Malcolm X's Hair In The African American Hair

Hair has the capability to convey a great deal about a person. Malcolm X’s change in hairstyles revealed a lot about not only how he perceived himself, but how he viewed the entire African American race. Malcolm wore his hair in a hairstyle known as “conk”. That hairstyle is a hair straightening gel that is made from lye. Often, the process involved with “conk” leaves chemical burns on the heads of the people who use it. The hairstyle allowed African Americans to achieve hairstyles that resembled those worn by Caucasians. Reflecting back on the implications of wearing a hairstyle that made him appear more “white” Malcolm X acknowledges that,

This was my first really big step toward self-degradation. When I endured all of that pain, literally

Malcolm regarded the African American hairstyle as implying that the only way black people could achieve beauty was to resemble white people. He acknowledges the symbol of his hair after joining the Nation of Islam. When speaking about the hair that he and his brothers had removed he says, “They had just banished from their lives forever that phony, lye-conked, metallic-looking hair […]. It grieves me that I don’t care where you go, you see this symbol of ignorance and self-hate on so many Negroes’ heads” (Haley 278). Wearing a “conk” brought Malcolm from the sensitivity of feeling being unnoticeable to feeling like he belonged. On the other hand, it also forced him to the realization of his own internalized racism. Once he joined the Nation of Islam, which taught him that he was better than other people because he was black, he was able to discard his hair, ultimately symbolizing the transformation in his mentality. No longer seeing a reason to alter his hair to resemble a different race, he allowed himself to eliminate his own prejudice. Malcolm X left prison a different man then he entered in. Going into confinement he was a man without ambition, one all about status. In spite of