A nuanced conversation about the biases against natural hair

[Melizmatic]

@AcerPlatanoides

that sounds like a keeper.

I have good tastes in friends.

[Auld_Lang_Syne]

@GulliverFoyle

would argue that for black people and especially for black women, the problems are not separate, as the bias against natural hair becomes an excuse for a bias against black hair. Yes, you might face a bias against your hair, but it isn’t rooted in shaming your racial features.

Intersectionality

[Auld_Lang_Syne]

I remember growing up, even in the relatively progressive San Francisco Bay Area and much more when we moved to Mexico for a while, how much people would be asking or trying to touch my brother’s hair*. It was a very strange thing to experience, even second-hand.

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* I am white (latin@, technically), but my brother is black (and was adopted into the family).

[knoxblox]

This reminds me of the story of a friend of mine, who like me, had platinum blonde hair during his younger years (before 5 years old). His father had been stationed in Italy, and was repeatedly offered money to buy his blonde child.

[anon67018654]

@Melz2

However I did once have a girl at a party just start touching my hair, as she “admired” it; and before I even had time to realize what she was doing, (let alone flash on her) my friend who I was with suddenly had her hands all in the girl’s hair… and the irony here is that my friend is White, and she caught and deflected the microaggression and unintentional disrespect before I could even say a word.

From my white experience: White people do that to each other and black people to white, too. A black German African girl (technically an ((African-American)-German, I guess) from another class girl got all offended (“I don’t rub off!”) when I flinched when she tussled my hair. Also, white women in general are kinda touchy, by far the biggest group of people who touch me unasked for, especially in winter, when I wear short sleeves.