The development of microaggressions in the online natural hair co

Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University African-American Studies Theses Department of African-American Studies Spring 5-9-2015 The Development of Microaggressions in the Online Natural Hair Community: A Thematic Analysis Yasmin Harrell Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.edu/aas_theses Recommended Citation Harrell, Yasmin, "The Development of Microaggressions in the Online Natural Hair Community: A Thematic Analysis." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2015.edu/aas_theses/27 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of African-American Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in African-American Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MICROAGGRESSIONS IN THE ONLINE NATURAL HAIR COMMUNITY: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS by YASMIN HARRELL Under the Direction of Sarita Davis, PhD ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores microaggressions in the online natural hair community.

Using a thematic analysis, it specifically analyzes conversations about natural hair texture discrimination and /or biases, also known as curlism, in natural hair online spaces such as blogs and YouTube videos. This study concludes that hair texture biases and the ways in which Black women with natural hair experience difference in hair texture is multifaceted; therefore, natural hair companies, women in the natural hair community, and the natural hair community are not individually responsible. Each plays a different role in the perpetuation of hierarchy and difference within this community. The themes developed in this research are as follows: The Kink Vs.

The Curl, Curlism as Colorism, Insurgence of Hair Texture Biases, and Empowerment of the Natural Hair Community. INDEX WORDS: Natural hair, Hair texture, Bias, Black Women, Youtube, Blogs THE DEVELOPMENT OF MICROAGGRESSIONS IN THE ONLINE NATURAL HAIR COMMUNITY: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS by YASMIN HARRELL A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2015 Copyright by Yasmin Kalese-Shareece Harrell 2015 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MICROAGGRESSIONS IN THE ONLINE NATURAL HAIR COMMUNITY: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS by YASMIN HARRELL Committee Chair: Sarita Davis Committee: Tiffany King Mukungu Akinyela Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2015 iv DEDICATION First and foremost, I would like to dedicate this research project to my Heavenly Father. For without him, I would not have been able to complete this process. I also want to dedicate this to all Black women who have transitioned to wearing their hair in its natural state.

I hope that throughout your journey you have found support and learned to love your hair exactly how God meant for it to grow. You my sisters are beautifully and wonderfully made. Last but certainly not least, I want to also dedicate this to my mother and my sister. You both have encouraged and supported me throughout this entire process.

I am forever thankful. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my thesis committee chair, Dr. Since the beginning you have been extremely helpful with my thesis project. Thank you so much for the constructive criticism and keeping me on track.

I would also like to thank the rest of my committee members for their help with this research project. Because of you all, I am a better scholar. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. v LIST OF FIGURES.

ix LIST OF TABLES .2 Statement of Problem.3 Purpose of Study .4 Significance of Study.5 Nature of Study.8 Natural Hair Terminology.10 Scope, Limitations, and Delimitations.1 Pre-Enslavement/ Post Enslavement .2 The Development of Good and Bad Hair .3 The Black Power Movement .5 Colorism and Curlism in the Black Community.6 Mass Media/ Self Perceptions.7 The Emergence of the Natural Hair Community/Movement .8 Limitations in the Literature. 36 3 RESEARCH METHODS AND DESIGN APPROPRIATENESS .1 Population and Sampling .3 Discussion of Thematic Analysis.4 Reliability and Validity.2 Thematic Analysis and Description .4 The Kink Vs.5 Curlism as Colorism.6 Insurgence of Hair Texture Biases .7 Empowerment of the Natural Hair Community. 56 5 CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS .1 Discussions and Conclusions .1 Explore Natural Hair Companies .2 Explore the Elimination of Hair Texture Biases.4 Summary and Final Thoughts. 71 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.

3 x LIST OF TABLES Table 4. 49 xi PROLOGUE On December 12th 2010, I decided to no longer relax my hair and start my natural hair journey. Prior to doing my first big chop, I transitioned for ten months and during this time I did extensive research on natural hair by looking at blogs and YouTube videos. These resources were extremely beneficial as they taught me how to wear protective styles while transitioning, since two different hair textures can be very hard on the hair, and I also learned what to expect after cutting the relaxed ends off.

I wore braid outs (where the hair is braided and unbraided in the morning to give the hair a crinkly look) and extension braids for majority of my transition process. At the end of 2010, I decided that I was ready to see my hair in all its natural glory. I went to my hairstylist in Colorado who only cut my relaxed ends off and did not style my natural kinks, so I went home and looked up a natural hair twist-out tutorial on YouTube. After doing the style step by step, I was so disappointed about how my hair turned out.

My curls did not look anything like the woman in the YouTube videos; as a matter of fact, my hair did not look like any of the naturalistas’ hair in which I aspired. The first 18 months I struggled with my hair. I did not like the length or my natural curl pattern. One of the first natural hair products that I tried was Miss Jessie’s; this product assured its consumers that it turns kinks into curls.

Like Miss Jessie’s, several products that I tried, made the same promise to their customers; however, I was just as disappointed with the results. Such hair products made me feel as though I needed to tame my hair, because my natural hair texture still needed to be maneuvered. Over the course of 18 months, I wore braids, wore my hair in a poof, and never wore my hair out, because I was discontent with this experience. It was not until my hair grew out that the love-hate relationship that I had with my hair, transformed into me accepting my hair for what it was.

I began to do wash and gos and let my hair xii naturally kink up. My false expectations had distracted me from why I first wanted to go natural, which was to negate Eurocentric conventions of beauty and not assimilate to western culture. As my hair grew, I begin to fall in love with every kink, and sometimes curl that formed. April 2014, I decided to do a second big chop because I wanted to re-experience my natural hair journey from the very beginning.

I noticed the first time I went natural, I hardly took any pictures of my hair in its shorter stages, because I was not happy with my curl pattern or the length. Besides knowing how to style my hair, my second big chop taught me to love my hair in the stages that most naturals wish not to be in; the short stage. Because natural hair tends to grow faster than relaxed hair, I am learning to appreciate the shorter stages while I can. During this process, I noticed that other naturals, who are newly natural, like I did in the beginning, had different expectations when they cut off their relaxed ends.

They expected to experience this great amount of liberation coupled with a specific curl pattern, but once I became natural, I noticed that this community that I longed to be a part of was not as liberating as I assumed. Beauty brands such as Miss Jessie’s and popular natural hair inspirations cater towards women who have looser curls, meaning a softer gradation of hair. Natural hair beauty brands tend to make products that advertise a defined curl look that supposedly all women with natural hair can achieve. My confusion and negative feelings towards my hair the first time I went natural definitely arose from the way the natural hair community and beauty brands portrayed Black natural hair.

I understood from the beginning that women have different natural hair textures, but I had no idea that different hair textures would receive different treatment within the natural hair community, which would eventually make me feel self-conscious about my hair because it did not fall or curl the way I imagined. This experience definitely tainted my natural hair journey. As I became more familiar with the natural hair community, I noticed that beyond the support that it xiii appears to offer Black women, it is also affected by hair typing which influences hair texture biases. My observation of this system within the natural hair community has led me to the present research inquiry about hair texture discrimination or curlism within the online natural hair community.

1 1 INTRODUCTION As the popularity of natural hair and its online community continue to rise, the politics of Black hair remain very complex. Spaces such as the workplace, the military, and sometimes educational institutions regulating how Black women wear their hair have been the main topics of academic conversation; however, natural hair communities have attempted to provide a safe space for Black naturals to connect and support one another. Unfortunately by hair typing, which indicates the softness or kinkiness of a woman’s curl pattern, the natural hair community has become influenced by curlism. The term curlism coined by the natural hair community, defines curlism as hair texture discrimination or placing one hair texture above the other.

Arguably, it is perpetuated by natural hair bloggers, social media outlets, and beauty brands. The commonly known definition of curlism is placing one type of hair texture above the other; this definition is the definition the researcher uses for this research. The role that curlism plays within the natural hair community produces hair hierarchy and curl patterns that have a proximity to whiteness, which tend to be ranked at the top. Hair texture, length, and hairstyles have been a reoccurring issue amongst Black women and continue to be a problem in the natural hair community.

The definition of natural hair is “hair whose texture has not been altered by chemical straighteners, such as relaxers or texturizers” (blackhair. However, over the last 10 years Black women have made a conscious decision to go natural. “According to a study in 2011, there was a 36 percent increase among African- American women who decided to do away with hair chemicals” (Black Like Moi, 2013). Now that natural hair has become more popular among Black women, the image of Black hair continues to evolve.

For example, Pantene, the first mainstream hairline to produce products for Black women, believes that they “are creating a new healthy image that says straight hair is not 2 good hair, but good hair is healthy hair” (Compton, 2005, p. Because more hair companies like Pantene are expanding positive images of Black hair in its natural state, other competing images of Black hair within the natural hair community, such as placing a softer hair texture above a kinkier one, have been ignored. A professor at the University of Delaware, Tiffany Gill posits, “ ‘we can think of that as sort of a victory in some ways, but also not to overshadow that there’s still discrimination against women in certain industries based on how they wear their hair’”(Black Like Moi, 2013). By examining hair texture discrimination, I draw attention to a community of women who have been underrepresented in scholarly research, which leads to a deeper understanding why certain types of natural hair are preferred.1 Background This research investigates the affects that curlism has on Black women in the online natural hair community.