It’s not just hair. Black South Africans can still face discrimination for wearing their hair naturally. But thanks to a new generation of young hair influencers and entrepreneurs attitudes to black hair are changing.
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00:00Everyone has an opinion on hair. Across South Africa, it has sparked a debate around identity and beauty ideals.
00:08So, are South African women really sending messages with their hairstyles?
00:12If you are like, you're wearing your natural hair, people look at you like, oh, you fall off all the leaves.
00:18Like, we have that. We do judge people. I don't know why.
00:23I actually love my hair and it's a new thing for me.
00:28Like, I've always tucked my hair in or braided it or had a weave on at some point.
00:35I have natural hair. It's an alpha. So, I like to braid them. So, it's very beautiful. Braids are nice.
00:41The type of beauty that was marketed to us as black women was more of a western standard.
00:47So, it was like a no-go zone for me to even try to cut my hair and see what my natural hair looked like.
00:53But the day I did, oh my goodness, I was like, I'm never ever going back again.
00:59For stylist Nmisa Mimiduma, hair is more than a craft.
01:04I really consider myself to be no ordinary stylist. I, the physical me, disappears.
01:11I really just disappear and creation takes over and I build.
01:16And when I then step back to look at this creation, sometimes I'm also amazed.
01:23Mimi has collaborated with other artists in Johannesburg to showcase their own new idea of hair.
01:29For Mimi, fashion shoots showcase her talent and creativity.
01:33I label myself as a natural hair stylist, not disregarding anything else that doesn't fall under the umbrella of natural.
01:44And yes, we can play around with braids and wigs and weaves.
01:48But understanding that you are not the wig.
01:51When that wig comes off, you still need to be confident with the hair that comes out of your scalp.
01:57Negative stereotypes about Afro hair have led to many men and women ditching kinky and puffy hair for tamed hairstyles.
02:04These clichés have deep roots in colonialism and later in South Africa's apartheid regime.
02:11But younger South African women want a different look.
02:15In Zimbabwe, which is where I'm originally from, one of the biggest stereotypes associated with natural hair is poverty.
02:23A lot of people have also experienced discrimination in schools because natural hair may not be seen as professional or may be seen as a distraction.
02:34Noreen Jonathan has thousands of followers on Instagram with videos showcasing her natural hair routine and product recommendations.
02:44I also wanted to be the role model that I didn't see when I was younger.
02:50So I wanted to show my natural hair, show it in different styles, figure out a way to basically romanticize tightly coiled, textured hair.
03:03During apartheid, hair was one way to separate black people from the rest of society.
03:08The so-called pencil test became infamous where a pencil was put into people's hair.
03:14And if it didn't fall, it meant that the person had Afro hair and therefore was not classified as white.
03:22Under apartheid, racial classification led to racial discrimination and violence.
03:27It also contributed to the myth that straighter hair was better, influencing entire generations.
03:36For Ta Ivante, who is a lactation, this is something she also has noticed in the media too.
03:44We see it in the magazines when they want to put the beautiful women.
03:47The women with the straight hair, if you want to look at the movies, even for the kids cartoons, all you see is the beautiful Barbies with straight hair.
03:59So it's a system that has been put in place for decades.
04:03One way of styling tight Afro curls while keeping it natural is micro locks, of which Ivante is a master.
04:12Because I wanted people also to see this other side of going natural, using less products, not putting anything on your hair apart from water and some light oils.
04:23The South African natural hair movement has come a long way and the country's hair care industry is booming.
04:30It's worth half a billion dollars and is projected to grow more than six percent in the next five years.
04:36But Lizelle Smerdon, who runs a Cape Town based natural hair care line, believes there is more potential.
04:43In the beginning, there were not a lot of people starting their own businesses and slowly but surely people were starting their own brands.
04:51And now there are so many people starting their own natural hair care brands.
04:58Lizelle also believes that there's still work to be done for women to fully feel confident.
05:04There is a bit of a journey of self acceptance and finding yourself, but it's really, really worth it.
05:12There will be a few times when you are doubting yourself, where you might think, is this a good idea to even go natural?
05:21But I promise in the end, you're going to love the outcome.