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Hair grooming is an integral part of social life in Afrika prior to the Afrikans being brought to the Americas by Europeans. In the remains of Kemet (Egypt) as well as in the West and Central Afrika explorers have found hair grooming tools such as combs. The Akan of present-day Ghana have Adinkra symbols that signify the power of hair rituals. There is a symbol known as duafe (wooden comb) which is a symbol of beauty, cleanliness, and the desirable feminine qualities. The mpuannum (five tufts of hair) is a symbol of priestly office, loyalty, and adroitness. This symbol is worn by priestesses and is said to represent the devotion and/or faithfulness that individuals are to display when they are engaged in required tasks. Also, the kwatakye atiko (hairstyle of the Asante chief) is a symbol of bravery and valor. It said to have been worn by an Asante war captain named Kwatakye. Such symbols highlight the communal aspect of hairstyles and grooming among people on the continent of Afrika.
From ancient Africa to today, people have long used gathering spaces as places to heal, to share, to be heard as well as to hear community related issues. Black Barbershops and Beauty Salons have long been those places for persons of African descent within North America and globally. Given the sacred nature of the relationship between hair stylists and their clients barber shops and salons have become intimate zones for personal sharing and emotional comfort. This suggests that barbers and stylists may be privy to confidential information about their clients in that trust becomes the hallmark of the relationship between the client and their stylist. In addition to being places of comfort, these spaces are liberated zones where encouragement and empowerment can take place. It is with this understanding in mind that suggests barbers and stylists can serve as early responders to mental health matters when they are equipped with mental health literacy content and mental health resources. A part of such results in the stigma of mental health being challenged, if not removed.
Why Target the Black Community?
The Black community has encountered years of oppression, trauma, and human denigration. The institution of Afrikan Enslavement (Maafa), Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, Gentrification, Sundown laws, de jure and de facto discrimination as well as institutional and structural racism have contributed to race-based trauma, cultural trauma and Persistent Enslavement Systemic Trauma (PEST). According to the US HHS Office of Minority Health (2016):
- Adult Blacks are 20% more likely to report serious psychological distress than adult whites.
- Adult Blacks living below poverty are two to three times more likely to report serious psychological distress than those living above poverty.
- Adult Blacks are more likely to have feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness than are adult whites.
- And while Blacks are less likely than whites to die from suicide as teenagers, Black teenagers are more likely to attempt suicide than are white teenagers (8.2 percent v. 6.3 percent).
In US public school Black boys are not faring well due to various forms of discrimination. Educational deprivation begins a trajectory toward negative economic and social consequences for Black boys (Holzman, 2010). This trajectory fosters the school to prison pipeline in which so many Afrikan American males find themselves involved in the correctional system at some level by later adolescence. Additionally, Black males are often wrongly placed in special education classes as a result of discriminatory policies. They receive much harsher penalties, such as expulsion, for similar classroom infractions when compared to Whites (Holzman, 2010). This can contribute to many Black boys disengaging from school and thusly setting themselves up to experience a life of criminality.
The Black Barbershop
