Chosen stream 1:

 COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA 

Abstract: 

 The Natural Hair movement, with the use of hashtags on Instagram has socially strengthened, in the online and offline world, the African community who have natural afro-textured hair. My aim in writing this paper is to share what I have discovered about how Africans with textured hair deal in society. The hashtag Natural Hair has paved the way for brighter days ahead as on the social media, known as Instagram, the African community have received much recognition and support from all over the world’s viewers. A large number of people have published photos of themselves embracing proudly their afro-textured hair with the hashtag Natural Hair. These publications and hashtags have promoted the Natural Hair movement online by making it become viral and trendy. The likes and comments of their followers on Instagram have reduce considerably the complex of inferiority which the African community might have felt towards their natural hair. The Natural Hair movement has promoted self-acceptance and unity. It shows the significance of belonging when becoming a member of an online community, as well as all of its benefits. 

Introduction:

 The Natural Hair movement has made use of Instagram to re-boost the African community who are ill at ease with their natural afro-textured hair.  This movement began in the 2000s and has gained momentum and visibility since it was created,(Versey, 2014). Their objectives were to motivate the African community to stop the use of hair straighteners, to develop healthy habits, to avoid relaxers, and to challenge the Western expectations of straightened hair by encouraging them to define their own beauty standards (Versey, 2014). Although natural hair movements began before the development of the internet and social media platforms like Instagram, the natural hair movement has advanced significantly and is now influencing thousands of Africans who want to return to natural hair. This movement has created such an impact in the minds of Africans that some started to question themselves seriously on their own identity, being given that Hair is perhaps the most powerful racial or ethnic identifier, as well as a method of expressing oneself (Synnott, 1987). Consequently, a large fraction of the African community turns back to their roots passing from imposed western hairstyles to natural afro-textured hair. Public hair websites, African’s hair forums, and user-generated content platforms were the main ways of informing and updating the society that natural hair was being brought to light (Versey, 2014).

This paper will talk about the natural hair movement that have created various communities of textured hair people by introducing a sense of belong among the Africans of similar capillary history. Secondly, the natural kinky hair because being posted onInstagram has rendered it popular and has aided in the fight against associated prejudices, resulting to a rise in acceptance and embracement of natural textured hair in the part of African community. It allowed the African community to educate themselves on the wrong beliefs concerning their own natural hair thus reviewing their way of tackling the matter.

The Natural Hair movement has socially strengthened because of its online community that has re-boosted Africans with similar capillary history.

The creation of online natural hair communities has permitted the development of a sense of membership among the people concerned. This movement helped in the setting up of own beauty standard and glory of natural afro-textured hair. For a long time, African with textured hair hid their natural hair, owing mostly to different racial discriminations and unfounded stereotypes (Phelps-Ward & Laura, 2016). The people with natural textured hair were associated with a lot of negative prejudice and unfounded stereotypes thus they were the victims of injustice which led to rejection, “Many Black American women making this transition to natural hair face rejection from family, romantic partners, and even potential employers” (Davis et al., 2019). 

 Fortunately, the creation of online natural hair communities has played an important role in the reassurance of the ones with natural hair.  The members of those communities often felt re-boosted, understood and at ease to express themselves freely. Being a part of an online community significantly improves an individual’s overall quality of life (Raj, 2015). It has been discovered that online support groups are just as clever and successful as real communities, if not more so, ‘‘online support groups can be just as impactful, if not more so, than traditional face-to-face support groups’’ (Raj, 2015). 

Online community is an extension of those who proudly assume their afro natural textured hair in the offline world, thus strengthening the spirit of acceptance among each other,‘‘Concerning racial inequality discourse, online community has become particularly salient to activism and organization both on- and offline’’ (Williams, 2017). This atmosphere of togetherness allows the natural hair community to obtain an additional sense of self-esteem, leading their relationship and acceptance of their hair to solidify, nourishing their adherence to a community (Williams, 2017). Being part of a community reduces the feeling of loneliness and recomfort them from a situation of isolation, ‘‘… a majority of participants reported a reduction in loneliness’’ (Raj, 2015). Belonging to a group can foster good social identity by allowing someone to feel acknowledged and accepted as his “real self” in an online community (Schufreider, 2015). Any adherent to a community may feel secure in a support group environment which boost his self-esteem and makes him feel better, ‘‘…have been found to improve the well-being and self-esteem of attendees’’ (Trichon & Tetnowski, 2011, as cited in Raj, 2015, p. 1).  Seeing more and more Africans accepting and showing off their hair has certainly empowered the natural hair movement. Seeing accurate representations of natural afro textured hair on social medias has given the African population the opportunity to reconstruct how they depict themselves, therefore embracing their black identity. (Mithembu, 2017). Approximately 30% of Black women now wear their hair in its natural form (Ellington, 2015). People who choose to go natural may experience a variety of emotions, including an increase in confidence. Their hair was frequently a part of their identity, and when this trait changed, these people may have to go through a transition period (Jackson, 2017).  The harsh reality is that whatever be the way someone with afro-textured hair may choose to wear his hair, he may be subject regularly to microaggressions and discrimination (“Is Natural Hair a Fetish to the Public Eye? One Woman Explains”, 2022). To avoid such inequalities, Africans shift from natural afro kinky hair to straight European hair so as to obtain the same opportunities as the one’s with straight hair, and be lauded according to the same restrictive societal standards of beauty (“Is Natural Hair a Fetish to the Public Eye? One Woman Explains”, 2022).

By the use of Hashtags and publications, Instagram’s significant role is to change the mentality of people with natural afro-textured hair and its viewers.

Photos and publications on Instagram have tremendously aided in the popularization of natural hair, discouraging the black community from relaxing their hair in order to conform to western beauty standards (Rowe (2016) and Randle (2015)). Those photos and publications are often accompanied by captions where any member of a natural hair community can express freely and put the appropriate hashtags to support this combat. Instagram share a positive image of wearing natural hair. As a result, African viewers are urged to embrace their natural hair, reconciling them with their black identity and natural afro textured hair. This statement might indicate that, as a result of the natural hair revolution on web 2.0, particularly on Instagram, Africans have travelled a deeper path than simply loving their natural hair, as they are also embracing and accepting their identity and heritage. By doing so, they are also combating numerous preconceptions regarding natural hair. Various stereotypes and preconceive opinions have been attached to people with those natural hair such as being dirty, nor presentable neither professional nor even statement like ‘black people had wool on their heads rather than hair’ (Ellington, 2015).  The above prejudice ideas are the reasons why most people with kinky hair have abandon their natural hair thus losing their identity.

Instagram has much to do with the natural hair movement as due to its participatory culture people have contributed a lot in the acceptance and empowerment of natural afro-textured hair. multiple of people having kinky, tight or loose curls and afros have afros come together to share their experience with their natural hair, be it by the publishing photos and videos where their textured hairs are in evidence accompanied with proper hashtags or by promoting a positive message about their natural afro-textured hair in their Instagram stories daily. It has been found that online communities educate the public by providing efficient information such as videos that the general public consumes in order to modify their paradigm of acceptance of other communities, ‘‘While many women have recently been called out for their inadvertent appropriation of black hair care and styling, the ongoing production of these videos suggests acceptance by the masses who consume them’’ (Williams, 2017).e natural hair communityon social media platforms, like Instagram, has enabled the African community and even the society to reposition them on the stereotypes that for a long time were associated to natural hair. In (“Why the natural hair movement is more than an Instagram fad | Coster Content”, 2022), there is an example of the natural hair movement online, in this article the case study of a black woman is shown where the latter was asked to chemically straighten her hair so as to be quality and obtain a job. Employers of Harrods company deemed her natural hair unprofessional and under the required standard, ‘‘The hair she was born with was not up to Harrods’ standards, and while they would like her DNA to be different, they were more than willing to settle for a chemical relaxer.’’ (“Why the natural hair movement is more than an Instagram fad | Coster Content”, 2022). It appears to be a minor issue at first. For black women, however, it represents centuries of oppression, and it’s only been a decade since there has been a visible, growing movement, like the natural hair movement, against the way some people use hair to discriminate against black community.

 Conclusion:

To conclude the Natural Hair movement, with the use of hashtags on Instagram has socially strengthened, in the online and offline world, the African community who have natural afro-textured hair. The natural hair communities found on various Instagram posts have greatly empowered Africans to embrace their identity, to accept their uniqueness and the originality of their hair types. Nowadays, thanks to Instagram, the community of people with natural afro-textured hair has progress a lot in the way they accept their physical condition. One can even say that they are proud to show their African identity. These online communities have enabled people with textured hair throughout the world to speak up and demonstrate the actual beauty of their natural hair. People that form part of the natural hair movement and who support their cause have stopped straitening their hair and are finally accepting and reconciliating with their own self, being who they really are naturally. The determination to fight the injustice of being a stereotype’s product is finally coming to a certain form of success.  The creation of communities through Instagram have made the African community feel positively judged and for the first time, they seem heard, understood and not rejected anymore. My opinion on this topic is that more analysis and evaluation should look at how the natural hair movement has expanded over the world as well as how the online publications of people with natural afro textured hair have contributed to the raising of awareness in terms of the natural hair movement. The natural hair community has gained back the consideration which it deserves with the launching of the hashtag on Instagram. According to me more actions still remain to be done but actually the communities are on the right path, the road is far ahead but reachable. Natural hair does not need any fixed, but society’s views of beauty do. As the saying goes where there’s a will there’s a way.

Reference list:

Davis, D., Mbilishaka, A., & Templeton, T. (2019). From “About Me” to “About We”: Therapeutic Intentions of Black American Women’s Natural Hair Blogs. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 8(1), 105–123.

Ellington, T. N. (2015). Social networking sites: A support system for African-American women wearing natural hair. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 8(1), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2014.974689

Is Natural Hair a Fetish to the Public Eye? One Woman Explains. Byrdie. (2022). Retrieved 25 April 2022, from https://www.byrdie.com/is-natural-hair-turning-into-a-fetish.

Jackson, C. (2017). YouTube Communities and the Promotion of Natural Hair Acceptance Among Black Women. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 8(1), 10.

Mithembu, S. N. (2017). Black women’s beautification practices in South African press reports: A discourse analysis [Master’s Thesis, University of Johannesburg]. file:///C:/Users/Cam%20Carcasse/Downloads/Black%20women%20s%20beautification%20practices%20in%20South%20African%20press%20reports%20_%20a%20discourse%20analysis.pdf

Raj, E. X. (2015). Online communities for people who stutter: An ethnographic study of a 0RW1S34RfeSDcfkexd09rT2facebook1RW1S34RfeSDcfkexd09rT2 social networking support group (Order No. 3700668). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (1679270050). Retrieved from https://link.library.curtin.edu.au/gw?url=https://www-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/dissertations-theses/online-communities-people-who-stutter/docview/1679270050/se-2?accountid=10382

Randle, B. A. (2015). I Am Not My Hair; African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair! Race, Gender & Class, 22(1/2), 114–121.

Rowe, K. (2016, Fall). Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America. The Griot, 35(2), 203–III.

Schufreider, M. M. (2015). Relationship of facebook usage and facebook belongingness to emerging adulthood’s self-es’’teem and social identity (Order No. 10008890). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (1762570202). Retrieved from https://link.library.curtin.edu.au/gw?url=https://www-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/dissertations-theses/relationship-facebook-usage-belongingness/docview/1762570202/se-2?accountid=10382

Synnott, A. (1987). Shame and Glory: A Sociology of Hair. The British Journal of Sociology, 38(3), 381–413. https://doi.org/10.2307/590695

Versey, H. S. (2014). Centering Perspectives on Black Women, Hair Politics, and Physical Activity. American Journal of Public Health, 104(5), 810–815.

Why the natural hair movement is more than an Instagram fad | Coster Content. Coster Content. (2022). Retrieved 25 April 2022, from https://www.costercontent.co.uk/blog/writers-corner-natural-hair-movement.

Williams, A. A. (2017). Theorizing black community online: Of black mind, black self, and black society (Order No. 10800952). Available from ProQuest One Academic. (2021984048). Retrieved from https://link.library.curtin.edu.au/gw?url=https://www-proquest-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/dissertations-theses/theorizing-black-community-online-mind-self/docview/2021984048/se-2?accountid=10382