Cornrows

A man with cornrows

Cornrows, also known as braids, are a traditional African style of hair grooming where the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to produce a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often formed, as the name implies, in simple, straight lines, but they can also be formed in complicated geometric or curvilinear designs.

Often favored for their easy maintenance, cornrows can be left in for weeks at a time if maintained through careful washing of the hair and regular oiling of the scalp. If the scalp is not oiled properly, prolonged styling with cornrows can result in dandruff and major hair loss however.

Cornrowed hairstyles are often adorned with beads or cowry shells, in the African and Caribbean tradition. Depending on the region of the world, cornrows are typically worn by either men, women or both. Cornrows are known as canerow in parts of the Caribbean.

History

A traditional way of styling hair across the African continent, depictions of women with cornrows have been found in Stone Age paintings in the Tassili Plateau of the Sahara that have been dated as far back as 3000 B.C.^[1] Historically, male styling with cornrows can be traced as far back as the early nineteenth century to Ethiopia, where warriors and kings such as Tewodros II and Yohannes IV of Ethiopia were depicted wearing cornrows.

In the African diaspora, cornrows survived for centuries in the United States and other parts of the New World as a traditional style of hair preparation. In the United States the cornrow style regained popularity in the late 1960s and 1970s as part of the Black Nationalist Movement, which encouraged African Americans to embrace hairstyles that highlighted their natural hair texture and reject straightening with lye-based relaxers. In the wake of the Black pride movement, many shops and salons sprang up across the United States delivering services exclusively, or as part of a range of options, to African Americans who preferred natural unstraightened hairstyles such as cornrows.

Outside the African tradition, cornrow-like hairstyles have also been seen in Greek and Roman art,^[2] and may have had a similar presence in Celtic culture. Cornrows acquired some popularity among White Americans and Europeans after blonde actress Bo Derek wore beaded cornrows in the popular 1979 Blake Edwards comedy 10, and became widely popular once again with the spread of hip hop culture in the 1990s. Cornrow hairstyles are now often offered to tourists in resort areas of the Caribbean. In the Asian tradition, mixed martial arts fighters with long hair also often sport the cornrow hairstyle during matches to protect the hair from being ripped off while grappling.

Controversy

Over the years, cornrows, along with dreadlocks, have been the subject of several disputes in the American workplace. Some employers have deemed them unsuitable for the office and have banned them – sometimes even terminating employees who have worn them. African American employees and civil rights groups have countered that such attitudes evidence racial and cultural bias. Some such disputes have resulted in litigation.^[3]

In 2011, the High Court of the United Kingdom, in a decision reported as a test case, ruled against a school’s decision to refuse entry to a student with cornrows; the school claimed this was part of its policy mandating ‘short back and sides’ haircuts and disallowing styles that might be worn as indicators of gang membership, but the court ruled that the student was expressing a family tradition and that such policies, while possibly justifiable in certain cases (e.g. skinhead gangs), had to accommodate reasonable ethnic and cultural practises.^[4]

Braids pulled too tight or worn for considerable lengths of time can cause a type of hair loss known as traction alopecia.^[5]

Gallery

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  Some cornrowed hairstyles can take hours to execute.

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  Artistic braiding.

See also

• French braid
• Dreadlocks

References

1. ^ Ivan Van Sertima. Black women in antiquity. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ol9X2G2ub24C&printsec=frontcover&dq=black+women+in+antiquity#v=onepage&q=cornrows&f=false. Retrieved 10 August 2011. 
2. ^ http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/sicily/syracuse/first_democracy/t.html
3. ^ Alison Dundes Renteln. The Cultural Defense. http://books.google.com/books?id=zyWr3dSXUrIC&pg=PA143&lpg=PA143&dq=cornrows+in+litigation#v=onepage&q=cornrows%20in%20litigation&f=false. Retrieved 10 August 2011. 
4. ^ "School braids ban 'not justified'". The Independent. 2011-06-17. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/school-braids-ban-not-justified-2298925.htm. Retrieved 2011-06-17. 
5. ^ "Braiding 'can lead to hair loss'". BBC News. 2007-08-24. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6961935.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-30.