What is a Durag?
Durags or known back then Do-rags was common among poor African American working women. The headpiece was also common among slave women during the 19th century. During the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Depression, the headwear changed its function. The durag now became a way for people to protect their hair from messing up. When the Black Power Movement passed the durag has become a fashion statement. It was a common statement among African Americans. When the Durag was coming into the modern times a man name William J Dowdy included the durag as part of his grooming kit. It was used to keep hair nice and frizz-free. It was promoted and sold during 1979. Dowdy preferred to call the durag a tiedown, though it still has the same function.
Men who were rappers to the common black citizen would wear a durag. The popularity of the durag for public use went up and down among the African American populace. The headpiece regained popularity due to rappers wearing them often and for the hairstyle it produced. Other times people would wear durags when it came to helmets such as motorcyclist. Motorcyclist wears durags to prevent helmet hair. Durags also stops sweat, sebum, and sunburn to the wearer. The durag was banned though by the American National Football League in 2001. Universities also banned the headpiece from their campuses.
The Fashion of the Durag
The Durag was a big trend for hip-hop artist of the 90s and 2000s. Rappers like Memphis Bleek wore his rag under a baseball cap, Jay-Z used to wear it with the strings tied, Cam’ron wore his tied and laid flat against his head. He did this to avoid leaving markings on his face. A new fashion fad that took storm was the waves in people hair. Debo Sodeke explained that the wave hairstyle is the more defined curl of the hair. The Durag helps compress the pattern and shape of one’s hair. The Durag also has various type of names and spellings, do-rag, tie down, rags, stocking caps, scarves, and others. It was also shown doing what it was made for on a TV show called Atlanta. It followed a man who was released from jail wearing a du0rag for the episode. It was only at the end he revealed to show a perfect hairstyle. Durags are meant to do this in our current time period. The hair trend that durags produce is spreading quickly on the internet called the wave. Men and women both are doing this style with their durags. People manage to get there in full wave around the head through the use of durags. Durags is a common headpiece among famous and common people. The use of the durag went through different needs, and to creating fashion trends and keeping hair nice for events.
