Black Women Learn to Braid While Social Distancing

Niani Barracks usually tends to clients at a salon in Detroit, but now that she must stay indoors because of the coronavirus pandemic, she has instead been running her fingers through the hair of a mannequin head affixed to a stand in her home, as a dozen other black women watch her online.

In one video, Ms. Barracks gently cradles three strands of hair between her fingers as she explains how to start a braid.

“Braids are three sections: We always — even if you are cornrowing — start with three sections,” Ms. Barracks, 30, says as she begins to braid the mannequin’s dark brown hair.

She pauses and turns to the camera. “Can you see that?” she asks the women in her hair-braiding class, which is held on Facebook Live in a private group.

For many black women, a salon visit is about more than simply aesthetics or treating themselves during a stressful time, said Dr. Michele S. Green, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

“Black women have delicate hair and hair follicles,” Dr. Green said. “Not being able to see someone or get any treatment can cause damage.”

Learning to braid can present its own obstacles, too. Not knowing how to braid or how to keep hair healthy is a source of shame for some black women, Ms. Barracks said.

“It is like the stereotype that all black people know how to dance; that is not necessarily true,” she said.

That is why Ms. Barracks said she had proclaimed her course a safe place.

“You don’t have to feel a way; you are in a virtual room with women that are just like you or women that want to support you,” she said.

Many users on Facebook have decided to use the platform to educate others while they are at home.

In the United States, Facebook has had a 50 percent increase in Facebook Live viewers in the past month, according to a company spokeswoman.

source: nytimes.com