The history of the wig dates as far back as the pyramids of Giza, but a bad wig can pull your hair line farther than the Nile River.
But that has not stopped the perpetual growth (no pun intended) of the billion dollar industry that is wigs, weaves and hair extensions.
While colonialism may have pushed black men and women into wearing them in the modern age, today the wig is part of hair maintenance routines and self-expression.
For years, African-Americans have been the reigning supremacy of hair care for the kinky head.
From coyly afros to applying the most inconspicuous beard weave, they have done it all.
The pressure not only comes from living in a country where white culture is mainstream, but from the perfection that black people feel to not look like their wealth bracket.
Even stereotypes have presented themselves in the idea that white folk don’t dress up and fuss about fancy clothes.
This same wave of thinking is what breeds the criticism of black people who are new to money for their crass materialism.
This is because they think of no-one but themselves.
Except for those poor unfortunate souls who get charitable wads of cash or as Sars might see it — their next money laundering case.
In enters Young, Famous & African, a bevy of the continent’s top celebrities headed by their queen bee Khanyi Mbau, who curates their theatrical lives for the entire world to see.
With the cinematic excellence of Made in Chelsea and spoonfuls of melodrama à la the Love & Hip Hop franchises, the reality series is a perfect addition to the genre.
However, the show’s downfall is its wigs thanks to the aforementioned reigning supremacy that is the US of Black America that knocked the crowns off SA’s presumed elites.
In a series of viral tweets, TikToks and Instagram stories, the show’s cast, especially Mbau, have been ridiculed for their lacklustre wigs that have been compared to costume hairpieces among other things.
But why should it matter?
Enclothed cognition is a fancy psychology term that put simply deals with how what we wear tends to affect the way we behave.
It’s similar to how you dress up in bright colours when you want to be in a good mood or dressing in darker tones when you’re feeling like Brooke Logan just stole your husband.
This includes how you wear your makeup and hair.
There exists an unfair bias for black people when they are in spaces that their parents, grandparents and other predecessors could only have protested to access, so it comes as no surprise that when we go to churches, night clubs or even reality TV we tend to put our best foot forward because that clothing, much like those spaces, were never accessible.
This has the added bonus of making you feel good about yourself when you’re dressed to impress.
However, that existing bias comes with the, something that burdens the world of entertainers, especially in SA.
If you don’t participate in the glamour, you don’t have what it takes to be a brand worth buying into, but if you do, you run the threat of being perceived as dumb.
As seen in the bevy of reviews that have shot the show down as if a cast full of entertainers owes its audience a serious deep dive into the philosophies of every Thomé, Dick and Hippocrates.
It might seem frivolous but the expectations put on black (women’s) people’s hair and fashion is exactly what has perpetuated this tactless genre of television.
It would seem that while coming up for air from the wave of Black Lives Matter issues in the West, everyone likes to take a break by tearing apart black people who cannot perform affluence.
With the high number of audiences the show is cashing in and the unfair expectations for them to have immaculate wigs, the can only be one result from it all.
Yet another season of young, famous and blissfully rich Africans on our TV screens.
But perhaps a more insidious result is that black enclothed cognition runs the risk of changing the way we feel about ourselves simply because our weaves do not have the perfect partition.
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