Filed under: News, The Economy
In Sunday's Washington Post, Elizabeth Wellington writes that the recession "closed hundreds of African-American salons nationwide and stylists and business owners had to find jobs in mainstream salons."
A black stylist named Seline Braswell - who previously had her own salon - now works at a salon in Saks Fifth Avenue, where the clientele had been mostly white. She, her two stylists and two assistants have brought more than 1,000 new clients - mostly black - to the new location. Win-win, right?
Not according to Charles Gallagher, a white professor of sociology, criminal justice and social work at La Salle University: "You are erasing culture, you are erasing history and you are erasing a way African Americans have socialized with each other for decades," he says. "These J.C. Penneys and Saks are culturally spaceless. You don't learn about culture, gender or experience, and the lessons about the politics of the community, that's all gone."
While a cultural experience may be lost, is a sense of understanding gained? Brandy Davila, a black stylist who owns a multicultural salon in North Philadelphia, thinks so. "I'm finding it's a learning experience for everyone," Davila says.
Read the rest on Jezebel.com.
I would have to agree that the loss of black salons as cultural spaces where black women feel safe is a blow that our community might not be ready for. There are few places in American society in which a black woman can feel totally at ease and not judged -- letting her hair down so to speak in a communal environment where all sorts of feminine secrets are shared, that other groups just don't understand and can't take in without a judgmental eye. Our secret insecurities about our appearance as women is soothed and mended by other women who understand and listen, as others recreate our hair in ways that renew us -- on both physical and spiritual levels.
That wall between that world and the real one came down briefly during screenings of Chris Rock's film, 'Good Hair,' to a predictable wave of amused scorn from mainstream audiences who openly laughed at black women's attempts at self-love through our grooming culture. While the economically forced integration of hair care might create greater social understanding, this exposure of black women even further to uncomprehending elements will further undermine the capacity for self-care that we are forced to painstakingly create. Without these safe spaces for self-care in a communal environment, an essential system of joy and support will be lost.
Of further consideration is the evaporation of black wealth taking place with the loss of these African American owned businesses nationwide. We have reported here about the loss of black wealth that occurred during the sub-prime mortgage crisis, as African Americans en masse lost homes that represented the bulk of their financial security. Now it appears that one of the most enduring structures of the black business community, the black hair salon, is also falling victim to the crisis of black wealth destruction occurring.
Between the loss of black salons as a safe cultural space for African American women, and the sad demise of black economic power these business losses represent, it's hard to determine which is worse. I am all for greater cultural understanding between the races, but not at this cost. Our economic and social independence is priceless.