We're on the right track!

[davisbr88]

I went to my little cousin's high school basketball game today and I noticed a very positive trend: long hair!
I'm not the best at spotting weave but these were high school girls, and for the ones who had weave, it seemed extremely obvious. Not saying young girls don't know how to hook up a weave, but there were definitely a good number of them that you could tell, without a doubt, that they had that hair growing out of their scalps.
Now the long-haired girls were still an overwhelming minority, but there were significantly more than when I was in high school. They were a mix of skin tones, both relaxed and natural. I was in the stands so happy and I just wanted to share with you all that we're definitely on the right path to breaking that stereotype that we can't grow hair, or that only light-skinned and/or mixed BW can. Of course we all know by the heads on this board, but it was just so inspiring to see it in real life.

 

[MyTie]

I noticed this the other day when I was picking my son up from school. When I was in high school, we just didn't know enough to have both long and healthy hair. When we did start going to the hair dresser regularly they didn't know or didn't show us how to take care of our hair. Every month they would chop off any growth we had because we didn't know how to protect it from being damaged. The girls these days have much more information available to them and I am finding more and more stylists who actually take the time to inform you on how to care for your hair between visits. (There are still quite a lot that are scissor happy but we won't get into that.

 

[Tiye]

I never heard black people couldn't grow long hair only that some people had longer hair than others which to me is like saying some people are tall and others are short - i.e. it's not something you can deny. Maybe look up some archives of hs year books or watch old soul train videos on youtube and you'll see the variation which is perfectly normal.

 

[davisbr88]

When I was in school there was literally a handful of girls with long hair, and even then, "long" was considered between SL and APL back then. I actually saw APL, BSL, and one MBL lady tonight. I was so impressed. They definitely have more information readily available to them than even 4 or 5 years ago when I graduated. Most of the girls I knew were just happy to get to SL and I think stylists did have a lot to do with that. I know my stylist told me I HAD to have a trim every 6 - 8 weeks and that my hair would never get past SL because it wasn't "in my genes" (never mind the fact that my grandmother and her mother and her mother had hair waaaaay down their backs ). So I pretty much gave up even trying, and was discouraged every time I sat in that chair and saw all of my growth get clipped away. I think seeing all of the long-haired ladies on YT and on forums and blogs and stuff definitely served as an inspiration for many.

 

[davisbr88]

I never heard black people couldn't grow long hair only that some people had longer hair than others which to me is like saying some people are tall and others are short - i.e. it's not something you can deny. Maybe look up some archives of hs year books or watch old soul train videos on youtube and you'll see the variation which is perfectly normal.

You may have never heard it but it is definitely a widespread stereotype. You're one of the only people I've heard say they've never heard that. Of course we can grow hair, but seeing BW with long hair was (and still is, in many places) not the norm.