American Research Journal of Humanities & Social Science (ARJHSS)R) 2022

American Research Journal of Humanities & Social Science (ARJHSS)

E-ISSN: 2378-702X
Volume-05, Issue-11, pp-01-06
www.arjhss.com

Research Paper Open Access

Afro centric Hairstyles: A Motif for Fabric Design and

Construction
Emmanuel Abban1, Abigail Oteng2
Department of Fashion and Textiles, School of Creative Arts, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
*Corresponding Author: Emmanuel Abban

ABSTRACT: Natural hairs amongst Ghanaian women have proven to be evolving as theycontinue to be used
as a marker of cultural identification of Africans to denote age, religion, social ranks, marital status as well as
other status symbols. This study casts light on the trending Afrocentric hairstyle among students of UEW. The
study employed a qualitative study design. It used descriptive, field methods such as observation and interviews
to collect data from students with trending Afrocentric hairstyles. It was concluded that braids, perm, natural,
and weave-on were the types of hairstyles invoked at the university campus with braids and natural hairstyles
being the most dominant. These two were used to design and construct fabrics in three different colors and
styles. Again, hairstyles could be interpreted into varied symbols, proverbs, and so on to add up to the existing
stocks. It wasrecommended that researchers in the field of textiles should look in African feminine beauty
culture and used them to come up with real and abstract fabrics to create a global awareness of how they
perceive aesthetics.

Keywords: Afrocentric, Hairstyles, Designing& Construction.

I. INTRODUCTION
Afrocentric and Africologywere coined in the 1980s by African American scholars and
activists(Kayange 2018). It focused on the history of the people of recent African descent. It is in some respect a
response to global attitudes about African people and their historical contributions to cultural and political
movements (Kayange 2018). Africans adhere to and believe that their worldview should positively reflect
traditional African values (Kanneh 1998).
Hairstyling is a form of expression of identity, status, and wealth (Bobo 1995) different hairstyles have
been passed from generation to generation even though some have been transformed over the periods.
Hairstyling, as imagined, is a mutable part of humans’ social and psychological lives which lends itself as a
symbolic representation embedded in many social and cultural settings (Banks 2000). Within the visual culture,
we find an innumerable array of hairstyles that have been explored to some extent by painters, sculptors, poets,
and otherartists all in the name of preserving and showcasing them. Unfortunately, they have always followed
specific guidelines that allow these hairstyles to adorn and beautify their bodies and showcase cultures
(Goldstein 1991).
Hair is a cultural trait (Banks 2000) and with a particular focus on Africa, natural hair plays a
significant role in the cultural and spiritual lives of many groups of people. BloomsburyEncarta (2004) explains
hair as a type that has not been altered by chemical straighteners, which include inorganic hair relaxers. Hair
may play an important role in the lives of African descent; this role is amplified due to the unique nature and
texture of their black hairs. Since antiquity, African hairstyles have been known for their complex multifaceted
nature (Bobo 1995). A notion that remains true today is that Africans treasure their hair irrespective of the
condition under which they find themselves. For many women of African descent, hair is a motive symbolic and
inseparable part of their beauty.
Hairstyles especially Afrocentric hairstyles are markers and signifiers of social class, age, marital
status, racial identification, political beliefs, and attitudes about gender (Banks 2000). Every culture hasvarious
ways of portraying hairstyles. Again, hairstyling is an expression achieved by arranging hair into suitable
balanced lines which complement the underlined hair and face structure (Banks 2000) they vary according to
hair fashion, Sex, age, occupation coupled with apparel that goes with it. For ages, people have worn hairstyles

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in a wide variety of styles and sculpted them into various forms. Because of the nature of this non-texturized
nature of the African hair, it can be sculpted into various designs and these designs come out in different shapes
and forms which is appealing to the eyes (Dramedo 2009). Africans their hairstyle has a link to their status in
society and their spiritual affiliation. In most African communities’ hairstyles are used to communicate visually
more frequently than oral.
Thompson (2008) draws from a body of phenomenological description of young African Americans
females who transitioned from chemically relaxed hair to natural hair. He thus sets the foundation for one of the
ways by which they could view hairs as the original texture of one's hair before any chemical or mechanical
manipulation. The lack of chemical treatment made their hairs look kinky and non-glossy as compared to hair
that has been treated chemically to relax and loosen them into textures. He concluded that the kinky African
hair texture is a natural cause of the growth of the type of hair due to where Africans find themselves.
In today’s world, people have been designing unconsciously because they have been planning,
assembling, arranging, and organizing their daily activities. Most of these actions are unconscious, yet they are
not regarded as designing. According to Sackey (2002) design is an expression of the mind which has been
interpreted through a process of planning which involves the organization of elements and principles of design
to form an idea. So, every work of art is based on knowledge of design.
For a textile designer to survive in the competing markets, the designer should make his product very
durable to distinguish them from other products. Contemporary textile designers in this lightonly incorporate
traditional symbols, totems proverbs, and metaphors as motifs into complex abstract designs for textiles printing
and aesthetics. The question here is that have the textiles designers exhausted all the basic things we see at all
times around us? Certainly not, there is the need to investigate how Afrocentric hairstyles could be used as
motifs for textile designing. This research is aimed at identifying some Afrocentric hairstyles and developing
them into motifs that can be used for making design patterns on fabrics to help bring variation in textile
designing and construction. There is, therefore,a need in this context to research Afrocentric hairstyle designs
and adapt them to textile designing and construction.

II. METHODOLOGY
The epistemological stand to arrive at the ontology of this research was coined under the qualitative
methodology which employed descriptive and experimentation to conclude on the findings. This research
employed an open-ended inductive interview, personal observations coupled with still-life images of hairstyles
from the sampled population which comprised of all female students of Art Education, University of Education,
Winneba. Some constructivist theorist interprets population as a group of interest to the researcher where
findings of a subject area can be solicited (Leedy & Ormrod 2005; Owusu-Afriyie 2008).
In all, a total of twenty (20) females were selected and observed, and out of that, three (3) three
dominant and trending hairstyles were picked from the sample size. Purposive and simple random sampling
techniques were exploited. This is because the researcher’s sole interest was on the females since they tend to
change hairstyles on daily basis due to their personal preferences. Again, a random sampling approach was used
to extract the sample size from the large populist.
Secondary data was also sorted from books and the internet to draw vivid insights into the work under
study. Hox and Boeije (2005) posit thatsecondary data is of the essence since it enhances in-depth understanding
and prior discoveries of that subject area. Finally, the data collected were coded into themes, described, and
experimented with in printing onto cotton fabrics.

III. FINDINGS
Based on the interpretive line of reasoning adopted under the qualitative approach, the researcher
obtained both primary and secondary data with the aim of the objective set to buttress his line of reasoning. A
thematic codified analysis was used on the primary data collected to reflect the interview presentation which
was backed by prior discoveries emanated from the secondary sources of data collected.
Likewise, emic observational field notes were expanded coupled with still–life photographs of the
various hairstyles of the sample respondents for the researcher to appreciate the interpretive theory of expression
and impressionism under hair cosmetology. Below are the outcomes from the data in descriptive and
experimental analysis.

a. INFLUENCE OF HAIRSTYLES ON PERSONALITY

An oral question was asked by the researcher to the sampled respondents as to whether the styling of
the hair has any influence on their personalities. The interview data revealed that all the respondents totaling a
hundred percent were conscientious that indeed styling of the hair plays an essential role in their bodies and the
society. They view hairstyling as prestigious which showcases one’s status or class in society.Again, the

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respondents posited that individual likeness of a particular style boosts their confidence when they walk around
campus or in the lecture rooms.
Interview data showed several of the respondents expressing their views on how dazzling beautiful they
look in hairstyles such as weave on, braids, and perm hairstyles which makes them super attractive to the
opposite sex.
A follow-up question was posed as to what accounts for the selection of their hairstyles. An
interviewee opined that what is in vogue is what she looks out for just to make her fit into that society and
upgrade her into a particular assumptive class created in their minds. A respondent postulated that women
lookout for hairstyles that would define them and enhance their appearances. She added that though there are
diverse hairstyles around, she normally goes for the natural hairstyle that has been partitioned and sawn in a
bulb-like form because it conforms to her facial contours. An interviewee retreated that she would go in for
anything expensive in hairstyling since she sees herself as expensive and of a higher class.
It became clear in the mind of the researcher from the data those dominant hairstyles such as braids,
perm, weave on and natural were the trending hairstyles prevailing at the premises of Art Education in the
University of Education, Winneba depending on how complex, stylized, and expensive one wears it boosts her
confidence and put that person into a particular category of class.
Data showed that depending on how wealthy one is, would warrant some types of hair makeup. It was
therefore concluded that hairstyling makes them beautiful, boosts their confidence in the society in which they
find themselves, and again, makes them look expensive and of a high class.

b. OBSERVATIONS ON HAIRSTYLES
Emic look into hairstyles showed that it brings attraction, the feeling of belonging’, confidence, and all
wellbeing of a woman. Dominant hairstyles considered to be trending are; braids, perm, natural, and weave on.
Braids: it is a kind of hairstyle that looks like it was plaited in threes and raised in a form of ridges in long
strands from the skull of the head and joined with other artificial hairs, hanging down way to the base of the
bottom.
Perm: This type of hairstyle is observed as being treated with chemicals and heat set with rollers to
bring out curly hairs in fine strands on the head.
Natural: Are seen as hairs that have not received any chemical treatments that will refine or distort the original
makeup of the hairs.
Weave on: These are observed as artificial hair extensions in long or short strands that have
permanently been treated with chemicals to form spirals or curls, attached to the normal hairs, or worn like a cap
on the head.
After gathering all the hairstyles for this research, Photoshop software was used to manipulate the
selected hairstyles of which other designs were combined in each stage of the designing process.

Below are the steps that were used in design processes.

 Selecting the hairstyle
 Cropping the hairstyle from the face of the wearer
 Developing the vector into a motif
 Resizing, arranging, and defining the motif into the pattern
 Addition of colors and background effects

c. AFRO HAIRSTYLE
Figure one is a female student wearing afro hair which has been divided into two with the front hair laid and
the back rose.

Figure one; Image of Afro hairstyle. Source: (Studio work 2022)

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Figure two is the vector image of figure one in black and white to bring out both the positive and the negative
sides of the afro hairstyle.

Figure two; vector image of figure one. Source: (Studio work 2022)

III. CONSTRUCTION
The hairstyle was first selected and cropped to obtain the vector image. This was arranged in columns
using the copied and pasted tool of Adobe Photoshop to get the motifs repeated into half drops. The second
image was duplicated and skewed below to get the up and down motif arrangements. An Undulatingline was
used to fill the background of the design.

Colours
A thick black colour was first applied to the borders of the motifs and then a coffee brown and light
brown were applied to the original motifs and the skewed motifs. Again, blue colour was applied to the
background design to shoot the motifs up coupled with the black undulating lines to give texture to the
background to make the whole design very solid for textile printing.

Figure three: Finished designed work of Afro hairstyle. Source: (Studio work 2022)

d. BRAID HAIRSTYLE
Construction
Figure four is the image of a female student wearing long braids that have been woven in a V-shaped
form raised in a form of ridges from the base of the skull in long strands to the tip of the bottom.

Figure four; image of Braids hairstyle. Source: (Studio work 2022)

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Figure five is the vector image of figure one in black and white to bring out both the positive and the negative
sides of the braidedhairstyle that has been skewed to the right.

Figure six; vector image of figure five skewed to the right. Source: (Studio work 2022)

IV. CONSTRUCTION
The braid hairstyle was first selected and cropped as shown above and then a vector image was
obtained and arranged in columns. It was then copied and pasted to get the subsequent motif beneath. The
second image was then vertically flipped to get the motif for the arrangement. The motif was then arranged
horizontally, and as a unit repeated and was copied and pasted to fill the whole page. Crinkled lines were used to
fill the background of the motifs.

Colour
Multiple colours such as turquoise green, gray and black were used in the application of the design.
Black was used for the outside designs of the motifs, turquoise green for the background colour, and gray to fill
some portions of the motif to create some abstract effect of the motifs to make the work look somewhat complex
with unique features to make the design work complete for fabric printing.

Figure seven; final design work from braided hairstyle. Source: (Studio work 2022)

IV. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Textile designing and construction play a very important role in the textile industry. These significant
roles andtheir importance cannot be overlooked. Interestingly most of the motifs or symbols are always being
modified to suit various purposes while new ones are also designed to add to the existing stock to prove that
although they are just hairstyles, they can be well interpreted to form motifs in designing clothes. It is therefore
recommended that researchers keep looking into natural hair which healthier and defines the African feminine
beauty styles as well as using these body styles in constructing fabrics augment true African beauty cosmetology
and global awareness of what they perceive as aesthetics.Finally, textiles companies should have a
correspondence with all the art designing schools to come up with design themes for industrial textiles
construction to beautify and also sell their culture locally and globally.

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REFERENCES
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[4]. Goldstein, L. (1991) The Female Body, Figures, Styles, Speculations: Michigan, University of
Michigan Press.
[5]. Hox, J.J. &Boeije, H.R (2005) Data collection, Primary vs. Secondary. Encyclopedia
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[7]. Kayange, G.M. (2018) Meaning and Truth in African Philosophy. Malawi, Chancellor College;
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[8]. Leedy, P D. & Ormrod, J.E. (2005) Practical Research Planning and Design, 8 th Edition. New Jersey,
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[9]. Owusu-Afriyie, C. (2008) the School Administrator as an Instructional Leader of the Visual Arts
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[10]. Sackey, J (2002) Introduction to Textile Technology for Schools and Colleges Vol. 1. Ghana, Frank
Publishing Ltd.
[11]. Thompson, C. (2008). Black women and identity: Michigan Feminist Studies.

*Corresponding Author: Emmanuel Abban

Department of Fashion and Textiles, School of Creative Arts, University of Education,
Winneba, Ghana

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