I was intrigued by a recent call for a boycott of non-black beauty supply stores by Professor Devin Robinson. I wasn't intrigued by the boycott out of a desire to endorse or oppose the movement. My imagination was captured by the reasons that someone might consider a boycott. According to Professor Robinson, African Americans represent 96% of the consumption in beauty supply stores, but only 5% of the ownership.
Robinson is planning his boycott for the week of November 16 - November 22, to be launched in St. Louis. This will be the same week as our rally in support of a black woman, Heather Ellis, who is facing 15 years in prison for cutting line at a Walmart. It will be interesting to see if the boycott of the haircare industry raises awareness. I personally applaud the idea of finding constructive ways for African Americans to engage in more business ownership. Chris Rock's recent film, 'Good Hair' got us talking about the importance of hair in the lives of black women, and perhaps now is the time for a regime shift. At the very least, one can argue that an industry that takes so much from the black community should be expected to give something back. But this trade will never occur if black women and men are not conscious about where we are purchasing our haircare products.
A documentary presented below by Aron Ranen (he seemed to want me to know that he is a white man) breaks down the industry and presents some disturbing realities that black people may have to confront when we think carefully about how much money we are giving away. Consumers are relatively weak when compared to producers of valuable commodities. African Americans must stop focusing solely on consumption and find paths toward ownership.
The documentary is below, enjoy!
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Finance Professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
Comments: (32)
Add a comment
By: kingdavidlives on 11/02/2009 5:25PM
Check out the documentary. I saw it a couple of years ago. We first need to raise awareness of this issue; organize; then act.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Lawrence on 11/02/2009 10:11PM
I am the son of a black father and korean mother and yes I have worked in a beauty supply store. You would be amazed at how much product is purchased by the black population. It is a business, just as any other business out there. Koreans have a tight knit community and they take care of each other. Most of the hair products come from asian countries and they already have a common bond with their sources. Rather than try and force them to open their supply sources to you, how about learning the culture and language in order to build a bond. of course their are other issues that are involved as well but koreans as a whole take care of each other and help each other to succeed better than some other cultures do.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: aron ranen on 11/03/2009 2:07AM
Thanks for posting this.
Here is link to film at youtube...there are five other parts besides the above clip...Plus an Update from LONDON, ENGLAND
http://www.youtube.com/user/Realitysurfer#p/u/0/p96aaTSdrAE
Here is link to the film's website with short trailer and DVD info
http://www.blackhairdvd.com
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Burles Cooks, Jr. on 11/03/2009 6:53AM
Words like "Koreans taking billions of dollars from the Black community and never giving anything back" are clearly the talk of uneducated, misinformed hate mongers.
I don't see Koreans putting guns to Black women's heads and forcing them to buy from them.
What Black people need to focus on and concentrate on is who controls the crack, meth, tobacco, and alcohol industries. Hair products don't kill or make you stupid unless you smoke them. Maybe that's what Black women are doing.
Black women have always been and will continue to be the initiators of misguided hate and conjecture.
If any of you paid attention to the facts of the documentary, you would have saw and heard 40 years ago, Koreans saw, and seized a business opportunity. A business opportunity Black people were too uneducated and too lazy to capitalize on. And now, as usual, are blaming the problem on someone else.
The Black Hair Care Product Industry is just like the Black Art/Music Industry, Blacks contribute to the creation of it, but, rarely profit from it. See the cycle here?
What we should be doing is boycotting Black female celebrities, and other female professionals who wear stupid-looking weaves, wigs, tons of make-up, and other fake and phony adornments...this is where the problem lies, not with Koreans.
The Afro on a Black female was, and is the most sexiest hair style Black women have ever worn... even Beyonce's Afro wig in the Austin Powers movie brought back memories of a glorious time when Black people more or less had their stuff together.
Any Black person who would ask, or demand of a Korean business person to give back to a community that doesn't respect itself, and it's women are self hating, lazy sell-outs, that are the predominant buyers of the products, is a blind, uneducated, misguided fool. Ask some of your local crack dealers and liquor stores to give back to the community and see what they tell you.. they also make, not take billions out of the Black communities.
The documentaries and Chris Rock's movie are trying to show you Black women are vain, stupid clowns, because they buy 90% of Black hair care and beauty products, but, only make up 10% of the population.. how sick, ignorant, and high maintenance is that?
I am an entrepreneur, a Black Man, and if I had the money, I would buy a bunch of Indian Hair, front lace wigs, "creamy crack" (perm) get rich off Black women, and move to Hawaii where the hair down to woman's butts is real. I love my sista's, but, I don't love self-haters. Wear you own hair, please!
Peace and Blessings
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: raywil3 on 11/03/2009 1:13PM
Why can't we emulate other nationalites and ethnic groups? Why can't we use them as role models? What did the Italians, Germans, Jews, Hispanics,Koreans do when they came to this country? Wherever possible, they supported businesses owned and operated by people that looked like them. They may have had to walk out of their way to frequent these businesses but they felt that it was better to support their own than others. The businesses in turn hired from within. The same dollars stayed withint he community and supported the community. Were the prices hire? Probably but the return on investment in the communtiy was much greater.
Report This
By: Liz on 11/05/2009 9:38AM
Mr. Burles, I must admit that I took offense to the word "lazy" in your comment. But when I think about the images that we see on tv about black women who get their hair done in extentions, wigs, and braids. Most of the time they are shown in ghetto neighborhoods with dirty houses and bad children running around. They always have time to eat, get their hair done, and have sex. They never have time for house work, community service, doing homework with their children, or providing a sit down nutritious meal for their children. I have seen plenty of it with my own eyes so I can't say that it is just a stereotype that the media has placed on us as black women. But if that is what you had in mind when you used the term "lazy" then I will have to agree whole heartily. It takes to much time, energy, and brain power to keep up with your natural hair. God forbid we learn how to manage ourselves and be a role model for the next generation. By the way before anyone takes offense I am a black mother of two children. Who uses relaxers on my hair that is shoulder length long. I do my own hair and I teach my daughter to do the same.
Report This
By: Rose Shimabukuro on 11/06/2009 7:43AM
You sound crazy. You hate yourself and your black sisters. I am not apart of the twisted world you are from. But in reading your blog I sense a disrespect of blacks and black women who you depict as drug addicts, crack and lazy individuals. You comments about black women needing to stop using hair products that you say are, because black women are self hating, sell outs
uneducated and the adjectives are way to demeaning. Although, I live in the orient and have visited Hawaii several times. Although, I have never been surrounded by Koreans in the hair business. I have them make my cloths and shoes and they products are good. These Korean families support their families in the states and many families contribute to their business in the states. And the business is set in a supply and demand area. Even Madam C.J.Walker used supply and demand, because her own hair was falling out. She sent for products from Africa to mix up to save her own hair. It was falling out thru her own poor diet. So after she invented the hair growing product she saved her hair and started going door to door to help othe women. Our hair are ready barber. This means is trims its self. Black hair doesn't well grow if products of good quality are not used. A lot of Black women's hair is real and is because of these products. You apparently don't understand this. The reason Madam C.J.Walker reinvented the handle of the straighting comb was so out hair the black women could easly managed her hair so it could grow. I know you look at the afro on Beyonce and say wow. But I remember I was photographed for Forward Times in Houston, Texas wearing an Afro. That Afro it took time. I had to roll it and pick it. The picking causes pulling out of my hair too. I always had to roll it to get that nice round look. The reason women of all groups use the products is to make it easier to manage their hair. All women use them. The weaves, wigs, and everything that you think are only used by black women are used by women in the know.In the orient these women can do black hair. If you have touched asian hair it is difficult to manage ,too. In the orient the beauticians in the orient do black hair. The white beauticians won't touch our hair. They like the hispanic women use oils in their hair. I wish you would go up to a caucasian female because she was in Hawaii and think that hair was real down to her butt.
If you think you could make money do it. Don't disrespect black women to get your point over. I bet you have never been out of the United States. I live near Koreans,Japanese and Filipeano, Thailand,hispanic,India, and it is outside the United States. I would never say those horrible things about my black people. Cleopatra wore wigs, and all the junk you stated. This history had been around a long time. Don't put down the famous female actors, because all actors use the wigs and such. And the comments about Korean not being boycotted. These people are no diferent than the buses that Rose Parks refused to get up and Dr. Martin Luther King wanted changes. Maybe respect can come out of it. In Korean the Koreans believe if you comne in their store first than they respect you and give a deal. Maybe this can be a first. Respect has to come from somewhere to those who spent their hard earned money
Report This
By: mea on 11/06/2009 9:39PM
What I have been waiting on in commentary is that white women wear weaves and extensions too. All of my white friends wear hair extensions. This whole conversation is ignorant. Black people have such low self esteem. White women can be more high maintenance than black women. It really is not a race thing, but an individual preference thing. A woman has the perogative to enhance her beauty any way she chooses. What really matters is how she feels within. I have worn my natural hair swinging past my bottom, in a large afro, a short one,bald, soft short curls, and now a shoulder length bob. "I am not my hair", India Irie.
Report This
By: M. Walker on 11/08/2009 11:53PM
Thank you for the opportunity to dialog. Some of the comments that I read were very disturbing and unfortunately, selfdebricating. When we go off half cocked and unenformed we do not help ourselves or each other.
Calling Black women lazy and questioning their parenting skills is so foul.
As an educator, entreprenuer and salon owner I am very much aware that we have work to do in how we percieve ourselves as a people.
We have forgotten how beautiful we are and how so many other cultures emmulate us. They want dark skin, like us....They want thick lips, like us...
They want, big butts, like us...They want thick curly hair, like us. Other ethnicities of women get perms to nap up their hair and we don't make a big stink about it. We always seem to be ready to find fault with ourselves.
Someone spoke about how beautiful the Afro is. I agree. My feeling is we should all experience our own, God given beautiful tresses. Locks, braids, twists, short cuts, big hair...all groomed natural hair is FAB. Chemicals are terribly dangerous for our skin, hair and love of self. Go to a professional and your scalp and hair a chance to be blessed and treated to what God already made beautiful.
Lastly, we need to find or create a directory of black products and manufacturers and make it readily available to the public. We must support each other in the hair industry, by purchasing and supporting what WE do.
Report This
By: Ms. Dew on 11/09/2009 11:20AM
All i can say is WOW! While reading your statement i couldnt find the love for black women.
Report This