Post 5: Brief History of Black Hair Through Rihanna

Before actually starting this post, here are a few things I would like to say:

a)     I have been asking some big, philosophical questions in my posts/comments as of late about gender, sexuality, femininity, and how beauty standards can impact the minds of young women. I would like to take a step back and do something a little less…heavy, I guess? Also,

b)     As many of you know, I have been pretty sick over the past week or so. This is a little piece of not-so-guilty pleasure for my ill self, so please feel free to indulge alongside me.

c)     This post is pretty long, even though I’m not covering all of the people that Robinson mentions. I have tried to make the format easy to read and cohesive but Blogger may mess it up, so I apologize, especially to you, Dr. Hanrahan. Let’s get started!

Phoebe Robinson’s section in her book titled “A Brief History of Black Hair in Film, TV, Music, and Media” (27) discusses several of the most important moments for Black hair, beginning in the 1950s with Dorothy Dandridge and ending with Viola Davis’s epic wig removal on the show How To Get Away With Murder. When reading this section, I began to notice that, with nearly every instance that Robinson provides, I could conjure an image of an iconic Rihanna ‘do that represented a modernized version of the look. I will say, before getting started, I researched these looks for way too long and created way too many folders-inside-of-folders on my laptop, and there are a few looks that I just cannot find a Riri adaptation of. Sorry, Chris Rock and bald Michael Jordan, though I do think we should start a petition for Rihanna to try out the bald look sometime.

Phoebe Robinson begins the section with Dorothy Dandridge in her role as a “heartbreaking vixen with short, dark cropped hair” (29) in 1954. This particular look, as Robinson says, is from the Hollywood-produced Carmen Jones, and is represented well by Rihanna’s cropped curls, though they are a bit tighter and shorter than Dandridge’s, which makes them more suitable for a modern style. They even have the same color shirt on here!

                        

                   

The next style presented by Robinson is that of Little Richard and James Brown (pictured below in that order), who “brought to the mainstream a style that was known as the ‘conk’” (30), characterized by shiny, sleek curls cropped close to the head. Rihanna’s style here is one of her most widely recognized, and the loose, shiny semi-mohawk mirrors some elements of Little Richard and James Brown, while adding a modern twist by keeping the sides shaved.

 

            Next is Diana Ross & The Supremes, who rocked “highly stylized and straightened wigs” (32) in a myriad of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Though I am not sure if either or both of these looks on Rihanna are wigs or natural or some combination of both, I believe these are both very good examples of what Diana Ross & The Supremes would have donned in a more modern decade. Rihanna’s dramatic, swooping waves paired with a faux-shaved side, as well as her clean, hairsprayed bangs and bun are the epitome of a sleek 60s lady-group ‘do.

 

Phoebe Robinson follows up this elegant look with Angela Davis’s stunning Afro, titling it one of the “biggest symbols of black self-love, the civil rights movement, and challenging the status quo” (33) during the 1970s. Though I could not find any examples of Riri rockin’ a true ‘fro, this slicked-back Mega Puff resembles the shape and texture of Angela Davis’s Afro while modernizing it and making it a bit more tolerable for a busy celeb on the go.

  

Staying in the 70s, Robinson follows with the cornrows worn by Cicely Tyson on a famous TV drama. Cornrows that, according to our author, “opened up the world’s eyes to what black hair could look like” (35), and even made it onto the cover of JET magazine! When I found this picture of Rihanna and compared it to Tyson’s magazine cover, I realized I couldn’t have found a better match. Not only do they have almost identical braid patterns, they are also wearing shiny, large chokers and light blue tops. If I ever make a textbook of Hair History Through Rihanna, these pictures are definitely staying together.

            

            As we move into the 1980s, we move into a more destructured sort of style presented by the “most influential figure for black female beauty” (Robinson 35), Grace Jones. Here, we are looking at an increasingly androgynous representation which, though Rihanna has never been spotted with a flattop, can be translated into her sharp-edged, shaved-sides, red pixie cut. Though physically there are a lot of differences between these looks, I believe that they represent a very similar “traditionally masculine” (Robinson 36) style that was, when they were first revealed, a little bit of a “fuck-you in the face of societal standards” (Robinson 36).

            Still in the early 80s, Robinson moves to Ola Ray’s hair-do in the famous Michael Jackson “Thriller” music video. Our author describes Ola Ray’s hair in this video as a “Jheri curl mullet [that] glistened like a rotisserie chicken” (36), which Rihanna beautifully captures in this half-pinned, breezy, loosely curled style.

            For those of you who may remember the order of Phoebe Robinson’s iconic moments, you know that we are now upon the 1989 Aunt Jemima Makeover. Really, Izzy? you ask yourself. Why not? I mean, she’s got the lip color and the earrings!

            Okay, okay. On to some of my most favorite styles that Robinson includes, Janet Jackson’s braids and Lenny Kravitz’s dreads. These are together in the “stay woke” (39) style of Black hair, and I will keep them together because of this, and because this post is already way too long. Rihanna’s braids here are a little more red than Janet Jackson’s, though their size and length are fairly similar. As for the dreads, I have noticed in my ~research~ that Rihanna seems to prefer a very chunky, long dread look, which is a more uniform and modern version of the look that Kravitz is going for here.

 

            We have now arrived to a style that we actually discussed in class, and that Robinson dubs the “’Rachel’ haircut for black people” (41), Halle Berry’s pixie cut, circa 1994. The only element that Rihanna changes in this look is the uniformity and sleekness of the curls against her forehead, which make her version a bit more modern than Halle Berry’s.

  

            Though this one is not fully a hair look, it is still considered one of the most influential looks, as the “sky-high and colorful head wraps” (44) on Erykah Badu’s head in the late 90s caused a turn away from the “bone-straight hairstyles that dominated black hair culture at that time” (45). Rihanna has a few versions of this look, with dreads as well as a short pixie

   

            Here, folks, is where I will stop for now, but I hope you have enjoyed this Riri-ized, modern version of Phoebe Robinson’s brief history of Black hair. If you want a full one, maybe I can get in touch with Rihanna and Phoebe Robinson and we can do a whole photoshoot or something, that would be pretty cool. Until next time, feel free to stand under my umbrella-ella-ella.