Over the past decade, the internet has impacted the way to do just about everything – right down to how we talk about hair.

With such a game-changing phenomenon, Lori Tharps, an assistant professor of journalism at Temple’s School of Media and Communication, released a new edition of a book she co-authored, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, which chronicles how the conversation about black hair has evolved since the 15th century.

“Hair Story is still the only book that does that,” she said. “No other book talks about black hair so comprehensively.”

Tharps said it’s much more than a book about hair. It’s about history.

“Black hair represents the black experience is this country,” she said. “As a people we were enslaved and systematically told that our physical features were inferior. We have to unpack those ideals of beauty and respectability when it comes to our hair. Until we as a complete society have done that, it’s never going to be ‘just hair’.”

Tharps, who co-wrote the first edition in 2001 with journalist Ayana Byrd, realized that black hair was going through an undocumented renaissance and warranted an update to their text.

A busy decade
“We committed to telling the history of black hair in America from the past to the present,” said Tharps. “The book ended in 2000 and we [caught up] in 2013. A lot of things have happened in the world of black hair since the beginning of the 21st century.”

Leading the list of what’s affected hair the most in the last decade? The internet.

With the rise of YouTube and social media, the conversation about black hair has opened up to the non-black demographic. Hashtags like #TeamNatural, terms like “co-wash,” (the process of washing with conditioner and not shampoo because of the adverse effects of sulfates) and “protective styling” are branching out to the general public. The internet has also encouraged a new wave of entrepreneurship.

“You see the rise of a lot of female entrepreneurs who have launched businesses that they would’ve never made it had the internet not given them a distribution model,” said Tharps. “These are really big changes in the world of black hair that we felt had to be documented.”

Now, hair care blogs, consultants and manufacturers have found a way to build a business and a brand online.

In two new chapters, Tharps and Byrd bring to light the cultural and political questions many now face within the black community. Is she trying to “look white” with her straight hair? Is her natural hair a political statement? They examine how the opinions of black people, when it comes to their hair, are changing and being vocalized.

“The problem has been that black people have always compared their hair to white hair as if white hair was the standard and we’re always trying to emulate that, which makes sense because they’re in the majority and they told us that’s what we should be trying to do. But if you’re always comparing it, it’s never going to meet up to the standards,” said Tharps.

A window into a culture
Tharps said the book’s topic is vital to cultural understanding in America and is often overlooked in race-related dialogue.

“It’s very easy to not know what’s going on in the world of black hair and yet you come in contact with black hair through friends, colleagues, employees or celebrities,” she said. “If you don’t understand the background you’re missing a large part of our culture and you’re creating the potential for ethnic miscommunication.”

Tharps hopes in the future people will read her book with the same level of interest they have in other cultural phenomonon that has shaped American history . She wants them to be in awe of the past generations’ triumphs.

“I would hope that we get to place where we can just celebrate our hair and not have to justify, explain or apologize for it,” said Tharps. “What I hope, is that we will finally make it to a point where black people’s hair is just hair.”

On the web: hairstoryonline.com.

-By Sofiya Ballin
SMC Communications