Wigs, Weaves & Extensions, Nuthin New Under the Sun

Egyptian Queen Nofetari

I was at the Do Over in the Los Angeles this week, and met up with a Ghanaian sister who told me she would be shedding her locks for something new.

Her plan was to wear her hair short and get some funky wigs and weaves and let her roots rest, eventually allowing her follicles to bloom.

Immediately, the bias in me, said, "Weaves!" with disdain. She saw my face as my mouth dropped. She quickly tried to explain her decision.

I felt embarrassed. This sister was a bridesmaid at my wedding. She will always be my sister and I wanted to ask her, "Why wigs? Just rock you!"

But, "Who am I?" I'm still trying to figure it all out myself; especially my hair.

When I made it back to Jersey last night, I was perusing through some hair anthropology data when I was checked for my judgmental thoughts. I forgot about the wigs and extensions found in multiple burial chambers of Egyptian pyramids adorning women and men.

From kinky, to puffs, to coily, to straight augmented hair was mummified to perfection. Like today, augmented hair was all the rage as far back as 3400 BCE (Before the Christian Era).

Wig with coily puff mane found with mummy.

Not only did this re-submission of information into my life sit my ass down in my natural journey, but re-affirmed that nuthin' isn't new, just revamped and reinterpreted.

Weaves, wigs, extensions, braids, fades, silky locks, faux locks, real locks, and Indian Remy hair are old hair trends with a contemporary feel.

In Egypt, the hot desert sun and sand were climates that made bald heads an easier style to rock for men and women. Plus it was the most hygiene-appropriate in preventing the oft-head infestation of lice.

Women and men, usually of royal descent would wear wigs and extend hair length with the use of human hairpieces from their own shorn hair or coifs of commoners.
I always asked, "Why is hair so important to black people and black women in particular?" Well, anthropological studies have shown that even in the days of Queen Tiye and Nofertari (the mummy picture above) hair communicated your wealth and social status.

Hair was an important commodity that was traded and sold. In fact, human hair ranked alongside gold and incense at one point in ancient Egypt.

Hair dyed with Indigo and black henna.

And get this, not only was human hair wigs and extensions were popular, but hair coloring. One mummy was found with a waist-length wig and her own hair colored with a vegetable-based dye to give it a yellowish color. The mummies natural hair was black.
Much like henna and indigo dyes still popular in North Africa and India, and even the ochre earth dye of the Himba women in Namibia, there are natural dyes.

So who was I to question my friend's decision of jazzing her hair with added pieces?

Though I still think that the wig and weaving process should be more humane and equitable in the trade of hair, and prolly, people will use this blog to continue to throw horrible Yaki #9 in their hair, and wear 29-piece weaves on their balding crowns, I think I need to reconsider selling the locks that sit on my shelf.

Even though the Korean store owners didn't want the coily manes of African descendants in Chris Rock's documentary, "Good Hair", it was, and still is all the rave.

Eco.Soul.Intellectual is a socio-cultural, political award-winning writer, journalist and blogger who lives between Newark and Los Angeles.

Chicken Nuggets & Weaves

I thought I knew a little something about hair until I got my hair braided into a simple chignon last weekend. My stylist was bragging about how she put in a 28 piece weave earlier that day, and a 27 piece weave the day before.

"WTF is a 28 piece weave? Does it resemble chicken nugget specials?" I thought to myself.

I just kept saying "uh hmm" as she braided because I was trying to get through her Nicki Minaj ring tones and the yelling at her kids named "Sharpie" "Sha Sha" and some other shit.

Later that night, after I greased the shit out of my throbbing edges, but was quite pleased at the facelift I got because my braids were so damn tight, I googled "28 piece weave" and was flooded with information. How did I not know?28 pieces weaves are the latest thing going since, weave tracks.

Better than putting money down on some property.

I was absolutely fascinated and simultaneously puzzled at the weave industry that black people have so little a financial stake or profit.

Weaves have evolved like KFC wannabe chicken. Just like the genetically altered poultry, the chickens have gotten bigger, and the process of growing them have gotten more sophisticated, but the end result is disaster. Just like you don't have any chicken, you don't have any more hair.

Like the fake KFC chicken, weaves are made to generate money, though not created for proper body maintenance. Cooked up in a Korean and Chinese labs with synthetic materials and pasted on our heads with scalp searing glues, the resemblance of 28 piece weave and a chicken is quite uncanning.

Can someone please explain why we leave weaves in our hair until the whole office can smell the rank order of unwashed scalp, sweat and caked on hair products seeping through?

Ugh.

Okay, and one more thing. The black tar glue plastered onto the head with the cap. Gross.

For those of you who are as uninformed as I am. I dropped a video for you. Why are we more versed in weaves than in let's say, saving money. Nice moustache chica.

The Ugly Secret Under a Weave

Never in the history of black hair care have so many women taken hair growth pills, squirted on drops of solution, or poured on jars of gourmet mayonnaise to promote hair growth. The epic proportions of the state of black women's hair health is similar to what is described in Madame CJ Walker's biography by Tananarive Due titled, The Black Rose (a definite read).

During slavery, black women were removed of their indigenous hair maintenance regimens and the herbs and natural products that were used for their various hairstyles. While in enslavement, black women had to adopt quick and often unhealthy hair care techniques. Many wore pieces of cloth over their heads with small plaits or cornrows underneath. Some wore short hair, while others just did not care for much of it at all.

After centuries of not being able to properly take care of their hair black women’s hair culture became de-cultured. Black women used axle grease and lard to moisturize their hair. And some tried the new fad of a "heated fork" to straighten their hair, but it always resulted in bad breakage. CJ Walker, who was a washer woman had severe scalp itches such as bald patches, and what can possibly seen as eczema that often led her to scratch her head until it bled.

(Madame CJ Walker Advertisement of her hair care system)

Though CJ Walker, the first American woman millionaire and black millionaire, created an empire by developing a healthier hair care system (not the hot comb since it already existed), the hair care industry today in no way reflects her intentions. An old proverb would say, “She would be turning in her grave” if she saw the amount of damage of black women’s hair. And this is not just in the United States. Walker travelled throughout the Caribbean and Central America, training sales agents and hair stylists to sale and use her products.

Some years back, I spoke to a couple who were in the process of writing a book on hair that I guess they never published because I did not see it. The husband, whose name I cannot think of, told me that black women’s hair a century ago, was 6 inches longer than today! That’s hella shrinkage.

A while ago I blogged about synthetic hair and wanted to follow up with some of the ugly secrets that women who have them will never tell their friends, in particular, their boyfriends; and in the case of black women, especially, their non-black intimate partners, the headache, heartache, and expense of wearing synthetic hair for too long and/or too tight.

(Naomi Campbell's hairline is gone, a case of too much pulling of the hair from the roots due to glue-in weaves over the natural hairline, and probably sew-in weaves. )

The focus of this blog are weaves. I will talk about the predecssor of weaves, which are wigs, on another day.

From what I've researched (and know personally) it does not matter if you have a $5,000 weave/wig or a $5o piece, it is a damaging process in the long run.

I have heard people criticize those who wear locks with an oft quoted saying, "You just didn't want to comb your hair." Ha! Anyone who has locks and is conscious about maintaining them, knows that it is the most intensive hair choice and a spiritual experience that does not compare to any other hairstyle. I applaud the network of sister-lockers who understand the locks is a lifestyle the involves a reawakening and a community of support.

Anywho, let us get down to the weaves and wigs.

The more obvious effects of weaves/wigs is the stunting of hair growth, and in many cases the loss of hair due to the suffocation of the scalp. What makes the situation worse with a weave/wig is the scalp is not only smothered for long periods of time, but it is also slathered in synthetic products such as glue, dye, hair spray, cream, wax, gel, mousse, and all the other hair products that are used for "maintenance".

(Rihanna's short crop cannot hide the fact that her hairline has suffered from prolong usage of weaves.)

In actuality, while the synthetic hair is being "maintained" the real hair is dying a quick death.

To add injury to choking roots, many women get "addicted" to the way they look with long "luxurious" manes, and go for months, and sometimes years without giving their scalp and hair a break so it can breathe. This addiction eventually turns into a necessity because their hair is left in chunks of hair breakage, receding hairline, and in many cases, bald patches that seem irreversible.

Another issue is the pull that weaves do once applied to real hair. Be it a glue in or a sew-in, there is an element of a constant pull that gradually thins the hair. Similar to braids that are cornrowed too tight, weaves and wigs that pull on the hairline and the scalp damage the roots and thin the hair. And if you have a sew -in weave in which the cornrows underneath are extremely tight, followed by the pull of the thread of the weave, your hair will recede faster.

(Lala Vasquez's bold side-shave shows visible baldness from weaves.)

Lastly, women who process their hair then apply weaves increase the chances of loss exponentially than those who have natural hair underneath.

To give you an idea of the damage of weaves, I selected some "notables" in this blog to show you that the price of a weave does not matter.

As you can see, over time, if worn too long, weaves cause your real hair, a tragic death.

Please note: This is just a quick entry on weaves and not an in-depth article. There is much that I was not able to fit in this blog, but I encourage everyone else to do their research and find their own facts to add to the pot.

***Added footage! Our white brother in the struggle, Aron, did a documentary on synthetic hair. He focuses on the African-American hair, but this is a worldwide business of black hair. This is very informative. Please, check it out!***