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Black Women Hair Styles

Hair is something that gives character to one’s face, especially for a woman. Throughout the ages, styling the hair in different ways has always been a very important activity for a woman. Hair is an essential accessory and those who possess good hair have always had an edge in terms of having a pleasing appearance, than those who don’t.

Women and even men who had hair problems have resorted to wearing wigs.  But one’s natural hair, if properly styled and maintained, present an entirely different appearance altogether. It gives character to one’s face, highlights and defines facial features like cheek bones, and eyes. Before talking about black women hair styles, one would like to know about how and when people actually started cutting their hair, and for what purpose.

Hair is actually an external outgrowth of the horn layer of the skin. Cells of the horn layer do not contain nerves so it doesn’t hurt one to cut one’s hair. It is quite similar to nails, which also do not have nerve ends. So similarly it doesn’t hurt one to cut one’s nails. Hair is and will always be an extremely important part of our appearance. Since it is relatively easy to cut and style hair in different ways, men and women have been experimenting with different hairstyles since time immemorial. No one really knows about the first person who thought of cutting their hair an arranging it in a special manner. What is known for sure is that women had been using combs from a very long time, thousands and thousands of years ago. Curling and straightening of hair has also been practiced as age old customs. In fact curling and straightening of hair has even ha religious significance, and were performed before certain religious ceremonies among different tribes.

The custom for long hair for women and short hair for men is more modern. The custom was quite different in the Middle Ages when men wore their hair long, and even styled it with ribbons! Men had to have short hair in England during the reign of Henry VIII who made it compulsory for men to cut their hair short. When James I became the King of England, long hair for men and even wigs, made a comeback. Women on the other hand have always worn their hair long. For women, possessing long hair has always been an article of beauty, since the time of the Helens and Cleopatras. Nowadays women often wear their hair short, the simple reason being that it is quite fashionable, comfortable, and easy to maintain. It is also less bothersome as it saves the trouble of having o bother with pins, clips, combs, and hair ornaments.

Black women have coloured skin and even their hair is different- it is inherently curly. Why are differences in skin colour seen betweendifferent people in the world? The explanation lies in a complex set of chemical processes that take place in the body and the skin. In the cells and tissues of the skin, one has pigments called chromogens, which are colour imparting pigments. They are colourless by themselves, but they get oxidised, or fermented, or even by enzymatic changes, they produce a definite skin colour. The colour of a person’s skin is dependent on these chromogens. Sunlight is able to create melanin, which is a black pigment. People living in tropical areas have more melanin, as they have greater exposure to the rays of the sun. This is what produces dark skin of Black people.

Why do black people have different hair? The type of hair one has depends on one’s inheritance. It is an acquired character which passes on from generation to generation, mostly depending upon the genetic make up of the person. The general structure of the hair shows very little variation between human beings. What differs is its form, colour, texture and the way it looks under a microscope. All of these differences occur in definite patterns, and so hair is one of the best ways to determine the race of a person. Most Black people, except a few exceptions possess “woolly” hair.

This hair is short and crisp, jet black in colour and in the hair of the people of the black races. Black women generally have hair that is extremely curly, as a result of the differences in the hair proteins. So hairstyles for black women are completely different. Black women have curly, wavy or frizzy hair. Having hair problems is more common for them, as their hair can become quite unmanageable. Braiding or tying back the hair in a bun is a quite common hairstyle for black women. There are different ways of braiding the hair. Having dreadlocks is also quite common among Black women. Other hair styles include cropped hair, braids, super-short cuts, buns, bobs and layered hair. Hair experts recommend that straightening is not always a good option for people with curly hair, as it may damage the overall health of the hair. Black women have sported, and are still sporting very classy hairstyles.