For those who aren’t informed, “Waves” is a hairstyle amongst black people that gives off a “ripple-like” style in their hair. The Egyptians were the first to have waves according to ancient hieroglyphics. This “hairstyle” wasn’t originally a hairstyle because the Egyptians had natural curly hair that even when their hair was short their hair would still produce a curl pattern. Their hair produced this natural curl pattern because of the genealogy of Egyptians in Northern Africa. Most Northern Africans were colonized by Europeans which birthed Africans with lighter complexions and less thick hair. Although the curly hair pattern may be seen as an arduous hairstyle to us in the present, North Africans have always had the curl pattern.
The waves hairstyle became more common but due to systemic racism and trivializing times, hair became a medium of control upon black people. Most people refer to cooning as the hatred of oneself. Some saw it as a simple way of fitting into the white society by assimilating to their culture. Cooning was problematic because black people were essentially breaking down the physical portions of themselves to be accepted by white people and be less prone to racism.
Black people that cooned would grease and relax their hair because black hair was more difficult to manage, especially in a white dominated society. Black men would coon their 4c textured hair and would in turn produce loosely curly laid down hair. This type of hairstyle looked similar to the hairstyle we know as waves but they weren’t called “waves”.
Although waves had a complex past due to racism, black people became more unified and fought for basic human rights like the freedom to express their hairstyles. Waves, in particular, was different from other expressions of freedom through hairstyles because waves symbolized freedom and it also symbolized cooning. After the 1960s, waves were more accepted in black culture. However, waves is a form of art that is very difficult. Cooning was dangerous and unethical because it damaged hair using sulfate and acid. In the late 20th century, waves was a hairstyle that was put together more naturally. The use of du-rags became more prevalent in hip hop. Today, people may think du-rags were for style but in actuality it was for the neat compression of black textured hair. The styling of waves today is a lot more complex because there re many different versions of waves as there are different textures of hair.
There are 180 waves, 360, 540, and 720 waves. Each wave hairstyle includes a different process. Waves are stylistic but the history of waves was both painful and beautiful like black culture. This form of art epitomizes the black struggle and the black success.
Nana's Notes 