Detangling Knots of Trauma: Intergenerational Transmission of Racial Trauma Through Hair Care Processes Between Mothers and Daughters In African American Families

Abstract

Black Hair has emerged as a significant topic in contemporary Critical Race discussions, fostering positive societal changes aimed at combating racism and supporting Black women in their struggles. This has led to the implementation of laws and programs, such as the Crown Act(Lee & Nambudiri, 2021), designed to address hair discrimination., designed to address hair discrimination. However, there remains a need to address various assumptions regarding the symbolism of Black hair in society. Hair discrimination and racist dynamics based on uninterrogated assumptions have resulted in racial trauma, which has profoundly affected Black women and their relationships with their mothers and with their Black Hair. This study explored the intergenerational transmission of racial trauma within African American families, focusing on mother-daughter hair care practices. Studies have shown that internalized racism can exacerbate racial trauma through intergenerational transmission within African American families (Watson, 2023); many Black women recall their first encounters with hair-related questioning within their families during their initial experiences with hair relaxers (Norwood, 2018). Grounded in a phenomenological approach, I conducted 10 interviews with African American women born and raised in the United States to understand their lived experiences about their hair, asking them to consider how racism, discrimination, and stigma affected their feelings about their hair and hair care, and how messages from their mothers during hair-caring interactions affected their feelings and experiences with their Black hair. Narrative analysis revealed that racial trauma was perpetuated through hair care interactions in families, specifically from mothers to daughters. Older women felt pressure to heed their mothers’ advice and conform to society’s white standard of beauty. Younger women were caught in the middle. Discrimination and racial trauma were real for them, yet they were empowered by recent societal changes to push back against white Supremacy norms to join the natural Black hair movement. The voices in the narratives of the Black women are reflected in this study. They are presented here to celebrate Black hair and advocate for anti-racist parenting as a contribution toward healing and breaking the cycle of intergenerational pain within Black communities. Key words: Black Hair, intergenerational transmission of racial trauma, mother - daughter relationships, discrimination, anti-racism, phenomenology