Since its inception, the hair care industry in America has been rooted in the idea that Black hair, in its natural state, is unacceptable. Our great-grandfather Garret A. Morgan, an inventor known as "the Black Edison," was one of the first people to discover chemical relaxers. His company, G.A. Morgan's Hair Refiner, advertised products with phrases like “War declared on bad hair!” Translation: bad = natural. Historically speaking, relaxers, perms, weaves, and wigs were utilized in order to assimilate to white beauty standards. But only Black people could take the oppressive nature of this ideology and completely reframe the narrative. Nowhere is that reframing more apparent than at the Bronner Bros. International Beauty Show.
Source: elle.com
