The aim of this thesis is to investigate the current natural hair movement among AfricanAmerican women in the United States as a space where beauty standards are simultaneouslycontested, reified, and reshaped. Here, the “natural hair movement” is the recent trend of Blackwomen consciously ending the habitual chemical straightening/ processing of their natural hairtexture. The study is guided by the following research questions: 1) To what extent does the“natural hair movement” participate in/ endorse Eurocentric standards of beauty? 2) How areBlack women utilizing the natural hair movement to (re)define, (re)shape, and (de/re)constructmeanings of beauty and Black womanhood? Utilizing theories of beauty culture/ standards ofbeauty and Black feminism, this study explores these research questions by way of discourseanalysis. The subjects of this study consisted of four internet-based natural hair care spaces: 1)The official website of Carol’s Daughter brand natural hair care products 2) CurlyNikki.com, theworld’s most popular natural hair blog (Walton) 3) Popular video blogger Naptural85’s YouTubechannel and 4) A Twitter and Tumblr page within the 4C hair type sub-grouping. The languageand images within these spaces were sorted and analyzed, to reveal patterns surrounding theways that beauty is theorized within the natural hair community, via discussions of naturalhairstyles, lengths, and textures. Ultimately, the study suggests the natural hair movement is aspace where negotiations of identity are occurring, as Black women have created their own spaceto (re)shape meanings of Black female beauty, while at times influenced by deeply embeddedEurocentric standards of beauty.
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