Barbara Walters hair touching incident

[Mystic]

I was looking at this website that had a long discussion about the incidents of Barbara Walters touching Tanika and Brandy's hair and asking if it's real or fake. White women/men and black women expressed their opinions but the one that got me angry the most, was the post below. Clearly this woman is ignorant!!! I decided to post it here to get your response on the post as well as ask the questions below:

1. Are we really sensitive as black women when it comes to our hair (According to the white poster)? or are we defensive sometimes because any criticism of our hair reminds us of racism?
2. If we are wearing a weave and someone asks (black or white), why does it bother us so much to tell the truth. Many have even lied that it's their real hair. If I am wearing a weave and someone asks, I am eager to tell them yes, and recommend where I got it done. What's your take?

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2006/07/18/icymi-barbara-still-puzzled-by-black-women/
ORIGINAL POST:
what a bunch of cry baby’s. Why are u black people, african americans, colored people, or WHATEVER it is that you PREFER to be called, so sensitive, and its not like she really did something wrong, touched a BLACK womans hair and asked is it real. lol Get a f-ing clue. Blacks don’t have a problem teasing white people about dancing or white males about having a small penis. Oh no, that would be quite funny to you. So until black people start showing some respect for other races mainly the white race, then I will show no respect toward them. Besides almost all black women have fake hair. So why the big stink?

 

[blazingthru]

I find it very offensive for someone to ask me whether I have a weave or wig its none of their business in my opinion. Why would anyone want to know, might as well ask me if I had a padding in my bra or butt as some folks have to do. Its very personal and Barbara apparently always want to know about some darn hair when she has a black person on the show. Inquiring minds want to know if your hair is real or not--- GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT......... The truths is they don't believe we can grow hair. I had a girl at work told me no black person has ever grown hair down that back that she has ever seen. I was so shocked I could not respond. of course after she walked off I was full or responses but the moment had past.

 

[Miss*Tress]

I wouldn't even waste time on a person who can't spell "babies". As to the examples the person cites, who has ever seen Ed Bradley or Oprah Winfrey (let's imagine for the sake of argument that Babwa is on their level) make fun of whites who can't dance or their penis size?

Don't let foolish people who make fallacious statements get on top of your nerves.

To answer your questions:
1. It's rude to touch another person if they have not authorized you to do so.
2. People ask me all the time if I'm wearing a weave and I'm going to start answering "yes" because I know I won't be proving to them that it's mine. LOL

 

[Britfem27]

Didnt offend me. That person obviously has obviously been hurt by things said about white people. They were just venting and prob know that there are black women who DO wear thier own hair.

 

[jasmin]

Who cares what this racist says. It's clear how pissed he is at black people so he is nothing.

I don't think it's cool to touch people's hair at will no matter what color. If you happen to have to know if it's a weave and I say it's not then that should be it. Don't go checking because you don't believe me.

 

[InJesusName]

Almost all black women have fake hair????

Apparently, whoever made this comment hasn't been on this board ! Some folks' ignorance simply does not dignify a response.

As for Babwa touching people's hair and asking if it is real or fake...

Maybe they should respond...do you still really have a wrinkle free complexion or is that Botox? Gimme a break!

 

[Mystic]

I totally agree with you here. I guess if a non-african woman asked me if I had a weave in or not, I might question her motive for asking. From my point of view though, and there are millions of african american who might feel the same way, getting a nice natural looking weave (short or long) is rare (for me at least). Most of the times, it's through word of mouth. If I see a beautiful african american head passing me by, my initial reaction would be, wow, I would love to have hair like that. If it's her natural hair with a different hair type from mine, chances are, my hair might never look like that and I can live with that. However, if it's a weave, maybe she can hook me up where she got it done. That would be my ONLY reason for asking her if it's a weave. If I were in her shoe with beautiful hair and someone admires it and asked if it were a weave, I would be very happy to share with my fellow african american sister if I have a weave or not. But based on how we react to the question, I would rather die than ask because I know the response I would get might be hateful.

I find it very offensive for someone to ask me whether I have a weave or wig its none of their business in my opinion. Why would anyone want to know, might as well ask me if I had a padding in my bra or butt as some folks have to do. Its very personal and Barbara apparently always want to know about some darn hair when she has a black person on the show. Inquiring minds want to know if your hair is real or not--- GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT......... The truths is they don't believe we can grow hair. I had a girl at work told me no black person has ever grown hair down that back that she has ever seen. I was so shocked I could not respond. of course after she walked off I was full or responses but the moment had past.

 

[Mystic]

Almost all black women have fake hair????

Apparently, whoever made this comment hasn't been on this board ! Some folks' ignorance simply does not dignify a response.

As for Babwa touching people's hair and asking if it is real or fake...

Maybe they should respond...do you still really have a wrinkle free complexion or is that Botox? Gimme a break!

 

[ChasingBliss]

Almost all black women have fake hair????

Apparently, whoever made this comment hasn't been on this board ! Some folks' ignorance simply does not dignify a response.

As for Babwa touching people's hair and asking if it is real or fake...

Maybe they should respond...do you still really have a wrinkle free complexion or is that Botox? Gimme a break!

Good one!!!

 

[Curlee_lurker]

Why is it a problem with her touching Brandy's hair and asking if it were hers? I'd do the same. Brandy sells hair so I'd ask. Jessica Simpson sells fake hair too and I'd ask the same thing.

Anywho - more black women touch my hair and ask if it's real and then go on and on about how it's not than any other race. Therefore I'd see no racism in the comment. But maybe I'm less sensitive about these things.

 

[deltagyrl]

I guess I'm in the minority but it's perfectly understandable to me why people of other races think that most black women wear weaves....

ETA: I wore a twist out ~ 1 week ago and at the end of the day my (white) co-worker came up to me and patted my hair. I told her that if she wanted to touch it all she had to do was ask. She turned beet red and said that she'd wanted to touch it all day. I wasn't offended and it was an interesting segue into a conversation about black hair.

 

[Aubergold]

it's not racism as much as it is stupidism. Keep your hands out of my head and start practicing mind your own businessism

 

[DSP]

Why is it a problem with her touching Brandy's hair and asking if it were hers? I'd do the same. Brandy sells hair so I'd ask. Jessica Simpson sells fake hair too and I'd ask the same thing.

Anywho - more black women touch my hair and ask if it's real and then go on and on about how it's not than any other race. Therefore I'd see no racism in the comment. But maybe I'm less sensitive about these things.

Hi Ladies,

I must delurk to respond. I didn't see BaBa WaWa's interaction with Brandy, but I saw her with Tanika. From what I remember, Tanika had her head turned to talk to one of the other ladies when BaBa grabbed a fistful of Tanika's hair and yanked as she asked the question. She'd better be glad it wasn't me, because strictly on reflex, I would have whipped around and smacked her right in her dried up old face. Cameras or not.

I know Star Jones was very open about her collection of wigs and weaves, and old BaBa may have been curious about other black women's hair, but in my book, asking to touch is okay, random gentle touching is a gray area, but unsolicited grabbing, yanking and pulling are not okay. I don't care what color you are.

I have natural 4B hair and whenever I wear my hair out at work, I'm always dodging reaching hands and inquisitive fingers (mostly white or asian women). I've seen too many of these heifers leave the restroom without washing their hands and I do not play that.

Okay, back to lurking...

 

[navsegda]

Who cares what this racist says. It's clear how pissed he is at black people so he is nothing.

He was probably dumped or turned down by a black woman he tried to date lol.

 

[Doll]

There are women of other races who wear weaves all the time and have been for ages. They had the weave sensation going on for a lot longer than black women (until recent years I believe there was no add-on hair that catered to black women). I have never heard of anyone questioning the authentication of their hair verbally or otherwise! This is possibly the reason why some black women might think the questioning is racially motivated. I also agree that a person should not invade another's private space without permission! Especially with the germs collected by a person's hand on a daily basis (I too have heard women leave the washroom without washing their hands and can never get a good enough look to see who it was! LOL).

 

[neonbright]

This is just me and how a feel. I grew up mostly all my life around other races but my own, very few black were around me outside of my family. My dad was in the Air Force and most of the time where we were I was the only black person and most of the times the other kids wanted to put their hands in my hair and even on time a white boy yank it to see if it would break off and of couse some did and I kicked his butt. So as I grew up I never had weave, it was long or short or in between. One time I had my long hair cut off very short with a tail and while in college alot of people thought it was weave, even though I had long hair and cut it off, so after several people over the time touch and pulling to see if it was real, I had to cut it off due to breakage.

So now I rather you keep you hands to yourself and don't touch my hair unless you are my stylist or I ask for your help. the other day my co-woker touched my hair, she got me from the back and she loved how soft it is, but yes she knows it is mine. I didn't cringe but inside I did, but hey she saw me in a pony tail for 3 weeks and was excited to see it down.

 

[Mystic]

What???? Kids do that **** too? I am sorry you had this experience. I can understand your sensitivity when someone touches your hair.......

This is just me and how a feel. I grew up mostly all my life around other races but my own, very few black were around me outside of my family. My dad was in the Air Force and most of the time where we were I was the only black person and most of the times the other kids wanted to put their hands in my hair and even on time a white boy yank it to see if it would break off and of couse some did and I kicked his butt.

 

[neonbright]

What???? Kids do that **** too? I am sorry you had this experience. I can understand your sensitivity when someone touches your hair.......

That is why I have my famous signature and the clip from girl fight... Yeah I am a little hair touchy...

 

[LovelyStyle]

I had a recent exprience with this, kind of.

A black female hairdresser, as she looked at my hair to assess the job ahead of her, thought I had a weave. She was suprised when I said I didn't have a weave and when she ran her fingers across my scalp.

 

[StrawberryQueen]

That's very rude, the comments and Barbara's behavior. You don't put your hands on anyone unless it's ok with them.

How would Barbara have liked it if they put their hands on her face and said, "how many facelifts?"

It's just like Clay putting his hands on Kelly's mouth, you don't touch people unless you know for sure it's ok.

 

[BackToMyRoots]

I actually just saw the clip with Tanika on VH1 and Barbara didn't just touch her hair, she sunk her claws in and yanked repeated. To which Tanika responded, "you can yank as hard as you want it ain't coming out"(somthing like that). That's just rude...what if she was wearing a weave and Barbara yanked it out...how embarassing would that have been on live TV. ugghh!!

 

[mkstar826]

I actually just saw the clip with Tanika on VH1 and Barbara didn't just touch her hair, she sunk her claws in and yanked repeated. To which Tanika responded, "you can yank as hard as you want it ain't coming out"(somthing like that). That's just rude...what if she was wearing a weave and Barbara yanked it out...how embarassing would that have been on live TV. ugghh!!

yeah that was my problem with the whole thing. she grabbed her hair so hard as if she wanted to pull it off and embarrass her. it was uncalled for and pretty unprofessional on her part. if she walked around doing that to all of her guests then maybe i could understand but that's not the case.

 

[GlamourGirl]

yeah that was my problem with the whole thing. she grabbed her hair so hard as if she wanted to pull it off and embarrass her. it was uncalled for and pretty unprofessional on her part. if she walked around doing that to all of her guests then maybe i could understand but that's not the case.

Right...there have been plenty of white females on her show and they wear weaves too. I've never seen her even question or ask them if their hair was real let alone pull on it. She's only doing that because of the negative black stereotype that people have regarding how we as black women can't grow long hair and the whole weave thing. I've had white roommates and they have asked me before "so what is about black peoples hair...nono: I'm not going to even explain to ya'll how that ended) Very unprofessional whether on TV or someone doing it in everyday life.

Just had to add my two cents ...

 

[ubavka123]

That's not Brandy's hair and she very slyly avoided answering yes or no when asked if it was real. Why? I think Brandy should have owned the fact that her hair isn't real. What's the big deal in doing that? I also think that the other girl who got her hair so offensively pulled and yanked should have said something (graceful, yet to the point) about the fact that that was uncalled for. Instead she just acted like it was funny and did not bother her. I'll bet she was fuming and humilated when she left, not to mention having some choice words for Barbara behind her back. How embarassing. This is not about sensitivity, that was uncalled for and demeaning. Brandy, well, she lied by omission, so I kind of wish Barbara had yanked her hair! Gosh, what is the world coming to? If Barbara ever runs into Paris Hilton, I wonder if she'll yank her cheap weave to see if it is real?

I am very sensitive about hands in hair also, not just because of damage, but because it is not hygenic. We live in Eastern Europe and my poor little baby (she's 6, but still my baby) got head lice at school because all the kids who have never seen type 3 hair before were pulling it and touching it! Disgusting! It is a violation of personal space and disrespectful (if the person is not your friend!).

As for the comment from that ignoramus, who clearly has a chip on their shoulder--keep it moving...That person clearly has a lot of anger towards black people in general. It's not about the hair.

 

[Vshanell]

I just watched that clip and it was hilarious. I can't beleive Babs did that. Brandy looked embarassed but the way she grabbed a fistfull of Tanika's hair and yanked.....that was so over the line. Actually all of it was over the line.

 

[BAP28]

DOES BW ASK THE WHITE CELEBS THAT COME ON THE SHOW THE SAME THING... NO!! SO WHY ASK BRANDY AND TANIKA! WTF... WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE? IS IT RELATED TOTHE TOPIC IN THE SHOW!..

I WOULD HAVE B**CH SLAPPED BW RIGHT THERE AND THEN....STR8 UP...

HOW DARE YOU? YANK OR TUG AT MY HAIR REAL OR FAKE...

WHY WOULD ANYONE REACH AND YANK AND TUG AT SOMEONES HAIR ..ITS ONE THING TO QUESTION IT? BUT TO TOUCH ANYONE AND YOU DIDNT ASK THEM..HELL NO!!! AUTOMATIC B**CH SLAP.....no questions asked...

 

[navsegda]

How would Barbara have liked it if they put their hands on her face and said, "how many facelifts?"

HAHAHAHA!

 

[CoCoGirl821]

Almost all black women have fake hair????

Apparently, whoever made this comment hasn't been on this board ! Some folks' ignorance simply does not dignify a response.

As for Babwa touching people's hair and asking if it is real or fake...

Maybe they should respond...do you still really have a wrinkle free complexion or is that Botox? Gimme a break!

Last time I checked...white people were the ones who revolutionized the fake hair industry. But whatever, who cares what anyone says or thinks. If your hair is fake good for you, if your hair is real also good for you. Its a personal preference. Because the truth of the matter is that women of every race and ethnicity, wear weaves/extentions.

 

[TowsonGirl]

I have seen the incidents on Best Week Ever and was outraged when I saw it. First, there is no reason to pull and yank on someone' s hair without asking them. That warrants a dummy smack

Secondly, there is a time and place for everything. If Barbara really wanted to know about their hair, she could have politely asked them about it before or after the show. NOT on national TV. THat was truly uncalled for and downright rude.

If I were either of them, I would have put that geezer in her place right then and there.

 

[LocksOfLuV]

I won't lie, sometimes I find myself thinking that black women are hyper-sensitive when it comes to hair. I have read "rants" that the issue seems to have built only because of sensitivity. I don't know, I don't want to get too far into it, but I think sometimes we think too much of our hair and the next person doesn't even care. But that's my opinion.