Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

hairstyle. According to Dawson (2009), up to 34% of all hair products sold in the United States arepurchased by African-American women, whilst sales of hair weaves accounts for approximately 65% ofhair care revenue. In the South African context, about 43% of all hair care sales come from the ethniccategory, of which a sizeable part is attributed to ‗wet‘ hair products such as chemical relaxers and perms,conditioners and after-care products (Mpungose 2004). Elsewhere in Africa, and consistent with theforegoing discussion, Keita et al. (2005) found that the most frequently performed procedures in Malianhair salons were hair straightening, shampooing, oil-treatments, and colouring. It is therefore fair toconclude that hairstyling occupies an important place in the lives of lives of black women in South Africa.Why being beautiful mattersResearch suggests that beauty has significant repercussions for women in social and economicparticipation (Casanova 2004). Good looking people earn a premium in wages whilst average lookingpeople are paid better than people with below-average looks (Biddle, 2010). Rosenblat (2006: 223)contends that people who are considered physically attractive exude more confidence and arestereotypically perceived to be competent as employees due to the notion that beauty is ―correlated withintelligence, social skills and health.‖ Attractiveness also has benefits in intimate relationships; physicallyattractive women have a greater likelihood of marrying men of a higher social and economic status (Weitz2001). It is therefore fair to say that women who are considered beautiful hold some socio-economicadvantages compared to those who are not.From the literature reviewed here, it is apparent that black women, due to racial stereotypes, may beparticularly challenged in terms of opportunities available to them. Henry (1995: 293) asserts that blackwomen are subjected to stereotypes which suggest that they are inferior; thus placing them in ―...a vortexof interlocking, disempowering social and economic forces.‖ Black women are therefore under pressureto change their hairstyles to fit the dominant social construction of beauty. Patton (2006) argues, forexample, that a woman who meets the stereotypical Eurocentric standards of beauty increases her chancesof landing a job in the competitive American environment. Patton (2006) further argues that in the UnitedStates, an aspect of hair which is associated with white beauty apart from the obvious long and blonde isthat it must not look like a man‘s. Research suggests that even more than white men, African-Americanmen associate long hair with beauty (Rooks, 1996). Black women‘s natural hair type is distinctly opposedto the mainstream standard of beautiful hair. This argument points to the reasons why the majority ofblack women prefer to not maintain their natural hair but instead choose to straighten it or use hairextensions. This is despite the scalp disorders which are associated with hairdressing being more commonin people of African descent (Khumalo, Jessop, Gumedze, & Ehrlich 2007).Factors affecting hairstyle choices amongst black womenThe factors affecting black women‘s choice of hairstyles can be broadly categorised into two mainarguments: the de-Africanisation argument and the modernity argument. Some researchers (e.g., Henry1995; Ashe 1995) argue that an inherent self-hatred nurtured from a racist historical context which createdblack inferiority is responsible for the lengths to which black women go in altering the appearance of theirnatural hair. This argument suggests that in their aspiration to conform to Eurocentric standards of beauty,black women may begin to despise their own physical exterior, believing that ―Black is not beautiful...thatshe can only be loved by impersonating somebody else‖ (Patton 2006: 26). According to Henry (1995:289), when they do this, black women choose beauty options that ―de-Africanise‖ them. Similarly, Ashe(1995: 579) posits that straightening hair is a way through which black women seek to fit into the whitesociety‘s ideals of beauty, however unconscious this may be. On the other hand, black women who chooseto maintain their natural hair are resistant to the Eurocentric norms of beauty. This is evident in the use ofAfro hairstyles and dreadlocks, for example (Weitz 2001).The desire to be modern is the other reason why black women straighten their hair and use hairextensions. Nyamnjoh (2002: 104) defines modernity as ―...the desire to refashion the self, to imagine newways of being.‖ Hairstyling is part of how black women refashion themselves, regardless of whether the