Kinky hair (also known as afro-textured hair, afro-hair or natural afro-hair) is a human hair texture prevalent in the Indigenous peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, Melanesia, Micronesia, Torres Strait Islands, and Tasmania, along with the Negrito populations of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands. Each strand of this hair type grows in a repeating pattern of small contiguous kinks which can be classified as tight twists and sharp folds. These numerous kinks make kinky hair appear denser than straight, wavy, and other curly hair types.
Terminology English adjectives such as woolly, kinky, or spiraled have been used in the mid-20th century to describe natural afro-textured hair. More formally, ulotrichous ('curly-haired' from and ) refers to afro-textured hair, its antonym being leiotrichous ('smooth-haired'). Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent in 1825 introduced the scientific term Oulotrichi for the purpose of human taxonomy.
In 1997, hairstylist Andre Walker created a numerical grading system for human hair types. The Andre Walker Hair Typing System classifies kinky hair as 'type 4' (there are other types of hair, defined as type 1 for straight hair, type 2 for wavy, and type 3 for curly, with the letters A, B, and C used as indicators of the degree of coil variation in each type), with the subcategory of type 4C being most exemplary of the kinky hair. However, kinky hair is often difficult to categorize because of the many different variations among individuals. Those variations include pattern (mainly tight coils), pattern size (watch-spring to chalk), density (sparse to dense), strand diameter (fine, medium, coarse), and feel (cottony, woolly, spongy). This leads to variants of kinky hair, like the pepper corn hair found in Khoisan and Pygmy people, and combable thick spirally hair most common in southern and central Africans, which grows exponentially faster than the norm known by dermatologists. The 4A, 4B and 4C scale only includes Afroeurasian hair with varying degree of curl patterns.
Different genetic groups have observable differences in the structure, density, and growth rate of hair. With regard to structure, all human hair has the same basic chemical composition in terms of keratin protein content. Franbourg et al. have found that black hair may differ in the distribution of lipids throughout the hair shaft. Classical kinky hair has been found to be not as densely concentrated on the scalp as other follicle types. Specifically, the average density of kinky hair was found to be approximately 190 hairs per square centimeter. This was significantly lower than that of European hair, which, on average, has approximately 227 hairs per square centimeter.
Geneviève Loussouarn found that kinky hair grows at an average rate of approximately 256 micrometers per day, whereas European-textured straight hair grows at approximately 396 micrometers per day. In addition, due to a phenomenon called 'shrinkage', kinky hair that is a given length when stretched straight can appear much shorter when allowed to naturally coil. Shrinkage is most evident when kinky hair is (or has recently been) wet. The more coiled the hair texture, the higher its shrinkage.
The shape of the hair follicle determines the hair's curliness. An individual hair's shape is never completely circular. The cross-section of a hair is an ellipse, which can tend towards a circle or be distinctly flattened. Straight hair, like those of East Asians, is formed from almost-round hair follicles while wavy hair, as found in Europe, is formed by oval shaped follicles. Kinky hair has a flattened cross-section which is finer and its ringlets can form tight circles with diameters of only a few millimeters. In humans worldwide, East Asian-textured hair is the most common, whereas kinky hair is the least common. This is because the former hair texture is typical of the large populations inhabiting the Far East as well as the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Evolution
Kinky hair is a uniquely human characteristic, as most mammals have straight hair, including the earliest hominids. Clarence R. Robbins (2012) suggests that kinky hair may have initially evolved because of an adaptive need amongst humans' early hominid ancestors for protection against the intense UV radiation of the sun in Africa.Robbins, Clarence R. (2012) Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, p. 181,
According to Robbins (2012), kinky hair may have been adaptive for the earliest modern humans in Africa because the relatively sparse density of such hair, combined with its elastic helix shape, results in an airy effect. The resulting increased circulation of cool air onto the scalp may have thus served to facilitate the body-temperature-regulation system of hominids while they lived on the open savannah. Kinky hair requires more moisture than straight hair and tends to shrink when dry. Instead of sticking to the neck and scalp when damp (as do straighter textures), it tends to retain its basic springiness, unless completely drenched. The trait may have been retained and/or preferred among many anatomically modern populations in equatorial areas, such as Micronesians, Melanesians (including Torres Strait Islanders), and the Negrito, because of its contribution to enhanced comfort levels under tropical climate conditions. In rare cases, kinky hair may also be found in populations living under temperate climate conditions, such as Aboriginal Tasmanians.
History Historically, many cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa – in common with cultures worldwide – developed hairstyles that defined status, or identity, in regards to age, ethnicity, wealth, social rank, marital status, religion, fertility, adulthood, and death. Hair was carefully groomed, as the social implications of hair grooming were a significant part of community life. Dense, thick, clean, and neatly groomed hair was something highly admired and sought after. Hair groomers possessed unique styling skills, allowing them to create a variety of designs that met the local cultural standards.
In many traditional cultures, communal grooming was a social event when women socialized and strengthened bonds with their families. Historically, hair braiding was not a paid trade. When men from the Wolof tribe (in modern Senegal and The Gambia) went to war they wore a braided style. A woman in mourning would either not "do" her hair or adopt a subdued style. Since the creation of the African diaspora and during the 20th and 21st centuries, it has developed into a global industry in regions such as the United States and South Africa, as well as among sub-Saharan African migrants to Western Europe; the global black hair care market is estimated at $1.6 billion dollars USD. An individual's hair groomer was usually someone whom they knew closely. Sessions can include shampooing, oiling, combing, braiding, and twisting, plus adding accessories.
For shampooing, black soap was widely used in nations in West and Central Africa. Additionally, palm oil and palm kernel oil were popularly used for oiling the scalp. Shea butter has traditionally been used to moisturize and dress the hair.
United States
Trans-Atlantic slave trade
Diasporic Africans in the Americas have experimented with ways to style their hair since their arrival in the Western Hemisphere well before the 19th century. During the approximately 400 years of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which extracted over 20 million people from West and Central Africa, their beauty ideals have undergone numerous changes.
Africans captured as slaves no longer had the sort of resources to practice hair grooming that they had had when home. The enslaved Africans adapted as best they could under the circumstances, finding sheep-fleece carding tools particularly useful for detangling their hair. They suffered from scalp diseases and infestations due to their living conditions. Enslaved people used varying remedies for disinfecting and cleansing their scalps, such as applying kerosene or cornmeal directly on the scalp with a cloth as they carefully parted the hair. Enslaved field hands often shaved their hair and wore hats to protect their scalps against the sun. House slaves had to appear tidy and well-groomed. The men sometimes wore wigs mimicking their "masters"', or similar hairstyles, while the women typically plaited or braided their hair. During the 19th century, hair styling, especially among women, became more popular. Cooking grease such as lard, butter and goose grease, were used to moisturize the hair. Women sometimes used hot butter knives to curl their hair.
Because of the then-prevalent notion that straight wavy or curly hair (which, unlike kinky hair, is common in people of European origin) was more acceptable than kinky hair, many black people began exploring solutions for straightening, or relaxing, their tresses. One post-slavery method was a mixture of lye, egg and potato, which burned the scalp upon contact.
Politics of kinky hair in the West
Wearing kinky hair in its natural state today represents embracing one's natural self, and for some it is a simple matter of style or preference. In the United States during the 1960s, kinky hair was transformed into a revolutionary political statement that became synonymous with Black Pride & Beauty, and by default a fundamental tool in the Black Power Movement; "[h]air came to symbolize either a continued move toward integration in the American political system or a growing cry for Black power and nationalism." Prior to this, the idealized Black person (especially Black women) "had many Eurocentric features, including hairstyles." However, during the movement, the Black community endeavoured to define their own ideals and beauty standards, and hair became a central icon which was "promoted as a way of challenging mainstream standards regarding hair". During this time, kinky hair "was at its height of politicization", and wearing an Afro was an easily distinguishable physical expression of Black pride and the rejection of societal norms. Jesse Jackson, a political activist, says that "the way [he] wore [his] hair was an expression of the rebellion of the time". Black activists infused straightened hair with political valence; straightening one's hair in an attempt to 'simulate Whiteness', whether chemically or with the use of heat, came to be seen by some as an act of self-hatred and a sign of internalized oppression imposed by White-dominated mainstream media.
At this time, an African-American person's "ability to conform to mainstream standards of beauty [was] tied to being successful." Thus, rejecting straightened hair symbolized a deeper act of rejecting the belief that straightening hair and other forms of grooming which were deemed 'socially acceptable' were the only means of looking presentable and attaining success in society. The pressing comb and chemical straighteners became stigmatized within the community as symbols of oppression and imposed White beauty ideals. Certain Black people sought to embrace beauty and affirm and accept their natural physical traits. One of the ultimate goals of the Black movement was to evolve to a level where Black people "were proud of black skin and kinky or nappy hair. As a result, natural hair became a symbol of that pride." Negative perceptions of kinky hair and beauty had been passed down through the generations, so they had become ingrained in Black mentality to the point where they had been accepted as simple truths. Wearing natural hair was seen as a progressive statement, and for all the support that the movement gathered, there were many who opposed natural hair both for its aesthetics and the ideology that it promoted. It caused tensions between the Black and White communities, as well as discomfort amongst more conservative African-Americans.