 Social pressures at the time were heavily influencing these Americans (women) to have long, straight hair, like white people did. This resulted in the Black is beautiful movement, wherein African Americans wore long hair, that was however, untreated and unmodified. More recently, hair-extensions have become widespread. Scholars have pointed out the continued pressure on black women to have long, smooth hair. Amelia Jones points out that dolls for children, such as Barbies, add to this pressure, citing as an example a new, black Barbie with long hair. Blacks, she believes, should be able to be themselves without feeling pressured to "tame" their hair.
