Black women and hair care

For Black women, the process of maintaining their hair can be fraught. To tame texture or curls, many women spend long hours in a stylist’s chair or subject their hair to harsh chemical relaxers to achieve a smooth, glossy finish. These approaches create other challenges for Black women, including how to safeguard their natural locks from constant prodding and processing—or when, if at all, to wholly embrace their natural hair instead.

This conundrum led Joycelyn Brown, a University of Delaware fine arts and visual communications major from Bear, Delaware, to become curious about the natural hair experiences of Black women. Were they taught at home how to take care of their natural hair? Where did they get information about products or approaches to condition or manage their natural hair? How did they determine whether products or processes were safe to use? 

As part of her undergraduate research at UD, Brown surveyed a range of Black women to understand their experience caring for their natural hair. In particular, she wanted to know what attracts them to various haircare products in the store or salon, to inform her approach to visually communicate product safety in the branding of hair care merchandise. 

It’s a timely topic. Safety in haircare products aimed at Black women recently made headlines when a group of women sued the makers of hair relaxers in federal court over potential health risks related to the items’ use. 

Working under the advisement of Katie Leech, assistant professor art and design, Brown spent time in local stores and salons, perusing hair care products to compare and decode how different brands convey their brand identities. 

Why did you want to pursue this — what intrigues you about the topic?

Brown: I wanted to pursue this research because natural hair is something I am passionate about. As a Black woman, it is common for our mothers to use relaxers when we are children because it makes the hair easier to work with. With that being said, I was never taught how to properly take care of my hair and had to learn on my own. There is a lot of information in the world about hair products, and not all the messages are made to benefit Black women, which puts us at a disadvantage. Since I love graphic design, I thought it would be interesting to find a way to visually communicate this information using brand design.