Thread by @Iron_Spike: "Black Hair for Non-Black Artists: a Cheat Sheet Thread. Hi, folks! Just spur-of-the-moment decided to put together some reference for folks […]" (2024)

Black people can have any hair texture, but what's commonly considered "black hair" is hair that's tightly coiled, with each individual hair shaft looking like a Slinky. These Slinky-hairs interlocking with lots of space between them is what gives black hair so much volume.

The most common convention for classifying hair types (in my experience) is the letter/number one. "black hair" generally rangers from 3A ("good hair") to 4c ("bad hair'). Traditionally, the kinkier/coilier hair was, the "worse" it was. Some older people still hold this standard.

The Afros we associate with the 60s, Black Panthers, and black liberation movements are direct rebellions to then widely-held beliefs that natural black hair was unkempt, dirty, unprofessional, shameful, and ugly. They are the haircut equivalents of "f*ck you."

This mandatory altering black hair to mimic straight hair goes back much farther, though. These standards were extant in the Victorian age, for the people with the means to maintain it.

(No black hair thread would be complete without mentioning Madam CJ Walker, the first self-made woman millionaire in America... who made her fortune selling hair-straightening solutions. Black hair care continues to be a lucrative business.)

The rise of black pride/identity has slowly but surely made "natural hair" (still called that if the curl pattern is not permanently altered, even if it's in yarn braids and colored green) more acceptable and popular. However, ignorance about the nature of black hair abounds.

For years, the Army banned certain hairstyles that were paradoxically among the easiest for a busy woman with kinky hair to maintain, like dreadlocks, TWAs (teeny weeny afros), and cornrows (the bans have since been lifted, after outcry.)

And pictured below are students recently threatened with punishment by their schools for "violating dress codes." Three of them are literally just wearing their hair as it grows from their heads; the other two have simple box braids.

I could honestly go on forever; black hair is complicated, political, and not something one thread on Twitter can explain. But I think it's time to get to a few basic styles. :V

"Bongo dreads/rasta dreads" are distinct from "fashion dreads" in that they are not actively cultivated into small segments, but the hair is left to mat together however it wants with little/no direction. These are usually, but not always, religious. "One big dread" is common.

"Salon dreads"/"silky dreads"/"Instadreads" are artificial, and "installed" by a stylist. They look uniform, unnaturally shiny, and popular with folks who don't want to commit to dreadlocks. (Whoopi used to have real dreads, tho, interestingly.)

And dreadlocks ARE a bit of a commitment; if you decide you don't want them anymore, your two options are generally a) shave your head or b) three days of detangling and a loss of 75% of your length.

Teeny Weeny Afros are for jocks who don't want to deal, and women who just want it out of their face. It's the look for busy people who don't have the time to give longer hair, daring fashionistas making statements... and also women who have had The Big Chop.

In black hair terms, The Big Chop is when a woman cuts off her permanently chemically straightened hair and "goes natural." This can be emotionally trying for a lot of women, especially if they haven't grown out at a little bit of virgin hair first and have to go totally bald.

Black hair is sometimes described as "growing slowly," which isn't true. It *gains length* slowly, since it grows in a spiral. So, many women fret about months to years of short-short hair.

("Protective styles" are styles that don't stress the hair with overmanipulation. Black hair is prone to dryness, since natural oils have a much harder time going down a coily hair shaft than a straight one, so not hassling it daily is the best way to get it to grow.)

The down sides include:
- These can cost a LOT to get done. 3 figures is the minimum, 4 is not unheard of.
- The finer the braiding, the longer it will take. 11-15 hours in a salon chair can and does happen. Chunky braids are obviously much less pricey/labor intensive.

A weave "install" involves cornrowing a wearer's hair, then sewing the false hair into the braids in curtain-like rows. professional stylists can make this look extremely natural with "leave-out," letting hair around the planned part stay unbraided so some scalp is visible.

(Also often included in leave-outs, to maintain a natural hairline, are "baby hairs," the fine hair framing the forehead. Gelled and styled baby hairs? Those are the colloquial "laid edges.")

Your weave-wearing character goes to the beach, but not into the water. They don't let their dumb boyfriend touch their head, because if his hand snags on a track, they'll have to kill him. They sleep on a silk pillowcase WITH a silk scarf. They are on top during sex. :V

(Satin/satin-lined scarves/bonnets/beanies, by the way? Worn by most, if not all, black women, over most, if not all, styles. Cotton/linen pillowcases are abrasive to already-prone-to-dryness kinky hair. Just shifting against one in the night while bareheaded can cause breakage.)

Twists need to be refreshed/re-twisted maybe every 7-to-10 days, making them labor-intensive for a few hours 3-to-4 times monthly, especially as they grow longer. And they're not to be confused with "Senegalese twists," which are braid-like hair extensions that simulate the look.

For a peek at what a wash-n-go routine looks like/involves, check YouTube. hell, do that for EVERYTHING you might want to see; black hair care is an enormous YT community. Wanna draw a character's weave install? Evening hair routine? Big Chop, even? It's all there.

Small touches, like Knowing How This Person Looks at Bedtime, Or How They Would Behave at the Water Park, goes a LONG w/r/t believability. I know I always really appreciate it when black hair is depicted in art in a conscientious way.

Thanks for reading, folks! I know there was a lot I didn't cover-- children's hair, men's hair, relaxed hair, etc-- because, y'know. Finite minutes in a day.