{"id":879054,"date":"2025-06-06T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=879054"},"modified":"2025-06-06T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T10:00:00","slug":"your-recession-hair-is-a-privilege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=879054","title":{"rendered":"Your \u201cRecession Hair\u201d Is a Privilege"},"content":{"rendered":"
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IT’S TEXTURED<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Your \u201cRecession Hair\u201d Is a Privilege<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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Black women don\u2019t just get to show up \u201cas is.\u201d<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Sophie Meharenna<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Illustration by Stina Persson<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
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Welcome to It\u2019s Textured, a column where we untangle the joy, trauma, confusion, and frustration that can come with Black hair. This month, writer Sophie Meharenna points out the overlooked exclusion of Black women from the \u201crecession hair\u201d conversation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the past few months, \u201crecession hair\u201d has been everywhere. The trend\u2014wherein people cut back on their regular hair color, cuts, and styling services to save money\u2014has generated countless viral videos and been covered by InStyle, Refinery29, Bustle, Vogue<\/em>, and Allure<\/em>, who\u2019ve all chimed in on how the current economy is reshaping people\u2019s relationships with their hair. In addition to being a fiscally responsible choice, it\u2019s often celebrated as a return to ease, a quiet resistance to beauty as performance, and a redefinition of effort.<\/p>\n

While I appreciate the sentiment (and see the value in documenting the cultural shift), the widespread coverage has left me wondering: Who is allowed to \u201clet go\u201d without consequence? Because when you\u2019re Black, like I am, your hair isn\u2019t something you can scale back on without risk. It\u2019s one of the most visible, policed, and politicized parts of who you are\u2014especially in the workplace.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why, for Black women, recession hair doesn\u2019t look like grown-out layers or transitional lowlights\u2014in fact, our recession hair looks ultimately the same as it otherwise does. While others are skipping their root touch-ups in the name of \u201ceconomic survival,\u201d most of us have no choice but to stand by our routine hair care and services\u2014otherwise, we face the risks of showing up in the world looking anything less than \u201cperfect\u201d by white standards.<\/p>\n