Black women and long hair

I'll just be happy when this news that "Black hair really does grow... and GROWS A LOT" gets out! It'll be a "stop the presses" event I tell you :lol:

I have Mandarin lessons every week with a very old fashioned traditional Chinese woman, and she stares at my hair sometimes when she doesn't think I'm looking and when I catch her she smiles. She's never asked me anything, because I'm sure she doesn't want to be offensive but I can tell that she is curious about my Black hair growth :grin:
 
ShiShiPooPoo said:
Those pics are beautiful. They make me feel very proud.

It's funny because you don't even have to have really long hair to get those "is that your hair?" type questions. My hair is not long but I try to keep it as healthy as possible. I have very fine yet dense hair and I keep it jet black, shiny and full of body. I can't tell you how many times someone has asked me if I am wearing a weave or wig.
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That is very very true. I get those questions every time I flat iron my hair.
 
I know how that is. I get the "hair tug" and the "weave check" all the damn time.

And twhen they find out its NOT a weave its like they get angry or something. I cant believe some of the things they say too. They really get ANGRY with you.

"Is that ALL YOUR HAIR???? *hmuf* WELL it LOOKS like a WEAVE to me!"

Or Ill get the snide comment in the hair shop by older black women, "She commin in here, Buying all that WEAVE!" (when Im back in the products section not even CLOSE to the weave. lol)To which I usually reply, "Do you mean me? Oh! Silly! I havent bought a weave in years!" It usually shuts them RIGHT UP.


I havent had a relaxer in about 2 months either, and so my hair is starting to look diffrent. So cirtain family members are begining to apprach me about it. "Whats the deal with your hair? Are you going to DO something with it already?" Or my favorite, "You know, I think its time for a relaxer!"

Goodness gracious! With all this negativity surrounding hair in the black community, no wonder girls have no idea whats up or down!
 
Sweetlikesherry said:
I think this is so true...why is it then that women with 4a and b locked hair can reach the FLOOR!! I have seen that with my own eyes! I think it is so sad that everyone has bought into this myth....and then most people respond by doing the wrong things to their hair. And that's why we have 3 yr olds with perms!
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I believe that a lot of times people want to associate negative charateristics on black people. As with many, 4a and 4b hair is seen as undesirable because it is hard to manage and it's maintance. It is not anywhere close to the many Asian/ White people with there hair/charateristics. So anything negative or seen as bad in there (even in our own people's eyes) is associated to us. At one time having a big butt was disgusting and if you had it you were black and now look at the evolution of having a big butt, a nice size butt or a butt in general.
 
Amber_moon said:
I know how that is. I get the "hair tug" and the "weave check" all the damn time.

And twhen they find out its NOT a weave its like they get angry or something. I cant believe some of the things they say too. They really get ANGRY with you.

"Is that ALL YOUR HAIR???? *hmuf* WELL it LOOKS like a WEAVE to me!"

Or Ill get the snide comment in the hair shop by older black women, "She commin in here, Buying all that WEAVE!" (when Im back in the products section not even CLOSE to the weave. lol)To which I usually reply, "Do you mean me? Oh! Silly! I havent bought a weave in years!" It usually shuts them RIGHT UP.


I havent had a relaxer in about 2 months either, and so my hair is starting to look diffrent. So cirtain family members are begining to apprach me about it. "Whats the deal with your hair? Are you going to DO something with it already?" Or my favorite, "You know, I think its time for a relaxer!"

Goodness gracious! With all this negativity surrounding hair in the black community, no wonder girls have no idea whats up or down!
Click to expand...

That drives me crazy- If I have my hair straight and styled then it "has to be a weave" and then I have some random person trying to put thier hands in my hair. First of all what gives them the right to touch me and second why get mad that my hair is mine?

And if I wear my hair down and curly then I get the questions of "Why don't you press it out?" or the comments "If I had all that hair then I would have it DONE every week" or "She takes all that hair for granted". I'm thinking to myself- No I don't. I take care of my hair, keep it moisturized, and keep it protected.

I'm glad all of you liked the pictures. I have a collection of them on my computer I keep for inspiration.
 
Starr1 said:
That drives me crazy- If I have my hair straight and styled then it "has to be a weave" and then I have some random person trying to put thier hands in my hair. First of all what gives them the right to touch me and second why get mad that my hair is mine?

And if I wear my hair down and curly then I get the questions of "Why don't you press it out?" or the comments "If I had all that hair then I would have it DONE every week" or "She takes all that hair for granted". I'm thinking to myself- No I don't. I take care of my hair, keep it moisturized, and keep it protected.

I'm glad all of you liked the pictures. I have a collection of them on my computer I keep for inspiration.
Click to expand...


Oh yeah! I agree 100% I dont care how "curious" (read: nosy) you are, you dont have ANY business touching my head. Or any part of my body for that matter.

I love how they try and do it on the sly too, like you arent going to notice that they are patting you on the head, or pulling on your hair.

I cant wait till my hair grows out to its fullest. (whatever legnth that may be) Im going to have so much fun messing with people heads then. LOL
 
chica_canella said:
so do they ask you questions about why other black hair doesn't "grow" or do they just assume those black people are "mixed"?
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No, they don't ask questions at all. They know there isn't a special product that works miraculously, but a combination of things such as diet, what products are put on the hair, and how it's handled.

They know we aren't mixed with anything.
 
Barbara said:
No, they don't ask questions at all. They know there isn't a special product that works miraculously, but a combination of things such as diet, what products are put on the hair, and how it's handled.

They know we aren't mixed with anything.
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Ive had people say to me, "You must have a white person in your family line somewhere..."

Which is utter nonsense.

And not just that... but guys, my hair isnt even that long. Im JUST barely at bsl.

I cant even imagine how much theyd flip out when they see a black girl with MBL or lower!
 
Amber_moon said:
Ive had people say to me, "You must have a white person in your family line somewhere..."

Which is utter nonsense.

And not just that... but guys, my hair isnt even that long. Im JUST barely at bsl.

I cant even imagine how much theyd flip out when they see a black girl with MBL or lower!
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You should see the look on their faces. Women have stared at me so hard as if they are piercing me with their eyes. They are in a state of shock! One woman with below MBL hair stared at me so hard. I was under the impression that she's the only one entitled to have below MBL hair.
 
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When I wear my hair open, straight or wavy, I can feel women's eyes on my head. They don't say anything or ask anything but they stare just a bit too long. The guys ask though, strangely enough. Last week, a guy I didn't know from Adam asked me if I was Guyanese. I said no and kept walking. He continues and says " I asked cause you got that kind of hair..." which I took to mean he thought since I'm black with past SL hair, I must be mixed with Indian:confused: . Well, the LHCF ladies will change that perception soon enough.
 
Afrolinda said:
Well, today I went to work with my hair loose, so two black women asked me if all of it was my real hair and I answered yes. I had a "braid out" so sinc"e my hair was curly it was a few inches past shoulder length and they asked me if it was a weave. After I told them it was my real hair they said: "it's long, you should relax your hair".
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Yea, and watch it all fall out... just kidding :lol:

Wow! So they were protective styling way back then too, huh?

I have to note that the darker women (more black in them) hair is all pent up or braided while the mixed looking woman's hair is loose.

Why?
 
ShiShiPooPoo said:
Those pics are beautiful. They make me feel very proud.

It's funny because you don't even have to have really long hair to get those "is that your hair?" type questions. My hair is not long but I try to keep it as healthy as possible. I have very fine yet dense hair and I keep it jet black, shiny and full of body. I can't tell you how many times someone has asked me if I am wearing a weave or wig.
Click to expand...

All because your hair is past your earlobe... it HAS to be a weave!

Unreal!
 
HoneyA said:
When I wear my hair open, straight or wavy, I can feel women's eyes on my head. They don't say anything or ask anything but they stare just a bit too long. The guys ask though, strangely enough. Last week, a guy I didn't know from Adam asked me if I was Guyanese. I said no and kept walking. He continues and says " I asked cause you got that kind of hair..." which I took to mean he thought since I'm black with past SL hair, I must be mixed with Indian:confused: . Well, the LHCF ladies will change that perception soon enough.
Click to expand...

I am from Guyanese decent and no I am not mixed with Indian :grin::grin::grin:, some people are just too funny.
 
I get so annoyed when that old myth gets perpetuated about black hair and growth. Common sense would tell people that if their hair really couldn't grow, then their first relaxer would be their last! There would be no touch-ups. What for? If the hair is not growing, there would be no 'new growth'. I am hopeful that someday people will understand the difference between growth and length retention.

I know someone with very short 4b hair, overprocessed both in color and relaxer. She presented with "My hair just doesn't grow like yours does" syndrome. Since her ends were prone to breakage, she would just trim them off monthly. She relaxed monthly, but had no regimen, did no daily moisturizing, never DC'd...you get the pic. I spent the time to talk with her about her other concerns. I showed her fotkis and products and we talked all about moisture and protein, growth aids, scalp massages, etc. She was very impressed with some of the fotki pics of ladies' results with MN, so she opted for MN+sulfur 8 as a growth aid, and would start regular cowashing plus shampooing once a week, and daily moisturizing and massages. She got a cute wig as a protective stle, and promised to lay off of relaxers and trims. Three weeks later, I see her with her beautiful, soft new growth, she reported no breakage, and she proudly showed me her new baby ponytail. What joy! And, she's spreading the word like gospel to all her friends and changing their minds about their hair, sharing her regimen, it's just a good thing.
 
Thanks for posting this, their hair is so beautiful. I use to think that my hair would only grow so long. Until I found this forum. I never read labels, I would over process my hair, and load it up with grease. I would flat iron it daily.:sad: I always wondered why it would not grow. Thanks to all you ladies, I know better now:yep:! Knowledge is power! Thank you!
 
Barbara said:
You should see the look on their faces. Women have stared at me so hard as if they are piercing me with their eyes. They are in a state of shock! One woman with below MBL hair stared at me so hard. I was under the impression that she's the only one entitled to have below MBL hair.
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see i dont get that mindest of some sisters :ohwell: cant we all just get along? why cant she be happy that you got long hair too ? smh
 
Well... I admit I do take a longer look at a woman's hair if it's long because in the back of my head I'm going "does she use LHCF too?" and then I'll go off on some tangent in my head and still be looking!

Sometimes it's not intentional.

I often look if a woman has her hair out and it's on a coat and wince because I know how my hair would break if I did the same. I don't think it's all intentionally mean. Perhaps sometimes it's just curiosity.
 
This is one of the best threads I've seen in awhile. Anyone should be able to go to an AA museum to see old pictures of black women with long hair. I'm thankful to hair so many black women around me that have shown me I can have long hair.
 
WOW

Its looks like all of us trying to take 'hair pictures'

looks like they were posing sideways on purpose

Starr1 said:
I am so sick of people saying that black women can't have long hair, or if they do then they have to be half white, or they have a weave or whatever type of nonsense they come up with, but to be honest its our own fault. I believe every woman has the potential to grow their hair to "terminal" length. I believe that yes everyone has a hair terminal length and that hair will only grow to a certain point- this is determined by the growth cycle, rate of shed, care and etc. Most african american women will never know what their growth potential is however due to improper haircare techniques- thus the myth that black women can't grow long hair. However this myth is fairly modern. Black women had been growing their hair long successfully for quite some time without a problem until the 1920s when short hair and the bob became popularized. Add to that the invention of the pressing comb by Walter Sammsons, Madame CJ Walker's introduction of "black" haircare products, the lack of scientific information, the perpetuation of myths regarding hair in the black community(i.e. good hair vs bad hair, you can't wash your hair to often, blacks can't grow long hair, our natural texture is bad and straight is better, etc), the low cost of mineral oil compared to other oils-thus the lower production cost for companies, blowdryers, curling irons, relaxers, and other factors all amount a lack of knowledge and misinformation that passed on to other generations. The result= a majority of of black women have BSL hair and shorter (due to damage and mishandling) and people of every race, including our own, think it's genetically impossible for an African American woman to obtain the longer lengths naturally. It's amazing what we can convince the world of in less than a 100 years, now image with all the resources we have now (i.e. the internet, television, radio, telephone, etc) just how quickly we could show the world otherwise.

Okay I'm done ranting. Here are some pictures/inspiration of some beautiful African American women and their lovely hair.

Pretty-Black-004.jpg
Profile-Negro-Girl.jpg
Lessons-Piano.jpg

Beautiful-Black-Girl.jpg
American-African-Girl-Braided.jpg
American-African-001.jpg
Click to expand...
 
mnemosyne said:
Well... I admit I do take a longer look at a woman's hair if it's long because in the back of my head I'm going "does she use LHCF too?" and then I'll go off on some tangent in my head and still be looking!

Sometimes it's not intentional.

I often look if a woman has her hair out and it's on a coat and wince because I know how my hair would break if I did the same. I don't think it's all intentionally mean. Perhaps sometimes it's just curiosity.
Click to expand...

I never thought of it that way. That's a good point. :yep:
 
Starr1 said:
That drives me crazy- If I have my hair straight and styled then it "has to be a weave" and then I have some random person trying to put thier hands in my hair. First of all what gives them the right to touch me and second why get mad that my hair is mine?

And if I wear my hair down and curly then I get the questions of "Why don't you press it out?" or the comments "If I had all that hair then I would have it DONE every week" or "She takes all that hair for granted". I'm thinking to myself- No I don't. I take care of my hair, keep it moisturized, and keep it protected.

I'm glad all of you liked the pictures. I have a collection of them on my computer I keep for inspiration.
Click to expand...

Okay, I have been trying to find pics like this and want to put them in my siggy and everywhere else for inspiration.

I am going to PM you.:grin:
 
"And if I wear my hair down and curly then I get the questions of "Why don't you press it out?" or the comments "If I had all that hair then I would have it DONE every week" or "She takes all that hair for granted". I'm thinking to myself- No I don't. I take care of my hair, keep it moisturized, and keep it protected. "


I have always gotten these remarks too. my reply has always been....."then maybe you should grow some!" they get mad at me because i have long hair (because i keep it up and dont style and get the latest trendy cuts) but on the other hand they say they would never wear their hair as i do "wasting my good fortune". its crazy. we really do need to get the word out about hair.
 
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