John Hughes, Tower Staff
February 23, 2014
Filed under News
The Black Student Alliance hosted a lecture concerning the connection between African-American hair and psychology. Dr. Afiya Mangum, a counselor at Catholic University and Professor at Howard University, presented her lecture “Psychohairapy: Health, Hair and Knowledge” in honor of Black History Month.
Dr. Mangum began the presentation with the place closest to the culture and hair of African Americans: their roots. Hair played a very crucial factor in African culture before slavery. Hairstyles were often used to denote a person’s rank in their community; traditionally, the group’s leaders showcased the most ornate hairstyles.
“Their hair was the most elevated part of their whole body, which is closest to the divine”, Dr. Mangum said.
Dr. Mangum feels that African-American psychological issues and hair are intertwined. The connection between client and beautician exists on both a professional and personal level. The majority of African-Americans do not receive mental health treatment, but for those who do, more than 50 percent terminate after the first session, due to a multitude of racial tensions in the past. Instead of being able to put their trust in therapists, Mangum observes that African-Americans turn to beauticians instead. Mangum expresses concern for the future of hair care and the increasing standard of conformity to Eurocentric ideals.
European slave-owners shaved off the hair of enslaved Africans, stripping them of part of their culture and bodily pride, according to the lecture. The effects of enslavement on African-American hair carried on to the civil rights movement. Malcolm X was a victim of the Eurocentric oppression of African hair and culture. Malcolm, like most African Americans, had some white ancestry. His hair was already reddish-brown because of the genes inherited from his Scottish grandfather, but he would regularly put conk in his hair to straighten it out and to appear more European. After his conversion to the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X denounced the conk and favored a more Afrocentric approach to hair. Soon, groups such as the Black Panthers further expanded upon Malcolm’s appreciation for natural hair. Thus, hair style soon became a hair statement.
Black hair soon became a multi-billion dollar industry. The first commercials associated with black hair care were Afro Sheen, Soft N Beautiful, and Dr. Miracle. These commercials featured black women in particular and instilled a sense of pride in African-Americans about their hair by sporting natural styles and afros. A concern of Afiya’s was the way in which the black hair care industry had changed from the early 1970’s to the present. In later commercials such as L’Oreal, women stopped wearing their natural hair and sported weave.
Mangum hopes to combine her knowledge of psychology with the practice of cosmetology in the future. She plans to open her own office in a beauty salon and to eventually become a certified beautician. While in the salon chair, Mangum hopes that her customers will open up and discuss their problems, since many beauticians already act as confidantes and semi-psychologists to their clients.
“I hope to be a healing presence in people’s lives”, she said.