Braids are not just a hairstyle for many women,
they tell a story.
A story that has completely shaped entire cultures
for thousands of years.
And for many black women, that story has often become a source of controversy
and celebration alike.
To understand how braids became so rooted in black hair culture,
let’s go back to where it all began.
Africa.
In 15th century west Africa, hair was an identifier.
It was a way to distinguish a person’s age, religion, rank, marital status,
and even family groups.
And braids played a big part in that.
And not just on an individual level.
Since intricate braiding styles often took hours or even days to complete,
it was a time of bonding and community between women.
During the slave trade, everything changed.
As Africans were brought to the new world,
their heads were often shaved for sanitary reasons.
Africans not only lost their hair, but a part of their identity.
Though braids weren’t completely lost during slavery,
many enslaved Africans started braiding their hair once
again as a way to stay connected to their culture.
And keep their hair neat and tidy while working on plantations.
Without the products and treatments typically used in Africa,
Africans relied on bacon grease, butter, and kerosene
instead of conditioners and cleaners.
But this was just a small example of a larger sentiment
that revolved around traditional African hairstyles.
As slavery ended, black women in America opted for straight hair,
or “good hair,"
conforming to a European standard of beauty.
‘Good hair’ was a perceived doorway to opportunity
and black women with straight hair were considered better adjusted
or more accepted by their white counterparts.
By the 1960s, race relations were on the rise and black activists and artists alike
turned to their hair as a form of expression during the Black Power Movement.
Natural hair was making a comeback and braids were at the forefront of this return.
Cicely Tyson became the first woman to wear cornrows on television in “East Side/ West Side.”
Some say she sparked a natural hair movement and black women started to follow suit.
Hair was no longer associated as a source of shame, but a symbol of celebration.
And the world started to notice.
In 1979, Bo Derek made headlines by sporting cornrows in the movie “10.”
She was given full credit for the look
and it wasn’t long before cornrows were known as “Bo Braids,
and began taking over the mainstream hair market.
People Magazine called it a ‘cross-culture craze,’ and a ‘beauty store bonanza’,
while the same look on a black person was called ‘ghetto’, or ‘unpretty.’
In the workplace, braids were frowned upon—and many women lost their jobs over the hairstyle.
Thousands of cases like this popped up.
Employers argued that this style did not fit the ‘corporate image.’
They were afraid of the statement they thought braids made.
They didn’t understand them. And so they banned them.
But for every setback, there was also a step forward.
And no one knows that better than Sergeant Jasmine Jacobs,
who spearheaded the White House petition to overturn the ban on natural hairstyles in the military.
Who would have known that an army girl can fight but can’t do it with her hair twisted?
So what about me? Where I’m at.
No.
No?
What’s wrong with what I have?
Your braids would be considered a style because their parted in the middle and then
like going out to the sides.
Your braids have to go straight back.
I remember asking my first sergeant what I was supposed to do with my hair
when these regulations go into effect.
And she told me to get a wig.
But the wording and regulation is that the wig has to mimic your natural texture.
But you’ve outlawed my natural texture, so you really want my hair to be straight—
like just say that.
Yeah.
We’re all friends here.
Here’s how it went down:
The U.S. Army updated their grooming standards for female troops,
banning a number of natural hairstyles as a way to
'maintain uniformity within a military population.'
This included twists, dreadlocks and large cornrows.
And used terms like ‘matted’ and ‘unkempt’ to describe the unacceptable styles.
How would you explain to the every day person who may know absolutely nothing about natural hair care
or black hair, what this ban meant?
It’s a ban that for the most part is saying that,
your hair can’t be the way it naturally is.
And I think what’s really important to understand is that it’s supremely unhealthy
to not wear your hair naturally.
A lot of people maybe didn’t realize that it was like ‘hey either you can
cover your hair and like damaging sew-ins or weaves,
or you can chemically straighten it,
or you can wear a wig, which I don’t trust a wig staying on when you’re wearing a combat helmet.
I don’t trust a wig period.
So in combat, that’s the last place I want a wig.
The last place.
Exactly.
And how detrimental is that to someone’s psyche?
Especially coming from the military, because it was like,
’hey, you’re good enough to go to war and potentially not come back,
but we don’t support even like the very foundation of who you are.'
I just didn’t want to leave that kind of stigma for our future generations.
Jasmine first noticed the ban circulation on April 1st, 2014.
She thought it was the worst April Fools day joke ever.
We had seen a draft of it, it was kind of like
'well, this can’t be true.’
and then the actual ban started coming into effect right around April Fools Day.
And so...
I was like, the Army’s not funny!
Ya’ll aren’t even good at this.
Ya'll have no sense of humor.
At one point, I was just kind of like,
you know what, if this is real, I’m going to start a petition.
And I honestly thought that I would start a petition just as an excuse to kind of like complain.
And then maybe like 50 friends would sign it.
I always feel like you can’t complain about something unless you try to change it.
And so really, I was just trying to earn my complaints.
It actually went very differently, so…that was good.
It definitely went incredibl—very, very differently.
After a couple of news shows, that’s when congress got involved
and that’s when change actually happened.
Right, now we’ve got the government in it!
[Laughter]
What happens after congress has their say?
Some local congressmen from the state of Georgia contacted me—
they actually petitioned the Department of Defense
and said that they needed to review the regulations
and they also called them racially biased.
It was huge, I was fighting for the Army and it ended up having the entire
Armed Forces.
The immediate backlash led for the ban to be lifted by August 2014, but only on braids and twists.
The army just lifted the ban on dreadlocks in January 2017
and there are still contingencies that prevent certain types of locs.
A big part of the changing of the regulations was that moving forward,
anytime there was any uniform policy that’s going to effect the entire military,
there has to be a diverse representation of everyone at the table.
When you’re making decisions in that vacuum, it’s very easy to say,
’oh, that fro is getting in the way of you being able to do your job.'
I mean, if you’re not a black female, then why do you know about black hair care?
And so I’m hoping that
by instilling that kind of policy that’s not going to be something that
continues to be the norm.
We’re not just seeing this in the military, I mean, we’re seeing this
in so many iterations, what message do you have for women and girls
about loving their hair, loving themselves?
I think that black women are just starting to fall in love with themselves again.
And we’re starting to understand that it’s okay to kind of
express yourself culturally through your hair,
braids are like an art form.
I think the biggest thing is just kind of coming to terms with who you are, accepting that.
Whether it’s your hair, your gender, your sexuality—just love yourself.
Just make a space for yourself in society.
We’ve come along way with braids.
And I feel like things are finally starting to come full circle.
So I guess you’re wondering - why are we still talking about braids?
Black hair is coiled in a broader conversation about identity and dominant beauty ideals.
And that’s why braids are more than just a hairstyle -
they have a past.
And when we don’t recognize that, we lose the history behind it.
So give credit. It’s hard to hear about young girls who can’t go to school with braids in their hair,
and yet women who look nothing like them get praised and put on the cover of magazines for the exact same thing.
Ultimately, it’s about empowering girls and women that they are beautiful in their natural hair state.
And that is something worth celebrating.