I just finished listening to a two-hour radio documentary, "The Business of Black Hair: Why are Koreans Dominating the Black Hair Care Business?" on 900 AM WURD. The show was hosted by Terry Briggs, chairman of the Jaguar Luxury Brand, newly developed Philadelphia-based company that claims to be the sole African American company that distributes wigs, weaves and other hair care products for African American women.
Basically, the documentary was an advertisement for the company entertwined with pertinent history about African Americans and their hair. It was fascinating learning about Annie Malone, who patented the hotcomb, and Christina Jenkins, who created the weave system. However, the documentary devolved into a discussion knocking Koreans who Briggs said dominate the hair care market by excluding African Americans. (There were no Koreans business owners to discuss thier business practices either.)
Briggs is trying to convince sisters everywhere to shop at his store because he is black. I'm kind of torn by his methods. While I agree that blacks in the hair business must retail products to be viable business operators, I believe he could have spoken to his audience without bashing another group. We can empower ourselves without attacking other people.
Black women battle with their hair every day. We spend untold hours in salons. We spend millions of dollars a year. We do all of this to try to make our hair be straight - something it's not naturally meant to do at all. It not only costs us in our wallets, but we pay with self esteem and in many cases our own hair.
While I applaud these brothers for their business acumen - going to China to get the hair to distribute it -I can't help but think that is selling weaves to black women the form of empowerment they claim it is. Is it simply a business opportunity? What do you think? How is selling straight hair to women with naturally kinky hair empowering?
Click here to read a manuscript of the documentary.
Comments (5)
I disagree that the issue is to just get straight hair. I've seen kinky ponytails, curly ponytails, wavy hair, hair for braiding, etc. So, it's not just straight hair - it's any type of hair. And my hair isn't naturally kinky, it is naturally curly. Blow it out and it's straight with no chemicals. My view is to back off of what some perceive we're trying to look like, but instead focus on the economic impact of the industry & how/where our dollars are being spent. I do think that commentary regarding this issue needs to be broadened, to introduce pros/cons relative to the marketing of haircare to blacks from both Blacks and Koreans.
Posted by MJ | January 14, 2008 4:31 PM
Posted on January 14, 2008 16:31
i think black woman are wasting there money,because after observing thousands of black woman with there hairstyles,i am sorry but 99 percent of them look fake/phony and some look just silly.
Posted by louis | January 14, 2008 10:46 PM
Posted on January 14, 2008 22:46
I disagree. I also listened to the documentary. It was full of information about the history of how black women got where they are today with their hair. Although Terry owns the store, I didn't here any advertisement for it. Naturally he would mention because its his business and the special was sponsored by his company, but the message I got from it was empowerment to take a step forward in ownership in an industry that directly affects all of this. Even if it isn't hair weaves, most of us still go into a Korean owned store to uy maintenance products like shampoos, conditioners, even natural hair products. So I got the message of empowerment than "buy our hair cause we're black".
Posted by Queen | January 15, 2008 9:57 AM
Posted on January 15, 2008 09:57
I read the transcript of the documentary as well as the power point presentation. Jaguar Luxury Brand did use the venue as an opportunity for advertisement. You may agree after viewing the power point presentation. However, wouldn't any business person do the same? Just as it may have been questionable for Jaguar to single out Korean Businesses, isn't it also questionable to hold Black Businesses to a higher/different standard than the rest of the business community?
Black women have been told for centuries that our hair could not be natural if we wanted to assimilate into American culture, and only in the last 40-50 years have black women challenged that premise. We challenge it in diverse ways...just as we are a diverse group of people. Now we have curly weaves, kinky weaves...etc.
If the paradigm is to change, we people of African decent would have to first develop a unified voice of what we expect of our women's hair and then build upon that foundation. Right now, some think black hair should only be straight while others think it should only be natural. Some believe you should never wear weaves while others think it is an easy way to have a diverse “look”. I doubt if we can find that unifying voice in our community, especially regarding hair.
Posted by Michelle B | January 15, 2008 11:04 AM
Posted on January 15, 2008 11:04
I am so frustrated with women focusing on hair and nails when their butts are as big as broad street. get rid of the fake hair and spend the time working out. WE ARE KILLING OURSELVES. No one else is doing it.
Posted by janet | January 15, 2008 1:29 PM
Posted on January 15, 2008 13:29