bianca’s and Livía’s experiences highlight how they struggled with accepting their natural hair textures because of the beauty ideals in their surroundings. Their hair textures were clear ethnic markers that did not only make them look different from others, but also made them question the value of their own hair. In Bianca’s case the struggles of accepting her hair started when she moved to Sweden. As Hylland Eriksen (2010) argues, ethnic characteristics and classifications are only made visible in relation to others. The reason for this is because the classifications are socially constituted through social contact (ibid: 23). Likewise, Bianca’s changed attitude towards her hair clearly exemplifies that her hair became a distinct ethnic indicator of value only when she moved to a society where her hair-type was not the norm.
Long hair was also something that Elin remembered desiring when she was younger. When I asked her to tell me about her first memories of her hair she recalled that:
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pulled it forward a little bit. It was the kind of hair that my sister had, everybody thought she had so nice hair.
Her childhood story illustrates how she as a child liked pretending that she had long hair that hanged on her shoulders. However, she did not consider herself to have struggled with liking her own hair because of its kinky texture. She told me that she started straightening her hair, not because she wanted to have straight hair as most people around her, but instead because she did not know how to take care and manage her natural hair texture. However, when I asked her how she thought that the beauty norms around her have influenced the way she perceived her hair she explained:
I have thought about that for a lot. Especially during those three years before I cut my hair off. I thought, why I didn’t like my hair before I straightened it, or before, in high school. I guess I felt that, I didn’t fit in. But now, with an adult perspective, I can look back at that girl, and realize, what was there? There was Frida, Veckorevyn and that was about it. And you know, they still keep on with their make- up tips for all between beige and very pale. And then it just hit me that the beauty industry has not taken me into account. That’s were it differs. And I as a person… I don’t care about that anymore. I don’t care about the whole thing and I walk my own path. I will never be a norm, I will never fit in to what they say, so I might as well take what I have and just run and you know, just embrace it, because there is no other option.
Elin showed a mixed attitude towards her hair. On the one hand, she explained that she always liked her hair, but did not have the knowledge to take care of it properly, and, on the other hand she also, as Bianca and Vivía, seems to have been fairly influenced by the
dominant hair norms around her. She indicated that some of the most popular teen magazines in Sweden did not incorporate alternative beauty ideals that she could relate to. However, she continued by saying that she now has realized that the beauty industry excludes her since she is not the norm, and therefore she might as well embrace her own beauty as much as possible. The stories that have been presented illustrate that the participants struggled with taking care and managing their natural hair, but also that they compared and were influenced by dominant aesthetic hair norms. Their hair practices were aligned with the dominant hair standards of the society at the same time as their stories reveal that the hair was given social value and
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also that, the practice of hair straightening is not simply a styling strategy assigned with Eurocentric ideals, but a popular cultural practice within the Afro-Swedish community. The social body
On the following pages I turn to the concept of the social body as it is applied and discussed among the participants. Here I also show that the hair, as a part of the body, is a social signifier of the world that it inhabits.
The social dimension of hair
Hair is not only physical and symbolic but it also has a social dimension. It is understood, and given meaning, in relation to its social surroundings. Douglas (1970) argues that the body as a medium of expression is limited by the surrounding social system. Indeed, she argues that the social boundaries of society affect how the physical and the social body are understood. This means that the way in which the physical body is treated, expressed and understood is an expression of social power and the demands of the social system (ibid :74-6). The body is therefore both physical and social as it is a reflection of its social environment. The way that the participants of this study manipulated, treated and understood their kinky and curly textured hair can therefore be understood in relation to the social environment and the demands and boundaries that it places upon hair.
As the stories in the previous chapter demonstrated, Bianca, Vivía and Elin all expressed that they were affected by the norms and customs regarding hair around them. Their hair dressing rituals were influenced by the boundaries and demands of the surrounding social system. The idealized Swedish features of long, straight and flowing hair, were understood as norms which in turn made the participants perceive their hair contrarily, and also contributed to the
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the other hand, all of them did straighten their hair during different periods of their lives, and they all believed that the norms of society had influenced how they perceived their own hair. During my interview with Amelie she told me that she used to be very self-conscious about being in public with her natural hair. When I asked her if she felt self-conscious because she was anxious about how others would react she answered:
It was probably both, it was probably because I didn’t think it was very pretty, and also I wanted…I did not want to cope with all the stares […] so it was both, it was about myself and how I felt with my hair then […], it was probably because of the beauty ideals, I really though that; my hair is not straight, it is not long, it does not act that way, [and therefore] it is ugly. It really took a long time until it changed.
Amelie did not feel comfortable in her natural hair because she did not consider it pretty, but also because she did not want other people paying extra attention to her hair while being in public. She viewed long, straight hair as more beautiful than her natural hair and said that she probably thought that way because of dominant beauty ideals. Amelie’s experiences illustrate the general trend among the participants of this study. Few had experienced that they were pressured to have their hair straightened. Instead they all expressed that it was related to their own understandings of their hair that influenced their decisions to straighten it. Some
explained that they lacked knowledge of how to manage and treat their natural hair, while others put more emphasis on the beauty ideals surrounding them and how they felt the necessity to conform to the ideals. Representation within the public sphere was also a common subject that came up and while a few considered their hair types being relatively visible in the public, the majority of the participants considered afro hair types publicly underrepresented. When I asked Bianca about this she said the following:
It is like we are not just included in it […] that society has to let us in. It is like we have to fight more for it…thus we are here now, and we are here to stay. We will not go anywhere. The society has to start realizing that […] there are different types of beauty, it is not just the blond Swedish hair, there is afro hair, there is Latino hair, there are all types of hair, so let us be a part of it. […] It has to be shown so that our kids can learn that they also are a part of society.
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The concept of the social body is suitable to apply to a discussion regarding how the norms, expectations and idealized standards regarding hair influenced the way in which the
participants of this study expressed, manipulated and understood their own hair. The hair, as a part of the body, built on the concept of the social body, is a medium of expression that is affected and limited by the surrounding social system. This chapter has placed the
straightening of the hair in relation to the surrounding social environment. This is because the physical experience of the body is always modified by the social categories through which it is known (Douglas 1979: 69). Hair is both a reflection of the society of which it is in and also a reflection of the bodily self. However, as Banks (2000) writes, the straightening of the hair should not be seen as an imitation of white hair textures but instead as a styling strategy in a society dominated by Eurocentric beauty ideals (ibid: 60, Biddle-Perry & Cheang 2008:250). Elani, for example, explained to me that she often got to hear from others that the afro hair is hard to manage. She continued by telling me that there are negative ideas and prejudice towards afro hair, not only amongst the wider society, but also amongst the black community. And this she believed, has contributed to the affirmation of the stereotype; that afro hair is hard to manage and that it has to be straightened to be manageable and beautiful. This is something that Banks (2000) touches on in her ethnographic work that focuses on how Afro-American women’s hair shape ideas about race, gender, sexuality, beauty and power. She writes that internalized negative ideas and images about the hair are often reinforced among black people living in dominantly white societies (ibid: 56). This in turn has an affect on how people with afro hair understand, relate and treat their hair. The straightening of the afro hair, does not therefore necessarily mean that the hair is viewed with hatred, but instead is should be seen as a styling strategy that has been developed within the context of a predominantly white society, mostly dominated by white beauty ideals, and that is representatively lacking images of other hair types.
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seen as a styling strategy that has developed in the context of a society that is dominated by beauty ideals that are often associated with normative whiteness. Lastly, the purpose of this chapter has also been to build on the issues of the previous chapters, and show that the body and the hair are part of an ideological and social system in which the “order of things” is distinguished and justified according the socially constructed realities (Devisch 1985: 409, Reischer & Koo 2004:311). The body and the hair is part of a greater system of sociocultural categorization in which the hair as a bodily symbol is understood accordingly to the
surrounding arrangement and its well-established norms, customs and ideals.
In the next and final chapter, I turn to the role that YouTube has had on the participants’ journeys toward natural hair after which I return to the concept of the agentic body. YouTube as a holy grail
I could search for, “black girl” or “African hair” and then someone with same hair as me popped up […] [someone] who could describe which hair type they had. […] It was there I got all my inspiration, I looked at different hair styles, you know, wash and go’s and so on, all of that. […] I liked to see people talk and show me, not just in pictures, I wanted to follow their every step, hear and see […] So YouTube was really my holy grail, it was really, I loved it, I still love it, it is from there I get all my inspiration, whatever it is.
21 Yes mam’ let’s do this – about going natural
YouTube is a platform where the viewers have unlimited access to countless videos
surrounding natural hair. Ellington (2015) has written on the subject of natural hair in relation to YouTube and other social networking sites. The study is based on narratives from African- American women who have chosen to go from a relaxed hairstyle to natural hair. The study concludes that different social networking sites, such as YouTube, provide a support system for women that have their natural hair, and also that the platform offers emotional support in order for the women to conquer their natural hair fears and embarrassments. All of the
participants stated that they trusted YouTube vloggers (video bloggers) and their tips, advises and opinions. YouTube was identified as the major social networking site for support (ibid: 25-6). The results of the study share some similarities with the empirical evidence that I collected through talks with the participants of this study. All of the participants that I
interviewed said that they had used YouTube to get advise, tips and information during some period of their natural hair journeys. During my conversation with Ida she told me that she used to straighten, iron and color her hair throughout her teenage and early adult life. Her hair was taking damage from the constant manipulation, leading to that she was looking for advice on how to manage the hair better. By doing research on YouTube she discovered that there were people with the hair that she was longing for. Ida referred to YouTube as her savior, and when I asked her why YouTube was her main source of inspiration she answered:
I saw that there was something to do about it [the hair], black on white, in a video. I could relate to it much better than when I was reading about how to do it. There were some people that I followed; that I knew already had done it [gone natural] and that showed pictures on how their hair used to look like, their hair journey’s. When I saw that they had gone from disaster to fabulous […] I just thought ‘Yes mam’ lets do this’.
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videos were an opening to a whole new forum of natural hair. Livía shared similar
experiences with both Ida and Elani. She told me that she wanted to know more about her hair and quickly she started watching YouTube videos about natural hair. On YouTube she saw other black women with beautiful natural hair, which made her motivated to stop relaxing her hair. Just before we ended the conversation Livía told me that her interest in hair was a way into the black community and that the hair was the mutual interest that unified them.
YouTube enabled her to enter in and participate with, what she calls the black community, both in and outside Sweden.
The natural hair community and the agentic body
Bianca told me during our interview that she started a YouTube channel focusing on natural hair recently. She explained that she aims to show society that it is acceptable and beautiful to have afro hair in its natural state. She continued by saying that:
It is so that they [other Afro-Swedes] can see that […] we are many, and we can do something, so that it spreads here in Sweden too. […] We inspire each other, help each other, even though we are far way from one and other. To know that I may have helped somebody, reached one person, is something very big.
Despite Bianca’s earlier struggles with accepting her hair she now has a positive attitude towards her hair. Also, she wishes to share her knowledge and hair story with other Afro-Swedes. She found courage and inspiration from other youtubers to go natural and she now hopes to inspire others. YouTube is for Bianca a means of communication, which she uses to find inspiration and advice, but also to inspire and share her story to the natural hair
community on YouTube. YouTube enables her to mediate with others and she actively engages in a new form of online communication with the world on YouTube.
The narratives of the participants reveal a general trend concerning their engagement with the natural hair community through YouTube. All of the interviewed women said that they either found their inspiration to go natural through the natural hair journeys of other women or that they after going natural used YouTube to get advice, support and motivation to continue their journeys. YouTube functioned as a tool that enabled them to engage in a new form of
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both visual and auditory, and people with different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and cultures collectively engage in community building and sharing of information (ibid). Wesch (2008) similarly concludes in his online lecture that the interactions on the platform enable new forms of empowerment and community building that is not restricted by time and space.
As shown, the natural hair community is very much centered on YouTube, and, as the stories of the participants revealed, YouTube has had a crucial influence on their decisions to go natural. Also, YouTube has functioned as a supportive platform for many of them. Most of the women expressed that they felt empowered and motivated to remain natural because of the wider support of the natural hair community. It furthermore became clear that they all discovered YouTube in their search for information or inspiration regarding their natural hair textures. The accessibility and variety of videos revolving around natural hair then allowed them to get involved and engaged with the community both online and offline. As Wilson and Peterson (2002) write, the interrelationship between the virtual online world and the real-life offline world should not be overlooked (ibid: 454). Identities and social relationships are negotiated in the virtual world, at the same time as they are manifested, reproduced and played out in the real world (ibid: 456-7). As shown in the case of the natural hair community, the online mediation and communication has been played out and reproduced in the offline world, as the hair practices that are observable on YouTube have been applied and repeated by the participants in their own lives. Furthermore, I have shown that the body and the hair, is not only understood and given meaning by the social system through which it is known, but also that the body functions as a means of expression that enables social change and
24 Conclusion
Returning to the research questions and purpose of this thesis, I have shown how the Afro-Swedish women of this study relate to their hair, in relation to societal hair norms and beauty standards. I have additionally explored what motivated them to go natural and I have argued that the natural hair community has encouraged many of the women to go natural. Moreover, I have focused on the centrality and importance of YouTube and shown how YouTube has opened up a new forum for women with afro hair. A forum that embraces, respects and appreciates afro hair and where the common interest in hair unites them.
I have discussed the issue of representation and normativity, and how the participants’ understandings of themselves are shaped and impacted by dominant configurations of race, femininity and beauty. I have illustrated how the social and subjective realities of the participants have been influenced and shaped by their hair and by dominant aesthetic norms and beauty structures. I have attempted to show that afro hair and the practices around it are shaped, influenced and understood in various ways depending on the sociocultural context. I have shown that hair holds value, and that hair can both be a bodily tool of expression and an indicator of style. I have also indicated that the relaxing of the afro textured hair is a popular styling strategy within the Afro-Swedish community at the same time as it for some has been a strategy to better conform to the beauty standards of the society, and to feel included and accepted. I have illustrated that hair can be used to create social change and transformation through for instance YouTube. I have aimed to show that hair is just hair, at the same time as hair is not just hair, that hair practices and styling strategies can be symbolic, social and agentic and that hair can manifest social and cultural order.
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