Hair...The Black Woman's Curse?

[Lucie]

Uh huh. I have too many white friends. I've had tons of white roommates, I've had retreats with white women, been in spas and sleepover with my white girlfriends. I had a chance to observe their haircare firsthand.

Most white women do NOT frequent long hair care boards, and are still able to grow hair that is significantly longer than ours. The average length for white and asian hair is longer than the average length for black hair. That's an unarguable fact.

I was in Nappturality for many years, and not counting locs, MOST IF NOT ALL the women that grow long hair DO wear protective styles in the form of twists, cornrows, buns, plaits, what have you. I have yet to meet one that grew long hair by letting it loose into an afro everyday. Nope. Not seen it.

Recognizing that a certain type of hair retains hair easier is not an admission that they are superior or better. I do not feel inferior to white or asian women based on hair, so I don't have to take offense at the suggestion that their hair is easier to grow.

Nice to meet you Jessy55!!!! I was natural for 2 years and I had my hair in a puff every day all day. There were 3/4 occasions were I had cornrows and wore a wig for a special occasion but that was it.

 

[Ms.Honey]

As another poster stated we don't HAVE to do alot to our hair, we CHOOSE to do alot to our hair. That's regardless of race or gender. Straight hair was not meant to be curled and curly hair was not meant to be straightened. Now if we choose to wear our hair in these styles then yes, it's going to take more work and it's nothing wrong with that.
Whether we braid, twist whatever that doesn't make our hair grow. Unless we have some type of illness or scalp issue that prevents it hair is going to grow. Everyone's hair grows at different rates regardless of race or gender. My hair grows about 1/4 to 1/3 in. per month some folks hair grows faster. But my hair grows. I don't twist or braid my hair and it grows.
People with looser texture hair tend not to have hair as dry as curly and kinky hair. Their hair retains moisture better in general because they produce more sebum(oil). Because 3 and 4 hair tends to be dryer it can suffer breakage if not properly moisturized and oiled (less sebum). Properly moisturized and oiled 3 and 4 hair grows just as long as 1 and 2 hair.
The products and tools that are geared for our haircare cause more damage than good. They are very drying and can permanently damage our hair regardless of race and gender. We(3"s and 4's) need to add moisture to our hair. It's not a curse it's just a fact. Our hair suffers when we don't.

 

[LunadeMiel]

Nice to meet you Jessy55!!!! I was natural for 2 years and I had my hair in a puff every day all day. There were 3/4 occasions were I had cornrows and wore a wig for a special occasion but that was it.

althought I've only been natural for a two month..but I wear my hair in a puff/wash and go everyday and have absolutely no problem with growth, retention, and tangles. I just wash my hair and let it be. Women in my family are not big on doing a lot of things to their hair and most of them have/had long hair. The more you do to your hair the harder it will be to maintain. As my hair gets longer, I'm going to maintain the same regimen except I may wear it in a pony once in a while. Otherwise, I'm going to let it do what it do...

 

[AfroKink]

I thought you just said white women do routines that take 2 and a half hours including daily blow drying which I think most can agree on would wreak havoc for black hair. Now they do protective styling to retain their length. Which is it? I was not aware that white women wear their hair in sloppy buns for a purpose, or that they consciously wear their hair like that in order to retain their length. Do you have a white friend that told you this?

No and no.

I said white women have a daily haircare routine that takes 10-15mins. It generally includes shampooing, condtioning, brush/combing (detangling), blowdry/airdry, then style. The styling generally takes 1 of 3 forms, its pony tail, messy bun, or down. The first two are what people on hair care boards would call 'protective styling'. I do not think the average white women puts her hair into a messy bun with the intention of protecting her ends etc to retain length. I think this is just the style she chooses because she likes it.

Then I said you can take that same 10-15mins and multiply it by the number of times it would be done in a 2 week span (10min X 14 days = 2.33 hours, 15min X 14 days = 3.5 hours). So a white woman spends 2.33-3.5 hours on her hair every 2 weeks.

I then proposed that black women can and do achieve something similar (similar, not same) in the same time span (2.33-3.5 hours). Black women can spend 2.33-3.5 hours one day, every 2 weeks, shampooing, conditioning, detangling, and twisting/braiding. On the hair boards, we call the twisting and braiding 'protective styling'. As I said earlier in this thread, in the Caribbean, at least in Barbados and St. Lucia, I see naturals with long hair who have this routine. They wash and twist/braid their hair once every two weeks. They don't do this with the mentality that this is what they have to do to protect their ends and retain length. They, like the white women with the messy bun, choose this style because they like it.

The messy bun style is more suited to straight hair. The twisting is more suited to kinky, coily hair. Both black and white women allot about the same amount of time to their hair. One breaks up that time and uses it daily. The other compounds the time and uses it up all at once. Each are doing a similar wash/condition/detangle/style. Both will retain length.

Furthermore, the notion that if black women are not doing the exact same thing as white woman, they are being extra. So I provided a link that shows several black women growing their hair with simple wash and gos and no subsequent styling. I also went on to say that since white came from black, the hair up keep that women have to do on a daily basis can be seen as extra. I will now add that I don't know what happens when a white person does not wash their hair on a daily or every other day routine... I've never met a white person that doesn't do this.

I hope I was more clear this time.

Lys

 

[Lucie]

althought I've only been natural for a two month..but I wear my hair in a puff/wash and go everyday and have absolutely no problem with growth, retention, and tangles. I just wash my hair and let it be. Women in my family are not big on doing a lot of things to their hair and most of them have/had long hair. The more you do to your hair the harder it will be to maintain. As my hair gets longer, I'm going to maintain the same regimen except I may wear it in a pony once in a while. Otherwise, I'm going to let it do what it do...

Are we related? I really need to find out.

The women in my family kept it simple all the time and still do. The only women in my family with short hair, do so by choice. I used CW my hair twice a day when I was natural. It was great running outside of a downpour with no umbrella, or driving my convertible with the top down and no scarf on my head.

The only thing I hated is watching the internal struggle some people went through not to touch my hair. I could tell some wished I would ask them if they wanted to touch it. It's not a puppy!!!!!

 

[cocoberry10]

I agree with everything else you've said, but we are the leaders in hypertension, diabetes, and a slew of health problems related to poor diet and exercise. There's no way that we can be healthier (in a current state) than white people with the health problems that affect that black community. They might not eat their veggies, but on a whole, they are not dropping dead as quickly as we do.

Oh no girl, I know exactly what you mean. Black people as a whole definitely need to take better care of themselves healthwise. I guess with respect to hair, I don't think dieting ALONE will guarantee long, healthy hair due to our textures. Even a vegan won't have WSL hair, if they don't know how to take proper care of it!

 

[AfroKink]

Because of MY genetics, I actually have to do more with my hair. My hair frizzes up in 2 days, making my new hairstyle look 2 months old. Some naturals are the same, while other naturals can wear their braids or styles for 1 month and they never look frizzy like mine.

My point is, both sides have to work. I don't believe a specific group has it over the other. This is based on the forums I am a member of and hair discussions with people of various races.

But this of course, will always be a debated discussion.

*off to another thread* this was great!

Wait for me!

Lys

 

[LunadeMiel]

Are we related? I really need to find out.

The women in my family kept it simple all the time and still do. The only women in my family with short hair, do so by choice. I used CW my hair twice a day when I was natural. It was great running outside of a downpour with no umbrella, or driving my convertible with the top down and no scarf on my head.

The only thing I hated is watching the internal struggle some people went through not to touch my hair. I could tell some wished I would ask them if they wanted to touch it. It's not a puppy!!!!!

This is definitely a possibility....both of my grandfathers were major whores... also, my family is from the south.

I really don't understand this whole issue about our hair being difficult to handle. I grew up around women with all different hair types. Not once did I ever hear one of them say that their hair is hard to manage. The only time that my hair became hard to manage was when I decided to relax it and not care for it properly. I have an aunt with the thickest most beautifyul hair that I've ever seen. Do you know what she uses to wash her hair? Soap, and absolutely no conditioner. After she washes it she applies come Haitian castor oil and she either pulls it back into a ponytail or one long braid. My grandmother who has also been natural all of her life has never complained about her hair. I really can't uderstand where all of these issues are coming from...erplexed

 

[DragonPearl]

[/i]No... you misunderstand me... braiding and twisting was brought up as a style for retaining length... which must be done in order to grow long hair... my question is, do women of other races have to do this to retain length?

If the answer is no, it qualifies as an extra routine, regardless of how much time it takes.

A different routine doesn't necessarily mean "more work", or "extra". Many white women feel the need to shampoo, condition, comb/bush (detangle), sometimes blow dry, and ponytail on a daily basis. That takes probably 10-15 mins. X 14 days = 2.3 - 3.5 hours. which equals to an every two weeks wash, condition, detangle, and braid session for a black woman.

And some black women do grow their hair doing wash and gos on what they call a bohemian routine.

Lys

I agree with nodisrespect. Let me see how I can explain this:

Non-black women who shampoo, condition, comb/brush, blowdry do so FOR STYLISTIC REASONS ONLY, NOT AT ALL IN ORDER TO RETAIN HAIR. So we cannot compare the motivation and purpose. Plus, most of the ones I know that do all that STILL retain hair well into BSL and waistlength. How many of us could say the same? For real? To be stuck in 1 style (Braids, twists, cornrows, buns, etc) for days at a time in order to retain length, does that really prove the point people are trying to make that it is easy for us to retain length? Even the relaxed heads, if they did that daily routine of shampoo, blowdry and flatiron, that many non-blacks do, how many of them would have hair past shoulder or even APL? Okay, there's always going to be a few exceptions saying Oh, I did, but that does not disprove that the majority of relaxed heads would not retain much hair at all.

Lemme tell you, if it was so easy for our natural hair to grow by just wearing it in afro and puffs daily after washing, IF THAT'S ALL IT TOOK FOR US TO GROW HAIR, we wouldn't have the need for hair sites just as this (including Nappturality). We wouldn't have thousand of posts by women asking what to do with their hair. I am quite surprised to read in this thread posts from women who have in the past posted their frustrations about their hair, complaining it wasn't growing, it was tangling too much, it was too dry, blah, blah, blah and asking for advice. How soon one forgets...

 

[DragonPearl]

No offense, but I do see a lot of people saying that they can wear their hair in afro or puffs everyday and still grow BSL or longer hair, but I go into their fotki and look at their hair texture and so far, their understanding of what constitutes 4 a/b hair doesn't match mine. I don't want to start a texture war, so looks like I will definitely have to create a new category for my hair type. From now on, I will refer to it as 5 a/b.

 

[*Happily Me*]

Jessy, I can't see your pics

I haven't seen your hair in a longggg time and i'm dying

 

[Ms.Honey]

No offense, but I do see a lot of people saying that they can wear their hair in afro or puffs everyday and still grow BSL or longer hair, but I go into their fotki and look at their hair texture and so far, their understanding of what constitutes 4 a/b hair doesn't match mine. I don't want to start a texture war, so looks like I will definitely have to create a new category for my hair type. From now on, I will refer to it as 5 a/b.

I have a girlfriend who's been claiming a 5 for quite some time now. You know you've started something right Andre's system does seem to be lacking in certain areas

 

[DragonPearl]

Jessy, I can't see your pics

I haven't seen your hair in a longggg time and i'm dying

What do you mean? Everyone else can see them. Do you have a picture block on your computer?

 

[DragonPearl]

I have a girlfriend who's been claiming a 5 for quite some time now. You know you've started something right Andre's system does seem to be lacking in certain areas

You know what, I remember last year someone posted a link to this new website for women with hair that would qualify as 5a/b or 4z. They were saying that this type of hair can be frustrating and required its own particular haircare in order for it to thrive. I wish I had bookmarked that link. If anyone has that link, thank you in advance for posting it.

 

[Mitre]

I'm in South FL so I see it all day. I think it's important to note that there are alot of Black women with waist length hair it's just that here in the states because of the poor haircare practices used for years in our country on "afro-textured" hair it's become harder to achieve - that and the products and hard water we have to deal with.

Ethiopean, Dominican, Trinidad, Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, and Aborigines of Australia are all very dark peoples =Black with natural un-processed hair ranging from 3b-4c textures, that hangs far below brastrap (and it's not uncommon). And most of them don't protective style because they're unfamiliar with the term.

All Trinidadian people are not dark, cause Im not... We range from Chinese, European, Indian to African etc....Majority being Indian and African... and a lot of mixed breeds....and yes some Afro-Caribbean people DO have problems with their hair...
Here is a link, you can see what Trinidadians look like
http://www.triniscene.com/tsv6/photos/index.php?p=3692

 

[ladylibra]

Would it be fair o say that your hair is finer than most black women? This is a genetic thing with you that does not require you to do much to your hair, yeah?

I'm saying that it's the exact same thing as with white women. Genetically their hair is finer, so they do not have to do much to it. What is it that you are disagreeing with me about, may I ask?

from what i've seen, anyone (black, white, hispanic or WHATEVER) with fine hair as problems growing it because fine hair itself is WEAKER.

or by "fine" do you really mean "not coarse?"

 

[ladylibra]

No and no.

I said white women have a daily haircare routine that takes 10-15mins. It generally includes shampooing, condtioning, brush/combing (detangling), blowdry/airdry, then style.

what long-haired white woman do you know can blowdry her hair in less than 15 minutes? cause i've LIVED with white women and i've NEVER seen this...

 

[ladylibra]

No offense, but I do see a lot of people saying that they can wear their hair in afro or puffs everyday and still grow BSL or longer hair, but I go into their fotki and look at their hair texture and so far, their understanding of what constitutes 4 a/b hair doesn't match mine. I don't want to start a texture war, so looks like I will definitely have to create a new category for my hair type. From now on, I will refer to it as 5 a/b.

that's why i stick to the LOIS system. it's more descriptive. i'm a thick-haired OS thready with thick strands. see, you already get a much better picture of my hair if i say that than, "oh, i'm a 4a" which can be anything from pencil-sized coils to penspring-sized coils... and you don't know how thick my hair is or how thick my hair strands are if i just say "4a."

 

[Mitre]

I'd have to disagree with that in the case of Afro-Caribbeans at least. They don't call it protective styling, but naturals (in the type 4 range) in the Caribbean generally wear their hair in combos of cornrows, twists, and braids. In North America, naturals (in the type 4 range) seem more likely to sport afros, puffs, twist outs.

Lys

ITA..In Trinidad,,we do wear cornrows,twists, braids, lock,relaxers...press hair...you name it...my mum has 2c/3a hair...and she was telling me stories of her pressing her hair with a hotcomb on da stove....and yes Afro-Caribbeans have the same problems as Afro-Americans in regards to haircare....

 

[*Happily Me*]

What do you mean? Everyone else can see them. Do you have a picture block on your computer?

nope

I've tried IE and Firefox. i'll figure this out

 

[cupcakes]

i feel the same way everytime i see those white, spanish or indian chicks with pantene prov hair erplexed

 

[Lucie]

what long-haired white woman do you know can blowdry her hair in less than 15 minutes? cause i've LIVED with white women and i've NEVER seen this...

What you lived with doesn't make it the rule. One of my very close friends with WL hair blowdrys her hair in 15-20 minutes.

 

[BeetleBug]

Why all the doubt now?

 

[nodisrespect]

That's why I ran up out this thread... too much "I've seen this/my hair does this, so that makes my opinion true universally."

 

[ladylibra]

What you lived with doesn't make it the rule. One of my very close friends with WL hair blowdrys her hair in 15-20 minutes.

does she have thin hair or thick hair? i just can't wrap my mind around this at all...

and i've lived with more than ONE white girl. shoot, one of the white girls i lived with couldn't grow her hair longer than SL but that makes her the exception and not the rule.

 

[ladylibra]

That's why I ran up out this thread... too much "I've seen this/my hair does this, so that makes my opinion true universally."

you're right. we need to set up a few studies so we have some scientific facts.

 

[DragonPearl]

you're right. we need to set up a few studies so we have some scientific facts.

Actually, this board can provide us with a lot of scientific facts. Just tabulate how many "I made SL/APL/BSL/WL" announcements we get, and see how many of those just wore fro or puffs and did NOT do protective styles like buns/braids/twists/phonypony/weaves/cornrow, how many DID blow dry or flatiron their hair everyday like our non-black counterparts, how many just washed and let their hair hang. The mean average should tell us something.

 

[BeautifulFlower]

I have thick APL hair and can blow dry my whole head from damp to completely dry on average in 8 minutes. Its ALL in your technique. I adjust the heat based on the section I am blow out.

So white/black, BlowDrying isnt a big deal.....

 

[jada1111]

I was sitting on a cheap sofa in the Ikea store with my legs crossed determining the comfort and quality of my prospective new purchase when I was struck by the length (waist) and curls on this white girls head. I was like "ooh, I can't wait".. then seconds later, another just-past midback passes by, then a hip bone length and then another waist length!

One by one they passed me by with nice heads of hair I was nearly certain they took for granted.

After about a minute or two more dreaming of waist length and trying to shake off the " it's -just-not-fair -that-i-have-to-work-so-hard-to-grow-my-hair attitude...I hopped off the sofa and headed to the garage and back to my office as lunch time was ending.

I walked into the break room where 3 sistas were discussing working out. And you know the cliche conflict we always have with regard to working out came up: hair care. The conversation went something like this..

" Girl, I don't know about no hot yoga! Hot yoga will have my hair lookin a hot mess" ( everyone laughs as I stand there with a straight face)

"I know chile, only way I'm doing all of that work is if I'm getting my hair done the next day!"

The conversation continues and I nonchalantly observe. Then one of the olders ladies struck a nerve with her final statement as she left to the room..."Hair...it's the black womans curse" she said as she casually walked away.

Fresh memories of the white girls effortlessly boucing their long hair combined with the black womens' break room conversation about their frustation with basic hair maintenance while working out had me feelin like "why do WE have to do so much more??!!"

I mean I know its has to do with texture and yadi-yadi-ya but sometimes it just gets frustrating and I know I can at least come here to let out my " hair frustration".

When I was in the 5th Grade my mom sent me to a nearly all white school and she told me that I was gonna have to work twice as hard.

I guess I'll just have to apply that concept to hair as well.

Awww, I wish I could find a "hugs" smilie for you.

The fact is our hair is different and it's not a bad thing. I'm not trying to grow my hair waistlength, so I can't feel your pain. I am trying to grow it longer than it is, but unlike you, I want my hair to grow OUT not down. I want it to be a super huge cloud. My major issue is shrinkage, but stretched out my hair touches my goes past my shoulders.

If you keep doing what you're doing, hopefully your hair will be the length you want within a couple of years.

 

[trini_rican]

All Trinidadian people are not dark, cause Im not... We range from Chinese, European, Indian to African etc....Majority being Indian and African... and a lot of mixed breeds....and yes some Afro-Caribbean people DO have problems with their hair...
Here is a link, you can see what Trinidadians look like
http://www.triniscene.com/tsv6/photos/index.php?p=3692

Sweetie, I'm trini so I think I know what Trini's look like - I look in the mirror quite often. My family is Tamil (often referred to as Madras in Trinidad) and African. I think you need to refer your link to somebody else.