African women, especially Ghanaians, should desist from using wigs, hair extensions, and other unnatural forms of hair styling, psychologist Dr Carnita Groves has urged.
She raised red flags concerning the health implications of chemical products and the adoption of foreign lifestyles that do not promote Africanness and confidence among African women. For her, Africans are not born needing “wigs and hair extensions and [are] not natural to the extent that we African women do it around the world”.
The health professional highlighted physiological problems and other physical conditions like alopecia and fungal infections on the scalp among numerous health implications from using materials like weave-on and others.
Dr Groves bemoaned the low self-esteem of African women which makes them shun natural hair and also blamed some men who put unnecessary pressure on ladies to look good by adopting such lifestyles.
She wonders why some Africans “internalise colonialism and white supremacy while at the same time negating our Africanism” and “not enjoying the glorious wonderful hairstyles and textures that we are divinely endowed with”.
The psychologist explained that there is a prevailing mentality which makes ladies “believe that ‘I am prettier this way…the closer I am to looking like a white woman the better off I am’”.
She added that such thoughts lead to chemicals being released to the brain “that then keeps that attitude in mind making it so strong to break away [from]”.
Dr Groves, who was a guest on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Wednesday, April 26, revealed that African ladies “need to embrace natural looks” as beauty is not about how long or short one’s hair is.
“I have seen bald women here in Ghana and the United States who are delightfully beautiful, so this is not about long hair but healthy natural hair,” she added.
Dr Groves revealed that there are so many ways of keeping one’s hair natural with home-made products and advised the public to seek more information through resources on the internet and YouTube videos that teach practical ways of keeping hair natural.
During the call-in segment, a woman charged the Ministry of Education to abolish the practice of making female students, especially those in public schools, cut their hair.
She indicated that the practice makes the girls lose confidence and growing their hair after senior high school becomes difficult.
Instead, she wants authorities to expose girls in primary schools to healthy natural ways of maintaining their hair rather than enforcing mandatory haircuts.
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