Like many black women, Tyshia Ingram, 28, had long used harsh
chemicals to straighten her natural curls. But a few years ago, the
Philadelphia-based writer decided to quit. She’d been reading about the
carcinogenic risks of straightening formulas and didn’t feel smooth hair
was worth the risk. What’s more, routinely processing her hair had
begun to feel like a form of self-rejection.
Ingram says it was difficult to let go of the idea that “straight
hair was the prettiest,” but after she cut her hair and watched her
curls grow in, she began to appreciate their beauty.
She’s not alone. The trend toward authenticity and a growing
awareness of the health risks of hair relaxers have sent sales
plummeting in recent years. According to consumer-research studies,
chemical relaxers generated sales of $200 million in 2009. That figure
dropped to $148 million in 2013, and sales are expected to fall to $72
million by 2019.
Meanwhile, product lines designed specifically for curly hair are
taking off. A company called DevaCurl, for example, has experienced
double-digit growth during each of the past five years. “The good news
is that people are learning ways to embrace and enhance curls rather
than thinking of curls as something to be ‘fixed,’” says Cal Ellis,
DevaCurl’s technical training manager.
The same goes for “fixing” gray. More women have started wearing
their silver with pride, and a report by British department store Harvey
Nichols named gray hair a top beauty trend of 2015. There’s even a
celebratory hashtag to mark the occasion: #silverhair.
The hair-coloring industry remains alive and well — a recent study
reported sales of $1.5 billion in 2014 — but evidence is mounting that
many have tired of the time and expense that coloring requires. And, as
with relaxers, conventional dyes come with some health risks: They’re a
suspected risk factor for leukemia, lymphoma, and bladder cancer. (For
more on the health risks of conventional body-care products, see “Beauty Beware“.)
In her book May I Be Happy, OM Yoga founder Cyndi Lee, 63,
describes reaching a point where she felt trapped by hair dye. She’d
become a “fake brunette with blonde highlights who spends hundreds of
dollars and hours to maintain the façade.” Though her stylist had
cautioned her that she’d look “a lot older,” Lee let her gray roots grow
in, then cut it short. Now, she says, her hair often gets compliments.
And she no longer feels trapped.