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BLACK HAIR-Yale Daily News

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Like most black women on campus, Gomih regularly applies a “relaxer” — an alkaline cream that strips away the proteins in hair and causes the curl to straighten out, or “relax.” For most black women, it’s a painful process. The white cream is applied to the root of the hair and left to marinate for a few minutes. Then, the itching and burning sensations begin. While the relaxer dissolves parts of the hair shaft, it also starts burning through the skin on the scalp.
The chemical has about the same pH-level as Drano, the stuff you pour down your drain to eat away the gunk in the pipes.
A woman having her hair “relaxed” usually sits with the chemical in her hair until she can’t stand the burn any longer — usually about ten minutes. After the relaxer is washed out, the hair must be conditioned immediately or else it will start to break off just above the root. Soon after, raw spots on the scalp begin to ooze with blood. A couple hours later, scabs form.
Repeat every six to eight weeks.
Gomih first relaxed her hair when she was 14 years old. When the hairdresser started to rinse the creamy chemical out of her hair, patches of hair on the back off her head fell out into the sink.
“It freaked me the hell out,” Gomih recalled. “Luckily, my hair grows pretty fast. But I knew it wasn’t there. It took about a year and a half to get it all even again.”
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:nono:

I'm embarrassed. Can you imagine reading that as a white person? They probably think black folks are crazy! And they think we're crazy if we're natural.....why was this article written?
 
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I think they make it sound more dramatic than it really is.

I am natural and when I was relaxing my hair it was no more painful or tramatic than using nair on my legs or getting my eyebrows waxed.

It bothers me that people will read this and shake their head like "oh those poor Black women" when all women do uncomfortable things in the name of fitting society's standard of beauty.

I know and understand that the relaxing of our hair has deeper roots but I see many parallels among ALL women

ETA: Why is this Yale article full of errors???? :huh:
 
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...yeah...save for the last sentence I didn't care for the POV's at all. They seemed so narrow-minded but thanks for posting OP!
 
Suitemates???. Thats what they call each other up at Yale? Who wrote this??? Intesesting post OP.
 
Charla said:
:nono:

I'm embarrassed. Can you imagine reading that as a white person? They probably think black folks are crazy! And they think we're crazy if we're natural.....why was this article written?
Click to expand...

The article was written by a white woman.
 
A previous version of this article suggested that Dilan Gomih '13 stated that relaxing her hair is a painful process. She says that it is not painful. She added that she did not go bald. The article also failed to attribute information about the details of the hair relaxing process, which come from "The Black Woman's Guide to Beautiful Hair: A Positive Approach to Managing any Hair Type and Style," by Dr. Lisa Akbari. Additionally, Gomih owns a portable hair dryer, not a stand-up hair dryer
Click to expand...

Poorly written and inaccurate LOL
 
GreenEyedJen said:
The article was written by a white woman.
Click to expand...

...yeah...I'm typically not racially sensitive but if she was trying to 'inform' her fellow white folks about the hair care reality of black people I wish she'd have passed. She came off as so ignorant and offensive I felt bad for the black people who live on campus. Some relaxed girl is going to have white girl pitying her now. SMH.
 
I just want to see pictures of the quadruplets and everyone else! I want to see the hair! The article wasn't anything I haven't already heard before. The author apparently ran out of original ideas.
:pics:
 
Seriously.

Why did Yale Daily News choose a white girl to write an article about Black Hair?

Yeah, I'm done.
 
texasqt said:
I just want to see pictures of the quadruplets and everyone else! I want to see the hair! The article wasn't anything I haven't already heard before. The author apparently ran out of original ideas.
:pics:
Click to expand...


I saw thier pic...just google this sisters first/last names and Yale.
 
LittleLuxe said:
They call each other that at my college too so it's not really unusual.
Click to expand...

There is a difference between being suitemates and roommates. It depends on the structure of the room. We uses suitemates b/c they were actual suites, like little apartments with kitchen/living room and then (typically) 4 suites.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using T-Mobile G2
 
Oh...I thought Chris Rock wrote it...

Looks like she watched Good Hair, took notes and wrote an article....


SMH
 
5vazci.jpg
 
EtherealEnigma said:
There is a difference between being suitemates and roommates. It depends on the structure of the room. We uses suitemates b/c they were actual suites, like little apartments with kitchen/living room and then (typically) 4 suites.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using T-Mobile G2
Click to expand...

Well yes, that was what I meant I just didn't specify. I thought the person had just never heard of the phrase 'suitemate' at all.
 
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