Hair is an extremely important part of culture for black people. Junior Alda Negash said “ African American hair has evolved a lot, at first it was to find a way to escape or for protective hairstyle”
From representing different positions of power or simple self-expression hair has always held some type of significance. Despite that long, rich history black hair has been disrespected.
However, even when black hair began to be discriminated against in recent history black people still found ways to express themselves through their hair from headscarves to multiple versions of braids. A new example has begun to arise in a small trend of internet creators, mostly TikTokers, sculpting their natural hair.
Black hair sculpting is exactly what it sounds like, black people using their natural hair, usually 4C or tighter, and forming it into unique shapes and styles. They often use tools like hair spray to help their hair keep its shape and even hair paint to temporarily add color to hair for more creative art projects. Examples of people who use these inquiries are creators Shesasolarbeing and Kwiinava, both very prominent figures in this micro-niche on TikTok. Shesasolarbeing focuses more on hair sculpting for day-to-day life with the occasional fantastical hairstyles while Kwiinava focuses on using her hair as a canvas for unique hair sculptures.
Both of these people show people that black people can be just as if not more creative with black hair, these two display the versatility and beauty of black hair on screen for everyone to see. They serve as good mental and visual inspiration for hairstyles to try.
It’s important to not only shine a light on new and unique ways black people express themselves but also celebrate how versatile black hair can be. Black hair, especially 4C hair, has been forced to convert to Western beauty standards, forced to be completely straight and clean even if it’s an extremely difficult style to maintain for day-to-day life.
Black hair sculpting demonstrates that not only is black hair beautiful it also should be celebrated for its unique strengths like sculpting. Times thankfully have become better over time. One day hopefully black people will be able to wear their natural hair out without feeling ashamed or being shamed.
Black people should fully push the limits of their hair to use it to express themselves.
