This debate is now closed.
Do we take our hair too seriously?
The hair debate has been going on for more than 30 years among people of African descent all over the world. But are we taking our hair too seriously?
The latest conversation revolves around 'Good Hair', a documentary examining the culture of black hair and who benefits from the sale of afro hair products like relaxers, extensions and wigs.
In Africa, the preferred look seems to be straightened hair over natural, kinky hair. Women who prefer to have weave-ons or relaxed hair are often accused of trying to be European. Natural hair wearers can be perceived as being deliberately non-conformist or religious.
Does it matter if you buy your hair or grow it? Why do you wear your hair the way you do? How much on average have you spent on hair care? Would you refuse to hire or date someone based on the way they wore their hair?
If you would like to join Africa Have Your Say to debate this topic LIVE on air on Wednesday 28 October at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/africahys or follow us on Twitter @bbcafricahys. You can also send an SMS text message to +44 77 86 20 20 08.
Published:
Tuesday, 27 October, 2009, 13:36 GMT
13:36 UK
All comments as they come in
Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 17:12 GMT
17:12 UK
All these are due to western culture of today which we try to immitate. Various hair product develop evryday for this and for that.At the end, the maker is to make money, like every day new software has to be develop. We african people originally had kinky hair, but due to intermarraige where the offspring automatically become black, and also other people now becoming black, we now have black people of all find of hair. African women complaining about their hair, what about men.
joel
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 17:10 GMT
17:10 UK
In the past, I have publicly wondered why continental African women and women of African descent feel the need to bleach their skins to pale yellow, and then also, go all out, in efforts and expenses to elongate their hairs!
Recently, I have come to include this skin bleaching and hair length obsessions with issues, for which I reserve analyses, mainly based on my theory of historical cause and effect, cause and effect, as constituting tools for thorough examinations.
Paul I. Adujie, New York, United States
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 17:00 GMT
17:00 UK
This is not an issue of just Black people's hair, it is an issue of all types of people. I grew up in the 1960s, a Caucasian American. My Mother continuously tortured my sister and me with Toni Home Perms. Mum, herself, had grown up putting pin-curls in her hair; she would not have considered going out without her hair being 'done', i.e. curled. People with straight hair want curls, people with curly hair want to see what it is like to have straight hair--good for the hair business.
MG Nunn, Lake Mary, Florida
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 16:58 GMT
16:58 UK
If people put the same amount of time and effort trying to straighten their hair into straigtening their character, education, family planning etc they could find it a lot more rewarding in the end. Too much time spent on trying to control the hair which is like a dog's tail that cannot be kept straight is just wasted time, money and opportunities. There is beauty in baldness, there is beauty in straight hair, there is beauty in hair that are curly and there is beauty in everything human.
Chandru Narayan, USA
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 16:42 GMT
16:42 UK
I know that compared to the majority of other women, I spend very little time and money on my hair. I have long hair, which I cut myself (it's easy, and cheap!), and so the only money I spend on my hair is on shampoo and conditioner. A lot of my friends spend ages blow-drying their hair, dying their hair, straightening it.....does their hair look any better than mine as a result? Nope - in fact mine probably does because it's in far better condition.
[buffonia], Birmingham, United Kingdom
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 16:38 GMT
16:38 UK
God created us perfect with all our features. Any attempt to change our natural physique is shame. African ladies or men are beautifully created and we should not wonder to look artificial.
Gonna Gobbaze, Wolayta Soddo, Ethiopia
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 16:20 GMT
16:20 UK
I did my Masters thesis on hair as a form of communication. Hair always makes a statement, what one does with one's hair says something about one's identity. What one doesn't do with their hair also is a communication. No hair means change in lifestyle, religion, or health (chemotherapy patients). The same hairstyle on a man means a different thing when a woman wears it. African women straighten their hair as emblems of modernity, Diaspora women look to Africa for traditional hairstyles.
Andre Powe, Brooklyn, New York
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 16:05 GMT
16:05 UK
I don't think the attention giving to the hair by the African women is too much, because, it make them more baeutifull than they originally are, not tha they are not beautifull, but I strongly believe that beauty without maintenance is eqaul to urgly, therefore I want to say keep it up all you BAEUTIFULL women of this GREAT Continent AFRICA.
Uchenna Ezeh, Zaki/Biam Benue State, Nigeria
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 16:05 GMT
16:05 UK
No human will be contempted with how he or she is created, the blacks want to bleach their skin and the europenas want to tan the skins to look different.while some in brazil do surgery to have long legs and some in african also took injection to make their buttocks big and some european want to be skinny(model look). it is human nature. the african see their hair as un-attractive an emulate the european style to adjust their look and this style can not be taken away from africans now.
fatai yussuff, belfast, United Kingdom
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 16:01 GMT
16:01 UK
It is good to keep your hair as God had made it to be rather than making it up which will cos more problem to you as an african. You are good looking if only you can live your hair like that.
Edward, Lagos
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 16:00 GMT
16:00 UK
You don't know how important "Good Hair" is till you don't have good hair. Granted, the definition of good hair is in the eye of the beholder. But when the beholders are greater in number than you and they all agree, then their ideas become the standard. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to go kinky and natural, only to have my hair be the topic of conversation. No one wants to see braids or natural hair. Especially in the work place. We are all supposed to have control over our hair.
Omolola Oluyemi, Fontana, CA
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 15:56 GMT
15:56 UK
How one wears their hair is up to them and their personal preferences. Whether one treats their hair or leaves it natural, it's all about personal hygiene. Though at times these weaves and hair extensions makes blacks look exagerated and normally alters their look. Whether a man grows his hear by way of dreds, just long natural hair or cuts it, this as well can translate to style or religious issues. Alll in all, it's about what makes it easier for one to manage hair.All these have pros & cons.
Yakosa, Mufulira
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 15:43 GMT
15:43 UK
No, because it is probably the first thing you will see when you first meet a person. Most sources say that first impressions can define your relationships with colleagues and future partners.
If people want to spend money to look good, who cares?
[2sides2stories], Ireland
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 15:42 GMT
15:42 UK
Since I am a women, I will speak from a female viewpoint. In my humble opinion, the issue of hair is a personal one. I have a beautiful head of extremely thick kinky hair that falls to my shoulders when natural (or braided). What matters to me is that my hair is healthy. It is part of me and who I am. Selection of a personal style is for many women, a journey. Who I am to judge another woman on her path to discovery?
Ayo, Washington, DC
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Added:
Wednesday, 28 October, 2009, 15:32 GMT
15:32 UK
Europeanising African hair is one of the things I find depressing. Another is skin bleaching.
These 2 practices say a lot about the mental colonisation some of us are still under. Subconsciously, some Africans believe that by copying European physical traits, they can acquire the European "magic".
Mbugwile Nkolokosa, Manchester, United Kingdom
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This Have Your Say is
CLOSED
DEBATE STATUS
Total comments: 136
Published comments: 119
Rejected comments: 17
From Have Your Say
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