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Blacks Are Systematically Locked Out of the Black Hair Industry


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Regardless of what you might think of Roland, we desperately need MORE programs like this not less.  I knew Koreans had a lock on Black Hair care but I had no idea how serious it was.  Shoot, we should open up Chinese take out restaurants too. 

 

 

Here is the full documentary referenced above.

 

 

We need to own this industry nationally.  The Bronner Bros are large in ATL, why is this not replicated in other cities?

 

 

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Guest The Latinos are doing it

The question then becomes how are the latinos infiltrating the industry? I have been a stylist for over 30 years and have seen first hand the Koreans and the white hair companies take over the black businesses. How are they getting in and we still can’t?

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I'd like to know where are the nationwide Black barbershop chains.

We have Boricks and Fantastic Sam's.....where is Pookie's Fantastic Fades????

Black people have been in America long enough to have several beauty supply chains as well as several manufacturing plants where we make the chemicals that we use in our hair.

Last week this sister had me drive her to 7 different beauty supply stores looking for a particular moisterizer for her hair.
She got into an argument with the Asian owners at all 7....including the last one where she actually found what she was looking for but didn't like the price...lol.

There is no reason people who just came to this nation less than 40 years ago should be ahead of us in the hair care game.....especially when it's OUR hair.

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Yes they're absolutely are reasons black folks don't corner the market on black hair care products
 

I didn't say there was no reason we didn't corner the market.

I said there is no reason for people who just came to this nation 40 years ago and could barely speak English should be AHEAD of us in an industry that focuses on our own hair.

Black folks have been messing around with our hair and making up concoctions and potions since before slavery ended.

Racism is real....but Koreans aren't White either so if racism was the reason that prevented Black people from success in the hair care market, why didn't it prevent Koreans?


Because I don't believe racism is the main problem in this instance.
I believe since the 60s, too many Black people have been tricked....fooled....into thinking "success" means imitating White people or following them around in their economic endeavors instead of focusing on OUR OWN economic endeavors.

Too many of our people have been fooled into believing that what works for White people....will work for us also.
But few things could be further from the truth.

Which leads me to my next point...................
 

 

 

The real question is, what are we prepared to do about it?


You may think this is an insane statement but......

I suggest a good 25% of the Black people in universities right now should DROP OUT and focus on taking over the Black beauty supply industry.

Forget about cell phone technology, forget about trying to work for Amazon, forget about artificial intelligence and trying to "stay up" on the latest technology.

Just take what little money and knowledge they already have so far and just focus on building factories to manufacture the supplies, distribution centers, and building stores in the ghetto.

I guarantee you that if just 25% of Black youth who are WASTING THEIR TIME (that's correct I said wasting their time) in school right now would take that approach..............in 10 years we as a community would be far wealthier collectively than we are right now.

Troy, I'm sure you're an excellent instructor and this isn't a slap at most of the instructors in our universities.

But my belief is most of our people don't "fit in" with the colleges and universities of Western society.
Especially our young men.
And even if they make it through college if they have to work in a corporate world such as this...the road gets even rougher for them.

Look at so many Black men in the corporate world and media now being accused of sexual harassment and misconduct!

So why waste time trying to "fit in" to an industry that wasn't designed by or for you anyway?

Hell, the entire purpose for GOING to these universities is to get a degree so that you can work for these various industries and make a decent living for yourself and your family....but if it's not working....why waste your time?

Cut out the middle man and got DIRECTLY towards building an industry of your own.

Design your OWN industry where YOU make the decisions and control the market.

 

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@Pioneer1, yes that might work, but lets consider solutions that are within the realm of possibility.  25% of students do need to drop out, we loose that many through attrition. I read a stat that more than 50% of students in New York City's, public schools do not graduate in 6 years.

 

Besides you don't need all those folks.  It seems the Bonner Bros in Atlanta have created a model that can be replicated.  Why can;t other cities do what they have done?  I dunno maybe they make all their money with the trade show and less with hair care (I don't know anything about their business).

 

There used to be a store in Harlem called Carol's Daughter I believe it started in Brooklyn by a sister  Essence Magazine covered them and the next thing you know they were in major departments stores. If memory serves, they sold out. The store in Harlem is closed.  I shopped there each Xmas.  The problem with the store was that it was very expensive.  

 

This is why the Koreans clean out clocks in Harlem, they have the lowest prices. The strategy is the same one Amazon uses. Money trumps race every day of the week.  So unless we beat or at least become price competitive we stand little chance. 

 

This is the same battle we (booksellers) have with Amazon.  Since Black booksellers will never be propped up by Wall Street to sell books at a loss like Amazon, we have to provide a service Amazon does not provide to earn the reader's business.  It think this is something we can do for books.  It can be done for hair care too.

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These big corporate giants  are really ruthless and disingenuous. Apple slowed down their older iPhones, and although they denied doing this deliberately, users with these older models think this was done to make them want to buy new faster ones. Apple feigned innocence, claiming that they slowed the old ones down to preserve their batteries,  glibly going on to inform that new batteries would bring the phones back up to speed, and could be purchased for $80.00. There's no shame in their game.    Why do i find this funny?  :o

 

 

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Ipod ClassicPrecisely another tactic they all use is abandoning software especially operating systems and hardware.

 

I took all of my CDs and burned them into Itunes on my PC and synced that library with a 160 Ipod which I've had now over 10 years.

 

A couple of years ago my primary computer a desktop crashed.  No problem all of my music as well as new purchases from Itunes was on my Ipod--thousands of songs, home videos, movies, pods casts, a ton of stuff. 

 

Well a purchased a new laptop and installed Itunes.  Do you know Apple would not allow me to import my library to my computer!?  They flat out will not provide you with software, help, or even a clue how to do it!?

 

All of my shit was trapped on a 10 year old IPod that uses a miniature hard drive as the storage medium so you know the device's days were numbered along with all of my precious family videos digitized from VHS tapes. 

 

Just this week I found some software I had to pay $40 for, but it will take files from anywhere what and put them anywhere.  I can download a movie from netflix and import it into my itunes library.  It seems software like this would be illegal but Apple's nonexistent solutions creates opportunities for smart people. 

 

After I figured everything out on my own Apples support team told me I can now store my library in the cloud.  My library will cost $3 a month to store in "the cloud." I said no.  They also told me I could pay for a streaming music service they had I told Apple to "fuck -off." At least that is what I said in my head.  I simply declined.

 

I will never by another freaking thing from Apple.

 

Microsoft is particularly bad with this.  I have another laptop that uses Visita.  The lap top works perfectly but there is no migration path from Vista to their newer operating systems.  I have to rebuild the computer and buy new software for it to use any of their new software.  A brand new laptop is cheaper--which plays right into their hands.

 

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It has occured to me that well over half the products found in most of these beauty supply stores focus around exploiting Black self-hatred.

Their biggest selling points are convincing Black people that these products will make them "less Black" or "less African".

Everything from the wigs, hair relaxer, hair bleach, skin bleaching cream, blue and green contacts, pink and red lip stick, blue eye shadow, wave pomades, doo-rags, hair texturizer kits, ect......

If Black people would just develop a solid wholesome love for themselves and how they looked, the Koreans would go out of business in Harlem and other Black communities all over America in less than a month.

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Well the strategy is to create a market so that more product can be sold.

 

If that means convincing women with straight hair that they look better with curly hair, or women with curly hair that they look better with straight hair, and that they all will look better with hair of a different color then they are happy.  All that racial, self-hate stuff you mentioned @Pioneer1, is incidental.  

 

What has been an amazing trick getting women to justify all of these gyrations marketers have imposed upon them as somehow empowering.  Whether it is the hair care products, the makeup, the completely dysfunctional high heal shoes, or any of the stuff women are forced to deal with, and the end of the day it is really about profit.

 

I have throw away more working TV's and computer monitors than I care to admit.  We have all be placed on a hamster wheel of consumption.

 

The idea that Apple was deliberately making older phones slower comes as no surprise the users of technology, what is surprised is that people are still lining up to buy stuff from them. We all know this planned obsolescence is art of their business model.  F#ck Apple.

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Greetings.

 

East Indians & Pakistani's also control the Black Hair and Beauty Industry in the UK. A company named Pak is the largest retailer.

 

I could not blatantly sell Asian gold or garments or culturally related products to Asians (  East Indians & Pakistani' etc ) as a non asian. As there is a barrier or a culturally impenetrable realm.


Do we or did we ever have a material component what is culturally impenetrable or exclusive ?  I can't think of anything.

 

@ Pioneer 1 . You advocate that 25% of people in University drop out & focus there attention to building factories & supplies.  Those 25% will most likely be the least qualified or experienced with debts , external influences & additional pressure & indifference. I shouldnt have to expand to demonstrate why that's a recipe for failure.

 

Do not underestimate or dismiss passion & enthusiasm.

 

I would also like to post a link expanding on the history , politics culture & controversy of hair .

http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=005439;p=1#000000

 

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Guest Tific

 

@ Pioneer 1 . You advocate that 25% of people in University drop out & focus there attention to building factories & supplies. Those 25% will most likely be the least qualified or experienced with debts , external influences & additional pressure & indifference. I shouldnt have to expand to demonstrate why that's a recipe for failure.


Well 25% is a quarter or 1/4 of the population....lol.
So I guess it's a matter of WHICH 25% that drops out would determine how successful they'd be.

If the bottom 25% of the students with no ambition, little intelligence, and even less common sense were the ones who dropped out and focused on the hair care industry......perhaps it would indeed be a disaster.

My overall point is that we need strong young Black minds who aren't caught up in and focused on what White people tell them to focus on......but rather will focus on what's best for our community and what will generate us wealth.

Many if not most Black people in college actually COME FROM poor and disadvantaged neighborhoods where the housing is crumbling and the roads and infrastructure is raggedy.
The smart thing to do would be for them to learn civil engineering and architecture insteaed of computer software design and communications that so many are taking today.

Are you in the UK or Europe?

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  • 5 weeks later...

"It has occured to me that well over half the products found in most of these beauty supply stores focus around exploiting Black self-hatred.

Their biggest selling points are convincing Black people that these products will make them "less Black" or "less African".

Everything from the wigs, hair relaxer, hair bleach, skin bleaching cream, blue and green contacts, pink and red lip stick, blue eye shadow, wave pomades, doo-rags, hair texturizer kits, ect......

If Black people would just develop a solid wholesome love for themselves and how they looked, the Koreans would go out of business in Harlem and other Black communities all over America in less than a month."

 

Good point! If Negroes were producing a competitive product, they would not experience this so-called lock out. It's called free market! Produce a superior product and people will buy it. And yes, marketing has a lot to do with it. For example, here in SoCal, brown, red and blond ales used to be common and readily available (my favorite). But now, with the unprecedented explosion in microbreweries -you will find this particular ale almost non-existent in the seemingly countless number of microbreweries! The rage now is IPA's and fusion beers. Why is that? Not sure but it is based on market demand and acceptance. And I do agree with the tragic and depressing wig/weave addiction with black American women. To see a black woman with her natural hair is as common as seeing a woman who is 6'3". Of course they exist, but how often do you see them? And if you throw in the media -the wig/weave dominance is 98.5%! How sad is that? 

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LOL.  Hi Xeon!  What a coincidence. Just talkin about how i never disagreed with you, only to find myself now doing so.  Natural hair styles are making a huge comeback among black women.    And white women also wear hair extensions and wigs.  It's a girl thing. I'm curious as to why black men never criticize brothers who wear synthetic hair extensions in the form of dreadlocks.  ;) 

 

 

 

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Yeah, I'd have to agree with @Cynique on this one too.  I spoke at a blogger conference a few years ago that was attended by mostly Black women and the vast majority of women had natural hairstyles.  My mom, sister, daughters and their mother wear they hair naturally.

 

Of course my personal observations are just anecdotes, but based upon my observations more women are going natural today than 20 years ago.  I'd admit this does differ from the images we see in the media.  But again we don't control this images...

 

 

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Xeon
 

example, here in SoCal, brown, red and blond ales used to be common and readily available (my favorite). But now, with the unprecedented explosion in microbreweries -you will find this particular ale almost non-existent in the seemingly countless number of microbreweries! The rage now is IPA's and fusion beers.

 

Hmmmmm......
I always wondered whether you were Black or not.

The above statement just answered my question......lol.


 





Troy

Of course my personal observations are just anecdotes, but based upon my observations more women are going natural today than 20 years ago. I'd admit this does from the images we see in the media. But again we don't control this images...


There's a difference between "natural" and "unrelaxed".

What I see a lot of among our people today is UNRELAXED hair.
Hair that hasn't been chemically altered to be straight or wavy, but still braided up and twisted up so that it's STRUCTURE is no longer kinky or nappy.

For example:

 

Image result for gloria hendry

 

This picture of Gloria Hendry from the 70s is an example of a Black woman wearing her hair NATURAL.
 

 

Image result for twists and locks

 

 

But THIS is what most Black people are calling "natural" today.
 


Unlike the 70s where Black women actually went NATURAL, wearing their hair either short and neat or long and bushy but still KINKY/NAPPY.....today most Black women are still going for the "straight look" but instead of putting chemicals in their hair they're doing it with braids, twists, and dreads.
None of which are actually "natural".

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@Troy Are you serious?  Of course Pioneer doesn't see what you mean about the way he debates.  He's oblivious to his obstinacy and is the epitome of cognitive dissonance.  And, I'd be willing to bet that's a  wig Gloria Hendry has on, as was usually the case with those big Afros worn in movies during that era.  

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We I've seen many a afro wig in my day :-)

 

When I wore a 'fro, on picture day, my mom used to run a hot comb through my hair.  An Afro might have been called a "natural," but it takes some maintenance and a certain type of hair to pull it off.  

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