The perception around black hair from those within the black community and outside of it has led to an unfortunate culture that has encouraged people to either hide or straighten it with products and heat. While everyone is allowed to do with their hair however they wish, decades have shown that the harmful opinions people have about black hair have contributed to a variety of issues outside of beauty.
Movements towards helping people within the black community to appreciate their natural curls have done wonders to improve self-acceptance and demystify inaccurate information on how black hair is. Additionally, these movements call out how corrupt the industry around black hair has been and the harmful chemicals that have been put into hair products for things like perms.
However its more than just perms. Natural hair movements have also exposed certain unethical practices that the black hair industry allows many consumers to tend to ignore. While hair extensions are not exclusive to the black community for braids, weaves, and more, for decades, hair extensions have often used human hair.
This hair is typically sourced from countries with poor economies, like India. There have been many cases of women from these places selling their own hair for money, generally because these industries prey on people who are struggling for money. The adoption of artificial hair extensions alongside natural hair movements has exposed how bad these practices are towards natural hair extensions, but more still needs to be done.
