In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah one of the symbols shown throughout the novel is the symbolism of hair. Most of the novel takes places in a hair salon where Ifemelu is getting her hair braided. The majority of women who usually go and get their hair braided at a hair salon, or more specifically an African hair salon are black women. Living in Princeton, New Jersey where its mostly white dominated it was hard to find a place where you can go and get your hair braided the right way. As quoted in the novel “It was unreasonable to expect a braiding salon in Princeton the few black locals she seen were so light-skinned she could not imagine them wearing braids”(Adichie 8 pdf). I would imagine only black women wore braids around that time and even now today mostly black women wear braids although some white women have now become found of hair braiding. For most of the women especially Ifemelu in Americanah hair represented an identity between being Nigerian and a black American.

Coming to America was a big change for women like Ifemelu and Aunty Uju it wasn’t the same as living in Nigeria where you could get away with whatever hairstyle you wanted. Being in Nigeria Ifemelu would always braid her hair but when she came to America she had to learn to wear her own hair out but not natural and poofy hair, it had to be relaxed or straightened. If hair wasn’t straightened people would see it as unprofessional, so living in America meant that she had to wear her hair the way white women wore their hair. As quoted in the novel Aunty Uju “I have to take my braids out for my interviews and relax my hair. Kemi told me that I shouldn’t wear braids to the interview,” (Adichie 90 pdf) it was seen as unprofessional to have your hair in braids. The pressure for black women like Ifemelu and Aunty Uju to straighten their hair, making it resemble a white womens hair is a sign or symbol of racism in the American culture.