Cocoeuro
Active Member
Miss*Tress said:Isn't cheve Creole for hair (cheveux)?
That is just like my family, my mother is a maroon, from Jamaica
Miss*Tress said:Isn't cheve Creole for hair (cheveux)?
"Cheve" means hair in Haitian Creole. I think the term you were looking for is "Marabou" given your description. I didn't know that term until FH mentioned it. As you stated, a girl called marabou has a dark complexion, with soft, lightly curly hair. Sometimes they have hazel or light brown eyes as well. I couldn't understand what he meant until I saw a picture of one of his high school friends.
Did I get it all Lucie and Tamrin?
Sent from my iPad using LHCF...if only it would stop correcting what I write.
I am Jamaican and our hair has normal variations among the black people. Like everyone else said there are tons of different people on the island so its not one type.
In terms of the Caribbean, there only interesting type I have found is in Haiti there is a type of hair called "cheve??" or something. Someone Haiti come in and explain it please but it basically describes very dark people with soft, straight-ish hair. I saw a few women like this in the village in Northern Haiti and growing up I knew one haitian girl in my class her whole family was like this. They dont looked mixed in anyway expect their hair. Either they are pure African and this trait is from their ancestors or they are marroon descendants and its from mixing with Tainos (native caribbeans).
After that all hair is hair we have seen before...
"Cheve" means hair in Haitian Creole. I think the term you were looking for is "Marabou" given your description. I didn't know that term until FH mentioned it. As you stated, a girl called marabou has a dark complexion, with soft, lightly curly hair. Sometimes they have hazel or light brown eyes as well. I couldn't understand what he meant until I saw a picture of one of his high school friends.
Did I get it all Lucie and Tamrin?
Sent from my iPad using LHCF...if only it would stop correcting what I write.
MrsJaiDiva said:No...not even a little bit. Or maybe the don't know many Jamaicans... All we have to do is take a 2 minute tour of White Plains Rd to see enough half bald, weave abusing Jamaican women.
She must be thinking of Trini's or Hatians
No...not even a little bit. Or maybe the don't know many Jamaicans... All we have to do is take a 2 minute tour of White Plains Rd to see enough half bald, weave abusing Jamaican women.
She must be thinking of Trini's or Hatians
I am Jamaican and our hair has normal variations among the black people. Like everyone else said there are tons of different people on the island so its not one type.
In terms of the Caribbean, there only interesting type I have found is in Haiti there is a type of hair called "cheve??" or something. Someone Haiti come in and explain it please but it basically describes very dark people with soft, straight-ish hair. I saw a few women like this in the village in Northern Haiti and growing up I knew one haitian girl in my class her whole family was like this. They dont looked mixed in anyway expect their hair. Either they are pure African and this trait is from their ancestors or they are marroon descendants and its from mixing with Tainos (native caribbeans).
After that all hair is hair we have seen before...
southerncitygirl said:there's seems to be this misconception among americans black or white that people of the carribean are more mixed than african-americans...which couldn't be further from the truth. among my friends that are west indian whether they are haitian, trini, jamaican, guyanese,etc.... the range of hair types is just like african-americans type 2-4zzzzz. when people have larger families you tend to see the variation in in facial features, skin color and hair texture...people are not having such large families anymore so folks trying to act all brand new like they don't know thats how dna works,lol. i hate that i have seen people try to say that there is an afro-carribean, multi-ethnic or bi-racial hair texture cause none of these exist in a vacuum. many carribean families have the same issues with skin color and hair texture as american blacks but its not as out in the open.
ummm dont be fooled ive seen plenty of haitian girls running around with BUSTED weaves all i gotta do is take you to my church and you will see for yourself its a catstrophe lol
Cheve means hair in haitian creole so i think you might have the term mixed up, i know in haiti when someone has good hair we call it (idk if im spelling it right) Cheve Souis. in haiti girls go crazy over a dude whose lightskinned but if he has cheve souis ooh boy its a wrap he can be ugly but as long as he has dat good huur the girls will say "ohhh TiBob teeelmeeent cuuuuuuuuuuteee ooh ahh laa cuuuuutttteee"
i believe in northern haiti a loooong time ago there used to be a lot of europeans esp italians and germans and they mixed with the local population so northern haitians have a variety of features ive seen some who look mixed-light skinned, 3a-b hair, hazel eyes- and ive seen some that are darkskinned but have light eyes and 2b hair.
the caribbean in general has a lot of mixing so thats why impossible for me to look at someone and know that theyre west indian. if you took everyone in my fam and had them stand side by side you wouldnt even be able to tell we're related- my fam ranges from literally white skin w.1a hair to deeeeeep ebony black with 4zzz hair
Interesting thread....I do think that people from the caribbean tend to have more mixed ethnic backgrounds than those from the US, but thats just based on my personal experience. I know many Jamaicans with type 4 hair, and trinis as well. That said, the last time I was home I did get called dougla (of african and east indian descent) pretty often :S Just goes to show that there seems to be a universal assumption that to have long hair you are most likely of mixed race.
Actually you have the mixtures and locations wrong. The Italian, Syrian, white ( mulatto) mixtures you speak of are a southern thing. I'm Jeremiene ( southern) and if you see my mother and some of her friends you would understand. At one point the south of Haiti had a great deal of color issues. They only married each other in order to preserve their features and money They still do that today and they look visibly different from the rest of the population. For example Ms Haiti. She is the direct product of no mixing with the " black population" parents of Syrian lineage . A very interesting history of southern colorism in haiti.
Raoul Cedras former military leader / President of Haiti. Friend of my father former classmate of both parents. His father is a darker complexion man with " 2a" hair. His mother a mulato woman of rich family could pass for white was not too well in the head. She went to paris got knocked up came back home. His father fell in love with the mother mind you out of wedlock children were not acceptable. He went and asked for her hand in marriage. Her family told him in order to do him the favor of allowing him to marry into their family he had to give the illegitimate child his name.
Btw Northern Haitians tend to be darker some with high cheek bones. The south is known for the more european features. So hazel, blue, green eyes are not uncommon.
The area where my dad's family is from a good amount of people have eyes like this.
there's seems to be this misconception among americans black or white that people of the carribean are more mixed than african-americans...which couldn't be further from the truth. among my friends that are west indian whether they are haitian, trini, jamaican, guyanese,etc.... the range of hair types is just like african-americans type 2-4zzzzz. when people have larger families you tend to see the variation in in facial features, skin color and hair texture...people are not having such large families anymore so folks trying to act all brand new like they don't know thats how dna works,lol. i hate that i have seen people try to say that there is an afro-carribean, multi-ethnic or bi-racial hair texture cause none of these exist in a vacuum. many carribean families have the same issues with skin color and hair texture as american blacks but its not as out in the open.
No...not even a little bit. Or maybe the don't know many Jamaicans... All we have to do is take a 2 minute tour of White Plains Rd to see enough half bald, weave abusing Jamaican women.
She must be thinking of Trini's or Hatians
I almost peed on myself reading this! LMAO! I live in
Wakefield and know just what you are talking about.
The weaves are ridiculous and the stylists use methods
that are extremely damaging.
Ok thank for correcting me, i knew i prob had the locations mixed up
But yes the syrians in haiti only want to stick to theyre own my dad is a haitian of syrian decent most of his family look like Raoul Cedras- super light with jet straight hair.the syrians get on my nerves because theyre the ones who are really colorstruck
my moms bestfriend is a black haitian and she married a syrian haitian and can you believe that theyve been married almost 30 years and my moms friend has NEVER spoken to or met her mother in law because her mother in law is upset (yes even after 30 years) that she's black
This is exactly what I was getting at. Black carribbeans are just like black Americans...I see very little distinction between the two groups at least when it comes to hair (outside of people from Trinidad)
Now if you were to say blacks americans versus black east africans then there of course noticeable difference between dominant hair texture and facial features. Amongst most blacks from the Caribbean...I see no difference. The rate of variation in hair and seems virtually the same as here.
My family is from Barbados and Trinidad. There are many differences between the diversity of these two islands let alone the mixing pot of America. You may not know or have been taught but believe me there are distinct differences between people from various islands let alone between Caribbean's and Americans. You really need to meet or visit more islands before continuing to make sweeping generalizations over a few classmates you may know. All of the islands have their own unique histories which has led to how descendants look to day. There are similarities no doubt but the differences are what make each island a place worth learning about.
I can line up 10 people from each island and you would never know they were of the same nationality let alone from the same family. This belief that we are all type 4 is why so many messed up their hair trying to throw in perms they didn't need or use products/techniques that were not for them. This is a hair board - lets not continue to perpertrate incorrect information.
I apologize I never meant to sweep over the fact that there is diversity amongst Carribbeans. Of course. They have lots of different influence. My own boyfriend is Haitian/Lebanese so I am very aware that there is lots of diversity amongst skin color/hair texture due to different ethnic influences.
However even with my boyfriends very mixed Haitian family, most people still appear to have dominant West African hair genes of having 3b-4b hair. My boyfriend has very loose 3a hair, and several of his aunts type 2 hair tailbone length hair, but the majority of his relatives still fall between 3b-4b like most black/African people across the world.
I have met people from all parts of the Carribbean and especially Jamaica. To be honest, I think half of the Jamaican population lives in NY and from what I've seen of the Jamaican American population there, there seems to be the same variations in hair texture as African Americans. I would say the same thing about Haitian Americans that I have met in NY, South Florida, and other places I have been. And I would say the same about people I have met from the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.
Perhaps the people that live on the actual islands look different, but from the people I've met here in the US I don't see much difference in terms of hair. I have to stand by that statement.
Even the ladies who have posted on this thread from the carribbean seem to also fall between the 3b-4b category. That is generally the hair type of most black/African people, though there is tremendous diversity amongst us all.
I think to type Caribbean hair you'd have to say majority from 2c-4c, but really anywhere from 1a-4c...it's really that diverse.
exactly ... we are very very mixed up with the majority of the population being of african decent ..... and hair types run the gamut from 1 - 4.
However I would hazard a guess to say that the typical Jamaican has type 4 hair
"Cheve" means hair in Haitian Creole. I think the term you were looking for is "Marabou" given your description. I didn't know that term until FH mentioned it. As you stated, a girl called marabou has a dark complexion, with soft, lightly curly hair. Sometimes they have hazel or light brown eyes as well. I couldn't understand what he meant until I saw a picture of one of his high school friends.
Did I get it all Lucie and Tamrin?
Sent from my iPad using LHCF...if only it would stop correcting what I write.
Our country's motto is "Out of Many, One People" - we're the very definition of a melting pot of cultures! That said, I've seen everything from type 1 to type 4, from super-straight, to super-curly, seasickness-inducing waves, super-coily and more. There's a little bit of everything here, lol. I know SimJam and bajandoc86 (and others) can confirm that...I had a discussion with my sister the other day, not a deep one just a few a words about her opinion on hair. I was watching someone's youtube video about her hair care regimen when my sister came in and asked me what I was doing. I told her "Nothing I'm just watching this video." (sorry I don't remember the youtuber's name) Well anyway she looks at the woman on the screen and she remarks "She looks foreign." and I was like erplexed .The woman in question looked black to me but she was Jamacian (I think). So then I said "No I don't think she looks foreign." So then my sister proceeds to listen to the video about her haircare regimen and she then says to me "Well their hair is different anyway." I didn't ask her what she meant by that because I was like erplexed again .
At first I thought she had picked up some hair myth about Jamaican hair since she isn't into hair care or visits any hair care forums. Then I remembered some other youtube videos that I had seen where the women were Jamaican and had lovely 3c-ish hair. Now the woman in the video I was watching when my sister came over was relaxed so you couldn't see her natural hair type but from a few of the other videos I have been watching there were quite a few 3's out there that are from Jamaica.
So my question to you is do you notice or have you been aware of other textures of people that are from Jamacia that are other than 4abc. Is this something commonly acknowledged or do you have a heightened awareness about other hair types since coming to this board? In my case it's the latter since I didn't know there was such hair diversity in the black community before coming here. I'm not just attributing 3abc hair only to Jamaican women, this is just a thought.
guyanesesista said:Yes but let's keep the focus between gunhill road and 233rd. There isn't much to see beyond those parameters.
I have 4ab hair and when I'm natural it's quite obvious what my hair texture is but when I was relaxed and bsl going on to waist I was told that I had Dougla hair and that was why it was so long. It's like they totally ignore the hair they saw when I was natural. Now I'm natural again and don't plan on relaxing again. But who knows.