ON GROUP ECONOMICS- BUYING BLACK IN THE NATURAL HAIR COMMUNITY

These recent years have seen the emergence of more Black natural hair products than at any other time in the modern age.

This development owes itself to the fact that the natural hair movement is a revolution that has come into its own. Numerous social media platforms such as Facebook have pages and groups.

I subscribe to many of them and have my own celebrating the beauty of Natural black hair. https://www.facebook.com/AfrodisiaNaturalHairIsFabulous  Blogs, vlogs, websites, even Twitter and Instagram are buzzing with the all things natural hair. The red carpet is not to be outdone; in these glamorous circles the likes of Viola Davis, Teyonnah Paris, Solange Knowles and Janelle Monae have helped keep the buzz on Black Natural hair alive. Here in South Africa, the songstress Lira is well known for her amazing talent as much as for the trade mark short cropped Afro that she has made trendy.

Magazines and books are being written specifically on the science of Black natural hair and the care thereof. It is a matter of pride that these are channels made by Black people themselves, a people who are taking  pride in reclaiming their kinks, going natural or- better put- returning natural for it is where it all began. The Black-owned toy industries are also trying to catch on and are starting to make Black dolls that look like us curly, coily hair and all. We can testify to the fact that many of us grew up in a time when the only dolls you could find had White features, and long bone-straight hair. If you were lucky enough to come across a Black doll, it would most certainly have long flowing hair.

A lot of us who have recently embraced natural hair are still in the learning stages of maintaining it. Words such as the “Big Chop”, “Transitioning” all reveal certain recentness to it.  Natural Black hair is still a "new" discovery for us collectively as a people, from Perms to relaxers, to 100% human Indian/Brazilian (insert more) hair attachments, our real natural hair had not really been uncovered or seen as the ideal style of choice. I always say this that wearing natural hair is not just a trend; it’s a people discovering the beauty in their own aesthetics, Without going too  political on why natural hair is still a new phenomenon to the Black majority( It is still a political issue). Let us talk "BUYING Black"

www.mambokadzi.com

At no other time in history is there a need for us to engage in effective GROUP ECONOMICS by collectively ploughing our money into Black-owned natural hair care businesses. There is need to develop a culture of buying Black as this is a sure way of empowering ourselves. Many small Black-owned hair care businesses struggle to stay afloat since they are also competing with long established hair care giants like Soft Sheen Carson, popularly known by the Dark & Lovely brand.

The Natural hair movement got everyone and their mama jumping into natural hair care business! More and more non -Black-owned companies are taking advantage of the emerging demographics and are branching out into natural hair care, as they experience a drop in relaxer sales. After all, it makes sense to seize the opportunity and reap profits? Unfortunately when these  “I've been around for so long companies” cut out their chunk and become part of this rapidly growing industry the emerging small scale, Black hair companies will struggle to stay afloat. If we do not support them enough they will go out of business.

The NON Black-owned companies are not always easy to spot as they have mastered the art of “deception” in naming their products with ironic title brands like African Pride(Revlon), Dark and lovely,  Africa's Best ,  As I am, Black Like Me and many more  which have those ambiguous names that play at Black consciousness and that's exactly their intention to make Black folks associate their products with themselves, and so without much thought to it we just whip out a product from shelves straight to the purchase point. By naming that product Dark and Lovely, they knew that we would identify with it without questioning. For me, it was a major revelation that NONE of these products that cater for us, aptly named for us are made by us. These companies have the financial muscle to dominate once again a movement that is uniquely ours. Unless we have the conscious mind-set of “buying Black” natural hair care money may never have the chance to circulate in our people, buying Black means the money is actually ploughed back into our communities.

The Jewish community has remained major economic players in the world because of these basic principles they have mastered the art of  "Keep it in the family". I work for a Jewish-owned Corporate Gifting Company, and I have observed how wealth is exchanged multiple times within the community before it is injected elsewhere. They have a strict adherence to an unwritten buy Jewish policy. The Jewish company is always the preferred supplier often times even if it means paying extra for that product as compared to buying it elsewhere, and we all wonder why their wealth is intergenerational.

This keeping it in the family culture is not unique to Jewish people. The Indian community has also exhibited a remarkable sense of selective consumerism. They have their own stores, their own shopping malls, their own restaurants and, yes, their own hair products. While Black people will eagerly spend their disposable income elsewhere, for the Asian it has to circulate a number of times in their communities.  According to the University of Georgia's Selig Centre for Economic Growth, the dollar “circulates zero to one time within the black community, compared to the more than six times in the Latino community, nine times in the Asian community and unlimited amount of times within the white community”. This pattern repeats itself on the African continent, especially in the multi-racial societies of southern Africa, where, decades after decolonisation, income disparities still favour on-Black groups.

In terms of wealth distribution the Black race will continue to tail behind until we make conscious initiatives of supporting our own businesses. We cannot be the highest consumers of everything non-Black and expect to see improvement in our wealth distribution. That Indian woman will buy henna from the Indian market regardless of the fact that the same henna maybe be found just on her doorstep. Let us cultivate the same mentality. Yes, I know many times people do not have a wide choice and we go for the next available thing, but, in the hair and beauty industry, we cannot make those excuses any more because there are now so many small businesses that offer a great deal. Time to steer away from those established houses and look after our own babies, a company like VAULT COSMETICS comes to mind, competing with giants like Revlon. It is Black-owned and needs us. The more these companies are empowered the more our communities benefit from it.

www.natmoisture.co.za

Instead of pulling out the first shampoo that takes your fancy how about doing a background check on who owns it? By purchasing a Black-owned hair product off the shelves you are helping to ensure that the company stays alive, which translates to economic advantage for our people. The natural hair care business can only grow if major consumers of their products patronise their businesses before they think China or France.

Like I said, it is not always practical to buy Black-owned products, especially given that most of these small businesses do not have products retailing in major stores. But, that is not an excuse as we now have on-line trading outlets we can purchase their products from. A lot of these hair products from small Black-owned companies are better by far than those made by the industry heavyweights.

Moreover, these big companies don’t know the story of our hair the way we do. To many of us it is more than just hair. It is about a people discovering themselves, it is a sisterhood and it is money in our pockets. Our own hair products are made by people with sheer love for what they do. It is more than about money in the bank for them. It is about taking pride in our aesthetics and catering to them. The natural hair industry is yet to grow with more and more people becoming natural. Every big, chop every transition is placing a demand for products.

Should that demand go the way of other demands from years bygone, putting money in other communities’ pockets?

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My next blog article will give a detailed list of Local Black owned Natural hair product lines.