Yakini Horn, owner of Yaya’s Natural Hair Boutique in Atlanta, rolled sections of Akeyla Peele-Tembong’s hair in her hands during a styling visit on Feb. 20, 2023. Horn was creating “starter locs,” the early stage of a natural hairstyle that will take months to root. Credit: Victoria St. Martin
By Victoria St. Martin, Inside Climate News, February 27, 2023
Perched in a stylist’s chair at Yaya’s Natural Hair Boutique, Akeyla Peele-Tembong teared up as she recalled how, when she was a college student, one of her professors suggested that she straighten her natural hair to improve her chances of landing a plum work-study job.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to.’ She was just, like, ‘I mean, just think about it.’ And that was it,” Peele-Tembong said, while her stylist twisted her natural hair into locs. “I didn’t realize how big of a deal that conversation was at that time.”
Societal pressure to conform is a factor in why Black women are twice as likely as those from other groups to use hair relaxers, and Asian women are three times as likely to use skin lighteners, according to a new study that also linked chemicals in such products to adverse health effects.
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