1. vintage_fairy

    vintage_fairy Member

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    How Can I Describe African American hair properly?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by vintage_fairy, Nov 26, 2021.

    For my story, I'm trying to describe my Black main protagonist, Safiya's, hairstyle when she becomes a Princess at the end of the story, but I don't know how to describe it since she's my first main character of color. The story takes place three years after the events of the first story and how she's settled down with her new leadership role as Princess and has married her best friend, Emelyn, in a grand ceremony and is training to be the future Queen of her ancestral homeland, but describing the style is tricky. And here's a picture if you guys want to see it. Mind you, that's also the makeup she's wearing.

    Also, this is what her hair looked like in her past life when she was a Princess before her death. I forgot to include that one too.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2021
  2. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Dozens of tresses twisted into ropes, some piled into a loose coronet atop her head and others trailing over her shoulders.
     
  3. evild4ve

    evild4ve Critique is stranger than fiction Supporter Contributor

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    With description there isn't any credit whatsoever for projecting our exact mental images into the reader's mind. If our mental images mattered, we'd be painters not writers.

    The description of the character's hair is really a description of the character's self. Even moreso than people's physical hair is an expression of their self.

    Catriona's description I think illustrates this and I hope it's okay to use this to try and how even in a literal/objective description, the describing-words all carry value-judgements into the character's personality.

    Dozens of tresses twisted into ropes, some piled into a loose coronet atop her head and others trailing over her shoulders.


    Twisted
    Piled
    Some loose...others trailing
    Coronet

    So this is someone who is casual about power. "Coronet atop" her head introduces some formality, but there's ambivalence and it's possibly 2 formal/smart words outweighed by 4 casual/messy.

    One of the challenges with description is that every reader receives every word with a slightly different secondary register. Some might feel "rope" is a reminder of the ruler's power over capital punishment and feel 3 formal words where I feel 2. Writers have to push continually to introduce some element of control over the reader's subjectivity. No description of the character's hair can stand in isolation from the other descriptions of the character: they all have to push in the same direction for any of it to stick. The OP's question, arguably, is unanswerable in fiction: a catalogue of hairstyles might use objective/literal description but in fiction this hair is always somebody's hair.

    Someone (Seven Crowns I think?) recently posted about the importance of descriptions doing 'double duty'. If the description of the hair isn't somehow moving the story's artistic goals forward: I say don't describe her hair. Instead describe something that somehow moves the story's goals forward. I believe powerful writing is aware of the reader's subjectivity and gives them free reign to imagine whatever silly little head-pictures they want while the story puts its full weight behind character and themes.

    "Make my hair a provocation!"

    And they did, oh my Worst-Despised.

    Some saw on her a memorial of eta vines; others the web of Anansi.
    To all, it was an escalation: until the transgressive hints and whispered innuendoes became as mysterious as the hair.
    In ways like these, Princess Safiya found out which courtiers were trolling her.
     
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  4. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Here's an article giving a brief history of braids: The Fascinating History of Braids You Never Knew About

    It doesn't specifically mention micro braids, which is what the picture shows (Or they could also be micro dreads, you should look into those too), but elsewhere I ran across the fact that they became popular in the early 1980's, which is when I started seeing them. I don't know if or how long they were around before that, but it also mentioned that they're frequently added on using a weave or artificial hair extensions, probably because the process of creating them from a person's own hair is very laborious and takes all day. Also of course it allows people with short hair to have braids. And of course it also explains why you'll see women who have short hair show up one day with these elaborate long braids, often in outlandish colors. Weaves have made hair styling into a candybox wonderland for anyone.

    So there's a good chance micro braids didn't come into existence until the modern era, or weren't very popular previously. But this can give you some direction in which to turn your research.
     
  5. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    :superlaugh::superlaugh::superlaugh:

    I see your point, evild4ve, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I simply described the physical attributes of the hairstyle in the photo without any attempt or intent to impart value judgments about the person who grew the hair.

    By the way: I have hair that falls to the top of my thighs. I generally confine it to a single braid, lacking an inhouse hairdresser to arrange it into coronets, be they twisted, loosely piled, or cemented into place with hairspray and gel.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2021
  6. Chromewriter

    Chromewriter Contributor Contributor

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    Her hair exudated power. They were braided into multiple parts that were fashioned in an artful display; a mass of hair at the top that stuck out over the crown and the rest fell past her shoulders. She looked regal as Medusa.

    Best I got. I suck.
     
  7. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    Those arent braids but faux locs (extra hair added in and twisted to resemble locs or "dread locs"). Basically, fake locs.

    I've had dreadlocs for 6 years. You can describe them as cords or lengths of tight curls (if you held up one of my locs and looked at it, you'd see a bunch of curls matted together).

    Does she have locs through out the story? Because if not, then this style is not believable at all. It takes 6 months to a year to loc your hair (longer if you have a softer curl pattern). The locs will then grow like that and will need to be retwisted. Mine took 6 years to get to the length on the picture and they started out chin length when i got them

    Faux locs, though, take a few hours to do and are temporary. So to describe faux locs, just say hair was added to lengthen the cords of her hair and wound up atop her head.
     
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  8. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    OP has posted a thread about African Cultures.
    Its worth noting that hair styling differs from tribe to tribe. Perhaps the hair can be important to the story in saying that this one "tribe" or "clan" or what have you is now ruling.
     
  9. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    Npe. Would still take all day if it was your own hair, too.
    Added hair protects your real hair from breaking (braiding and twisting is too much stress on real hair if done a lot). Braids, twists, weaves, and wigs are all protective styles because our hair breaks really easily (you should feel how brittle my hair is now that its cold! Ugh!!).

    Plus, added hair makes it stay neater for longer. Depending on the kind of braid or twist, you can wear them for as long as 5months


    Below are micro braids (very tiny braids).

    [​IMG]


    Micro braids have been around since ancient times
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2021
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  10. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Huh? You said nope and then repeated what I just said. :superconfused:

    But aside from that it sounds like you're corroborating what I said and what was in the article I posted. Though I wasn't sure how long they had been around, thanks for clarifying that. :superagree:
     
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  11. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    Clarification: doesnt matter if its the persons own hair or added hair.... It would still take a long time to do
    (Is what i meant to say but got distracted haha!)
     
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