THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BLACK MEN’S HAIR
How the Durag Beat Both Respectability Politics and Gentrification
How a simple means for protecting one’s hair became a cultural touchstone — and stayed proudly beautifully Black
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
January 2017. Morehouse College. I was about two weeks into my first semester as an adjunct professor — nervous, unsure of myself, and overthinking everything — and walking down a corridor in Brawley Hall with a colleague. She yelled out to a student in front of us.
“Hey! Take that durag off in the building. You know better!”
Then she looked at me. “You don’t let your students wear durags in your class, right?”
“Of course not,” I lied.
A few months later, outside of the confines of the dorm rooms and academic buildings, a group of Morehouse students concocted a celebration that would go viral and revitalize the fervor around one of modern Black culture’s most enduring staples. That fall, students gathered on campus for Durag Day, where they sported their flashiest wraps, unveiled their most pristine waves, and posed for…
