FASHION & STYLE AVENUE: Being, Living and Loving Fashion

FASHION & STYLE AVENUE

Being, Living & Loving Fashion

BLACK-WOMAN'S HAIR: BLOGGER'S REVIEW

Over the years we've seen the evolution of black-women's hair. Some people call it a rebellion, saying that black-women have self-hate and that they're destroying their health by using dangerous chemicals and heated irons to straighten their hair. Now I have decided to go back into time, to research the core matter of this issue: When, how and why did this religion begin?...I've also asked a few women how they feel about this issue and I've found out that to most of them this issue is as light as a feather. It doesn't have anything to do with anything, it's just hair...but to some it's actually deeper than that, it's their pride, their social status and the way they choose to express their personal freedom, though some people may ask, what does personal freedom have to do with hairstyling?....

The first evidence of a hair straightener dates back to the late 18^th century when Parisian Marcel Grateau invented the heated-rod hair straightener in 1872, he also went on to design a hair straightener with metallic teeth in 1906...then in 1909 Isaak K. Shero patents his own invention, a hair straightener that consists of two flat irons that are heated and pressed together. However, it was Lady Jennifer Bell Schofield (Scottish heiress) who came up with a hair straightener that is most similar to the hair straightener used today, she did so by combining both Marcel Grateau and Isaak Shero's ideas coming up with a hinged, two-plated, heated iron.

Since these innovations didn't offer any permanent solutions to their target market (The Black-Americans), they didn't get to be as popular as their innovators had planned. Then follows the most controversial of them all, the birth of hair products/relaxers by Madam C.J Walker and she made a fortune alright! By taking advantage of the social ills that was encouraging Black-Americans to change the texture of their hair, she is the first self-made female millionaire in the world. Wow!!!