Yes, hair should never be considered "unprofessional" in my opinion. It's part of someone's body, you're basically saying someone's body isn't professional like what
White colonialism. It's a way to force black people to aspire to attain something unachievable (which is to be less black). It's a trick promising acceptance from assimilation that is so well established that it's caused a mass number of black people to do it. To the point that if you don't you're seen as an outlier. But straightening your hair chemically or otherwise, laying your edges and buns isn't going to change someone's blackness . It just further propagates the idea of black people only being palatable if they change themselves. Also It's one of many styles worn by people in "the ghetto or jail" so like most things traditionally associated with those places it's seen as undesirable or representative of someone who is lacking either in finances, education, opportunities, freedom, class, manners, or morals. Though as more traditionally "hood" characteristics/symbols become fetishized or seen as fashion forward via the general public (Ex: clothing, speech, presence) I think it will eventually bleed over into the business/professional sector. But afro hair is beautiful and full of glory and should be celebrated.
@@brynmcclennan973 I think there are certain professions that require hair to be pulled back, for example in the culinary arts or in a medical context, due to hygiene. But then again, most protective hairstyles do keep hair out of the way, so it's really just racism, isn't it?
Because it can be big and obnoxious or unsafe. like the the military, polce work, cooking,etc (Edit: Since everyone is angry at me I never said this was my personal belief. She asked why and i replied with what most jobs/establishments have said or that i heard/seen them say)
i remember in middle school, kids used to put gum in my afro and out of the three other black girls in my grade, i was the only one without straight hair. we had crazy hat day and one of my teachers wore a shitty afro wig and told me “look we match.” years later my hair is fucked from relaxers and i never learned how to take care of my hair the way it naturally is. not even going to get started on my cousin who worked for the same company for years and the moment he got rid of his dreads and shaved his head he got promoted lmfao i hate it here.
No black, but curly latina and they did they did the gum thing to my hair too :( I hated when they put pencils and stuff on my hair just cause they thought it was funny
@@EmilyHernandez-jt4cs oh I think kinky hair is beautiful too! My grandpa had kinky hair 💕 it's just that I live in a part of Colombia where people are more white/mestizo like and in school they bullied anyone who wasn't the usual fair skinned, straight hair girl stereotype
My mom relaxed my hair for YEARS. Then when it wasn’t relaxed it was in braids. Then she immediately stopped doing my hair without teaching me how to do it, then made fun of me when it looked “a mess.” I felt like if I didn’t have weave or a wig I wasn’t presentable or desirable.
Bro same I asked my mom to show me how to braid and style my hair she made fun of me for not being able to do it myself when she's " been doing it my whole life " then she told me to look it up...
@@kypauze1101 I don’t have the “black hair care” gene. Lol I literally just keep it twisted up and pay hairdressers as much as I can. Or wear wigs. I’m good 😂💖
@@kaniahankston4310 OML I thought I was the only one. My brother's stupid ex girlfriend was payed once to twist my hair. She stopped twisting it because she said she was doing her hair by 7. BITCH WE AREN'T A MONOLITH. I'm sorry that I was never taught. I notice that I learn things better when people actually teach it to me, rather than 'searching it up." They tell us to search shit up and then wonder why half of our generation is "lazy."
I had a similar experience. As a kid, my hair would be in a puff or a natural braided style with bow bows sometimes. Maybe a pigtail on special occasions. I would get a blow out at the Dominican salons (this was in the mid 00s when they were all the rage) once or twice a year. My family was shocked at how long my hair was once straightened. As a middle schooler, my mom left me to do my own hair without any guidance. I started straightening it in middle school after wearing a bun and blow out. I started getting perms after my mom realized how long my hair was while straightened. They were fine at first until they broke off my hair so badly that I had to wear fake ponytails. My hair grew back after she stopped the perms from the salon. I rarely washed my hair because I was so afraid of it reverting and I also didnt know how. I was a straight natural until this year. I hated being my hair and started to question why I wore my hair straightened all of the time. It didnt feel like me, this also was during the same time that I began healing from my childhood. On a quest to find my authentic self, I big chopped. My hair went from bra strap length to a buzz cut. I had horrible heat damage - hair was straight in many places, my curls went from 4a to 2c because of years of straightening. in college, I was so embarrassed when people saw my hair on a wash day because of how strangly it was. My mom would yell about how dry, thick, and how tender headed my hair was as a kid. I internalized that and saw straight hair as better. Mind you that I also went to a predominantly white middle and high school. She would get upset and make fun of me that I couldn't do my hair as a kid while not even showing me how because she didnt love or know how to do her own. It's just so sad. I have a lot to process still..
I hate how black women get fired just because of their hair. it's their culture, let them appreciate it. it's also their body and hair, I don't see why it matters
This reminds me of a person who claimed that Kim K, a white woman, wearing box braids would make "wearing braids more mainstream" (an exact quote) in society....while Black girls and women are still ostracized and punished for wearing braids and their natural hair.
@@LangkeeLongkee Honestly we probably would still be ostracized for it. Simply because we are black. Just because wearing black hairstyles may become more mainstream (which I really hope it doesn’t) dose not mean that black women would be praised for it just like a non black person. For example acrylic nails black women made it popular ridiculed for it then non black people got there hands on it (pun not intended) and it got more popular and black women to this day are still called ratchet ghetto unprofessional for literally just wearing nails. So even if black hairstyles are more mainstream we’re still gonna get hate regardless.
@@LangkeeLongkee Yeah I would love to share my culture with non black people in America but until I can happily wear my culture without being ridiculed for it it’s not gonna happen anytime soon. :/
@@LangkeeLongkee a lot of trait that we already have (like big lips and hips) are seen as desirable on white and non black women, but seen as ghetto and “unkempt” on black women in America
@@LangkeeLongkee that’s exactly what I’m saying... Black women were told to cover their bodies and big buts since slavery, but then the kardashians made it “fashionable”. I (and many other black women) remember getting bullied for our big lips RIGHT BEFORE the whole Kylie Jenner lip trend came out, making big lips now more wanted and desirable, even thought we were told that our big lips were ugly. Hair styles like box braids and corn rows were seen as ratchet and ghetto until the kardashians (once again) made them desirable and “mainstream”. Do you see the pattern? Things that black women have had for literal centuries were seen as “unkempt”, but on white people, it is seen as more desired...
Apparently, it's not JUST HAIR. Every show that has a makeover session has white women crying or refusing to cut their hair when it was voluntary (as part of the TV show format) and would be done by a professional. It seems to me that their identity is just as intertwined with their hair as black women.
@Ash Hegde um who tf said I was on welfare, and WTH does welfare have to do with freaking hair. I swear like y'all are so annoying. And even if someone was on welfare they don't have the right to care about their hair? 🧐 miss me with that BS
I was denied from jobs left and right when I wore faux locs as a protective style at interviews. I had to slick my natural hair into a bun with a bunch of gel to make it look as “ straight as possible” just to get a job. It’s more than “ just hair”.
@@gingerbread9691 so dramatic. It's not true imo. I mean unloved woman on earth? *Eyeroll* Who are you trying to get love from? We have Our men, family, children, community,sisterhood, friends etc
@@gingerbread9691 if Black women wld stop trying to find love from their oppressor they won't feel that way. 1st item of change is them fkn STRAIGHT wigs/sew-ins. Love your own hair. Yt pipo &others are looking at us ¬ understanding the whole wig thing. & I agree bc it's gotten way out of hand ☹️. 90% of us wear them. Fros are rare. When we change our self image to what TMH/God made us &stop wearing other women hair, our community will be healthier spiritually, and all other areas of our community will start to heal.
@@monie948 I don’t know where you got the idea from that black men protect black women? And I’m not talking about the few that you know I’m talking about the entire collective of them
This would lead you into a paradox... if you don’t treat it like just hair it never will be... if you really want this to not be a problem you need to take the steps toward you own end goal
@@Willow-ej7sc how? Our hair is never been treated like "just hair" and if u think that its ignorant. Mainly because our hair is scrutinized and hated on from everyone, including our own ppl. And we as black women do try to treat our hair as "just hair" but still get hated on for that, so idk what ur saying.
@@paige2166 well, yea... that’s why I said a change would be required for it to be seen as such, I already see it that way but many others don’t, if you think this requires more nuance that’s fine
The American Education System shocks me so often... I mean... You could think that a country that is proud of its pluralism would let that show in the educational system as well :(
Schools obscure this part of our history partly out of shame and partly because educating us about the depth of own mistreatment would pose a threat to the status quo. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
I hate when people said it's just hair, bc you dint have to grow up feeling like it was ugly, you didn't have to perm it at a very young age to feel pretty and be accepted.
It is crazy to me how so many people are always quick to say ‘It’s Just Hair’ especially since it not only represents our culture but our history. And if it’s not just hair it’s just a trend something for people to adopt for the sake of fashion whilst black women are ridiculed for even participating in the quote on quote fashion trends we were the blueprint for.
Personally, it can be worn by any woman of any color but I hate how non-black women especially white women use it as nothing but a silly little trend or a hairstyle that they created (looking at you, Kim. K). If I see a non-Chinese person wearing a traditional Chinese dress, I will feel represented but if they started wearing it to be popular or trendy, then what's the point of wearing a traditional dress. The same applies to this situation. It is hair but it's more than that. If you wanna wear it, cool but credit who created it and make sure you fucking respect them.
If it truly was "just hair" then black women wouldn't be getting fired from their jobs or sent home from school literally because of their hair. They know it's a bigger deal but to excuse themselves from their mistakes and fucking racism then they cry "oh it's just hair"
@@adam.n-steve No, it cannot be worn by any woman of color. It's like you missed the entire point of this video. Also, if you're Chinese (Asian) like you made it seem in your comment about feeling represented, you have *no* say in what someone can do with Black culture. Your opinion on absolutely anything that has to do with permitting the use of Black culture is irrelevant.
something that just dawned on me as you talked about cutting slaves hair as punishment is that in Ghana (i'm Ghanaian), schools insist that young black girls cut their hair. meanwhile white or non-black students get to keep their hair.
Yhhhh ik!! I’m Ghanaian too I don’t live there, but I realised that all my cousins in Ghana had to have their hair cut... when I asked why even they couldn’t tell me :(
@@UnfilteredMay im half ghanaian and i always thought that since hairstyles in Africa are often used as a status symbols, schools required girls to keep their hair short to minimize class divide and bullying based on wealth. Kinda like school uniforms. I don't know if that's even true or if it is, if it actually works. But I think that girls should be allowed to wear their hair however they want. Forcing them to all wear the same clothes and have the same hairstyle kinda eliminates individuality and self expression. It's super sad
I feel like everyone is OBSESSED with black women and our hair whether it be natural or not. It honestly seems as though we can’t win. We wear our natural hair ( especially if it’s not like the loose curls praised in the black community) we get criticized or if we wear weave we also get criticized. Just do what makes you happy with YOUR hair. And I do agree my hair is part of my identity, and I hate how other people always tell me how I should style it like bby I didn’t ask😒. I also have a story about my hair and how I grew to appreciate it and love it 😊.
in my fam they still call less coarse hair “good hair” and i hate that term sooooo badly. my sons hair isnt as coarse and family always saying oh they wish they had his hair, he got good hair, etc and mentally i’m over it. i dont even say anything to them abt it atp🤦🏾♀️
No one is obsessed...just curious as to why you spend so much money on hair? I can't imagine spending that much money on my hair to get it done! Mind you, I can't imagine spending more than 30 bucks on a haircut...guess I am cheap. Also, why come in with your hair looking different constantly? A cut, sure, but I don't care what color your skin is...extensions and all that mess are just weird. Wear your hair the way you want and quit caring so much about others. I have quit caring about what others think and I am much happier...it comes with age btw. We all just end up old anyway so why worry about aesthetics and just work on what is on the inside.
Hair is such a beautiful thing, hair has so much history, especially black women's hair. It's insane to me how anyone could say it's "just hair", if it's "just hair" why do people get fired, bullied and harassed over it?
I believe that one day black people will be able to wear their hair as they wish, and maybe when it will happen, non-blacks will be able to wear culturally black hairstyle. It's not "just hair" until it's perceived as 'just hair" by your manager or teacher or politician. If you terribly want dreadlocks somehow, put in the work. Defend black women, help them and act to make this world more welcoming of them. Fight for their rights and maybe just maybe one day it will be "just hair"
I dont understand how someone could say to a young girl that they would look more pretty if they did something different to themselves. Like that's pretty rude
This happens everywhere. Not trying to get people to look away from the racism. But I do want to point out nowadays or maybe its always been like this people think it's okay to just have an opinion and tell people it like they think its special or something.
I'm from Australia, specifically an area that is pure whiteness. I have barely any exposure to anyone outside of my race and these videos are so enlightening. I know it isn't your job to educate me but these give me a starting point to learn so much more. Thank you
i live in america but the area i live in is 91.1% white (literally that’s the official number) and i don’t get much exposure either so these videos are def very helpful
Wasn't Australia all Black before whites came and colonized it?? Btw, there is NOTHING "pure" about whiteness on the planet... they've done waaay too much to atone!
@@loverrboyy2879I’m from a small country in Central Europe (I grew up being part of the majority culture in an environment where the “wrong kind of white” could elicit racial abuse and even governmental discrimination, to give a little context). I also watch these videos. They are educational, offer me glimpses into different cultures and experiences. And maybe they will help me examine my own preconceived notions and how I interact with the world.
I'm indigenous Hispanic/Latino, so I don't know black women's struggles entirely, but I remember I would constantly get comments about how my hair was "damaged" or how it looked like I hadn't brushed it. I remember crying in my room over it, because my hair was not like a white woman's, and I wanted straight shiny hair. I can't imagine what it's like for black women, but in my own experience I know it's hard dealing with comments like that.
@@nevadaite Hispanic people hair is literally if not almost the same as in their hair is the beauty standard...so how is it not like white woman's it totally is
@@yeeyeejuice5747 Not really. Being latino doesn't mean any thing about how you look, its not a race. For example I have very very curly hair, like, not like the ones in shampoos commercials, similar at some point in the videos, specially in the front, in the back is more easy to deal. Always people asked me why I don't treat it well or like that. I still don't feel confident about it
The “it’s just hair” sentiment is so disregarding and invalid in every sense. Both black women and men in modern society have to deal with strange comments and treatment chock full of racist rhetoric that continues to stigmatize their mere existence. Whether it be that their natural hair is “unprofessional”-and when wigs are worn, they’re made fun of for a number of reasons I’m too tired to even unpack. To THIS day I have to convince my mom that her 4b hair is beautiful and that relaxing it is only doing her damage, yet she thinks it’s “nappy” and undesirable, and this sort of attitude is absolutely a result of the racist beauty standards and lack of respect that surrounds the black body (in this case, hair) perpetuated in America. But yea, “it’s just hair”: says every uneducated, apathetic lunatic.
One of my hair stories that still grinds my gears: We were doing a musical production in school and the musical was very black vs white and certain characters were written to be sterotypcially black. My teacher casted no black leads and replaced them all with Asians (which isnt their fault but my teachers) I had to play s person who existed in both the black and white spaces and I was told by my white teacher that "She didn't think a black girl going to a pwi would wear their natural hair," despite the fact that in real life I am a black girl at a pwi who wears their natural hair. Even though my character was a background character I still had to get my hair shoved into straight ponytails to "fit the character," while the Asian girls got to wear black cultural hairstyles and lay their edges and wear big hoops etc.. what really hurt was watching the bulk of them call the hairstyles ghetto amongst other things...and during this production this wasn't even the worst thing that my teacher had done to the black people in the cast this was just the tip of the iceberg
Ugh this reminds me of how a high school near mine where the students were all wealthy white kids put on a production of West Side Story. High school theatre directors can be the worst.
I really hate almost every school project that has black people involved in it. It always endup in pure racism. Like in my school it was black people's day, the day where slavery ""ended"" in my country. For that they put a white girl to be the main topic, she was supposed to be Princess Isabell while all the others students were slavery. The problem is, it did not showed all the slevery fight, black and poc fight to make Isabell assign it, they just made her as a complete white savior, like if she was an angel that came to help black people, like if black people did nothing SHE freed them. When actually, she took YEARS to assign the end of slavery, my country was the LAST to end slavery and EVEN SO it continued, it did not had the same amount of cruelty but it continued. And not even gonna talk about the way they represent egypcians...
Ironically, the most memorable comment I got on my hair was from an older black lady. I showed up to work with my natural hair for the first time and everybody else was cool with it but her. “I liked it better straight. It was more professional 😒” Granted, she was an old bat so I shouldn’t have expected much from her
It's possibly jealousy. I had an older black woman at my job years ago tell me that if she had her hair in braids like mine was at the time she wouldn't be taken seriously or professionally at work. Hers wasn't a mean comment but it made me see things from her perspective.
I get that from older generation black women too. My kids and I wear braids and twists. The comments are always about getting blow outs or straighten out hair. My daughter lives her curls. I like braids.
It's unfortunate but many of the elders in our community grew up embracing self hate that said straight hair is good and professional and natural is not. The so called "good hair" vs. "bad hair" narrative.
as a chinese, i can relate to your relationship with your hair to a certain extent. I remember feeling too asian because I have black hair and finding so many ways to make my hair brown. Now years later, I chopped off my hair because it aligns with my gender expression.
I'm sorry I just don't feel like this is the same ma because its not no one is checking for asian womens hair the way you felt was on you the way we felt was from other people constantly intervening in our culture to assert their privilege and dominance over people they once had in their talons
Something that upsets me is the harmful associations that people make with black hair when they appropriate the culture. I listen to kpop and theres alot of appropriation and racism in that industry. What gets me is that most of the waring of braids or locks or durags is done using their rappers ... We all know why. But whether or not it is a rapper wearing the styles they often talk about how the style was used to make them look tough. Cornrows are a style that little kids wear because its an easy way to take care of really coily hair. Stylists take those styles and put it on kpop stars so that they look ...idk if the word is threatening. Then kids and ignorant people watch their kpop faves talk about how they needed braids for a tough guy asthetic and so the cycle of associating blackness with violence and danger continues. Its something that I didn't fully process untill this year.
So Ive beeen listening to Korean music for ten years and been hanging out with black ppl for 30 years. I dont really understand why Kpop fans are ok with black rappers rocking canerow and dreada but take issue when Asian rappers do it. I find Kpop fans to be some of the most racist ppl Ive ever met and its ironic considering theyre listening to Asian music. Why do ppl listen to Kpop music and then discriminate and be racist to Koreans? Just sad.
@@army4chair345which artist did she rip off? The production? If she did the artiat can sue otherwise it is likely just inspired like most music and art is inspired.
@@DarkAngel2512becuz when you're using a culture as an aesthetic, then it is deemed as cultural appropriation/cultural colonisation. u wouldn't understand if you dont do your research
I remember growing up and being told by a guy I was interested in “why don’t you wear your hair like normal girls?” I was saddened so much by it...and confused...I used to always wear my hair in braided ponytails with the ballies and barrettes then changed to styling my hair into tight buns when I got older because I didn’t know how to style my natural curly hair. I also think people confused me so much with being white that they didn’t understand that my hair was different from theirs. I used to hate wearing my hair in the braided ponytails because sometimes my classmates would make fun of my hair saying it looked like dookie because my hair is dark brown. I’m still afraid to wear an Afro in public..and feel anxious when wearing braided protective hairstyles because I don’t want ppl to think I’m a white person doing cultural appropriation when in reality I’m black but have a light complexion.
I was told by a guy that I liked, "I would definitely date you if you weren't black." The worst part about this was that HE was also black. Darker than me, even.
@@radioactive_baby I’m so sorry you had to go through that people can be idiots, and how is he going to say that when he’s black too and darker than you, some guys are unbelievable
@@tysheriadorsey9934 i wasn't talking about you. i was replying to a comment about black boys who hate darker skinned black women, even when they are darker skinned themselves
7:50 damn I had no idea. Totally makes sense. Especially if braiding patterns were used as maps to freedom. I can see slave owners shaving hair to limit resources. Reminds me of how slave owners would make a show out of drowning slaves to deter others from learning how to swim so they couldn't use swimming to escape either. Wild. Absolutely bonkers.
Not to mention that slave traders would shave their heads so they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other. Hairstyles sometimes showed whether they were married, how many kids they had, and more importantly which tribe they came from. It's quite sad how far the rabbit hole goes.
@@adamisgreatfightme it’s so sad that they were treated so badly and so cruelly. And yet people still deny that any of that affects black people today ☹️. Even though that trauma is carried throughout the generations
As a non-American black person, this is so sad. No one should be discriminated against because of the way they wear their hair. Every black girl has a story with her hair, but the experiences around different backgrounds and cultures do change and influence your relationship with your hair. I was never teased about my hair, the only moment I had issues about it (other than learning how to style it) was when I was wearing bright blue box braids which were not allowed in my school, and the problem was the color, not the braids. Granted I did go to a private school, but a friend of mine told me that she was bullied for her hair and she was told every day that she had “coconut hair” but she went to public school. I don’t exactly believe every time someone takes part in a cultural thing is cultural appropriation, as long as they are not mocking it I don’t see any issue with it. The person who taught me how to braid my hair was a white person, and without her, I wouldn’t have learned so much about my hair at the time. More people adopting a way of doing things normalizes it, and in my eyes, as long as they are doing it in a respectful way, it’s heartwarming whenever I see other people think my culture is considered beautiful and partaking in it. I learned to see it as “just hair” because no one ever gave me a reason to think otherwise. Hopefully soon our hair can be seen as something “normal” and not as a reason to be fired, bullied, or harassed.
This is very well worded. I'm a girl who is born and raised in West-Europe, and I am from African descent. I had a similar experience as you. I completely agree with your comment.
If it's any comfort to us, it really doesn't matter. We will always be criticized for something whether it is our hair or anything else. If not our hair, it will always be something else they will find to point out. The Most High made us different and unique. Even the Messiah we have hair of wool like his.
I feel like a learn a lot about the Black American experience from your videos! I definitely had a very complicated relationship with my 3C/4A hair as a Japanese-Jamaican kid brought up in London. Thankfully now at 23,I am finally learning to fully appreciate how it grows out of my head
As a black person who is AFAB i really felt that. I remember one day being at school and staying the whole day with a hood, it was really hot in that day but I did not wanted people to see my hair, I remember that there was one person who worked at my school and asked me why I was with that hood. I telled her the reason and she said "Girl your hair is BEAUTIFULL. And NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let anyone tell you otherwise." I just started crying so hard since than i started using more my natural hair without hiding it, started to be a bit more comfortable to use my hair down (altought that I only used it one day at my school), and after all that time I only straightned my hair once because my mom was willing to do so (she frequently makes fun of my hair and others hair and also make fun of black features and fat people even tho she is and has both of those.)
Typical black mom who has some internalized hatred for herself,taking it out on others. It’s really sad. I’ve heard a lot of sores of moms being disrespectful to their daughters and their own crowns in that regard and it’s heartbreaking...
People don’t understand why I’m so passionate about my hair or natural hair, they just think it’s stupid because they don’t understand since they grew up with white hair.
I was bald from 3rd grade till 6th grade because my family said that my hair was unmanageable and thru out those years I was called ugly and I looked more like a boy, it really messed up my self-esteem, then 7th grade I started relaxing my hair and I was told it looked dirty I should cut it off and the when I did, I was told I looked better with hair. Now I just keep it in braids or wigs, because I’m afraid of showing my natural hair and get criticised. Someone always has something to say about a black girl’s hair and it always negative, we’re tired.
I just hugged you. I can relate. I once got joked at a black hair salon when I went for a perm and the beautian lined up 5 large jars of perm and a broom and announced to the salon that's what she needed to do my hair. I stopped going and have been in braids for 20 years and yes, I do my own hair. BTW, I see your profile pic and you're very pretty. I like your eyes. Stay strong, Queen 👑. From an old lady living in southern arizona.
I hope you just ignore opinions. People are casually cruel and can't mind their own damn business. My sister is similar... she's slowly learning to love her own hair, but still prefers her wigs. Our hair is lovely. I look at old pictures of African Americans and their hair and they did wonderful styles. We can do the same.
@@opaluni I was looking at a group of soldiers at my job and I saw the young black females sporting twists, locs, fro, braids. I was so proud! Then I remember the echoes of the generation before me that would call it beadybeads and nappy. They looked at natural in confusion, saying "why would you do that to your hair?". We just have to push past them and stay healthy and hold on to our uniqueness.
I definitely got shamed and bullied for wearing weave. In sixth grade other kids would pull off my fake ponytail and toss it around like a ball. I also got bullied for having a relaxer, which broke my hair off. It was such a pain.
Honestly, as a white boy from Uruguay, living in a city where you literally can't see people darker than an almond, I have seen many people, mostly woman, appropriating black hairstyles, and I just wanted to thank you so much for opening my mind and informing me about what is behind these recent trends.
In UK its not recent. We have so many black people in London near where I live that its normal to see anyone of any race with their hair in dreads or canerow.
I always get mesmerized by how much blackness as an experience intertwines no matter where we’re from. I get that you’re coming from the perspective of an black american but I myself am african and I can tell you I too have gone through the phases of being in elementary school and getting home every day to ask my mum why my hair wasn’t as curly as so and so (since here ppl are mainly black and I happened to be in a class where 99,9% where either mixed or lightskin). Then by middle school i got my first perm and had damaged chemically treated hair. Just before high school I found out abt the natural hair movement and decided to go natural, where I struggled to accept my 4c texture bc it ‘didn’t achieve the curls I was being sold’. Now I’m fully able to understand how my hair is a huge piece of who I am and how I stand as a person too, so yeah: it’s never “just hair”. Amazing essay!!!
This video is just wow... the amount of hate I got on my video about the hypersexualization of black women made me not wanna make any more videos about how black women are treated and this video reminded me how much we need videos like this! keep up with the amazing content :)
I’m mostly African American (my dad is half Iraqi) and we were talking about job discrimination concerning ethnic hair, and my dad straight up said “of course I would think poorly of a woman with weave if I was hiring! It’s not clean and nice. An interviewee should come in with a sleek bun or something, it’s more professional.” I can get that if you’re coming in with a neon green wig to a job interview where they don’t usually accept brightly colored hair, but just like plain black braids? Give me a break. Tbh my dad has some other internalized racism stuff going on, so this wasn’t too surprising.
Issa Rae on insecure made me so happy to see hair representation in media. I love that black women have versality in our hairstyles like wigs, weave, braids, locks etc but I rarely see our natural afro hair in the media but the range of hairstyles throughout the 4 seasons of insecure and seeing Issa's twa grow was so amazing to me. We need more of that in media and social media.
if its just hair stop trying to control how i wear it thanks 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆 and my mom contributed to this to. somehow braids were okay but letting it lose was a big no. i didnt start wearing it out till i was an adult
The trauma I have from my curly type 4 black hair just makes me cry anytime I think too deep or try to talk about it. To all my Black Queens, Kings And Royals in between our hair and the diversity of it is BEAUTIFUL and just beyond magical, dear to say even divine, no matter how hat they say just know that and try to remember that, I do 💜
As a mixed race person I can relate I remember going to school as a little girl and returning back home in tears and my mother and sister popped off at the school
First of all, i would like to say that I love how u structured the video. Second of all, I completely agree us history doesn't dive deep enough into the issues of salvery. Also, In terms of cultural appropriation, i wish people would step back before giving their opionion and actually take time to educate themselves. One of the main reasons people don't see the connections to what happened historically comes down to the lack of education on these subjects from the general public and schools education. That's also the reason why i liked how u structured this video😊
idk if it helps but my school definitely went over slavery and the oppression of black people up until modern times. In my APUSH class we went over Jim Crow laws, brown v board of education, tulsa, black disenfranchisement, the Little Rock nine and told us the Civil War was about slavery. So there is hope!
It's always funny to me when non-black people wear our hairstyles and then claim they are "appreciating the culture" and then say "its just hair" in the same sentence? Like how are you going to claim cultural appreciation then completely strip the hairstyle from its culture because it doesn't fit your narrative?
im genuinely curious here, are there circumstances where “appreciating the culture” is a valid reason? im mestizo and personally would like to see more native (south) american culture in media and such, but could totally imagine how frustrating it would be to see it mistreated or misrepresented. i think a lot of peoples “its just hair” arguments are gut reaction to a misunderstanding due to lack of experience- the idea that nobody under *any* circumstances should ever wear a durag for ex because of race *feels* inherently wrong to somebody who doesnt have the experience of negative racial implications. it feels like a lot of people, blatantly or not, miss the reason why these things can be harmful when theyre treated like accessories and nothing else
Hello ,as long as non black people acknowledge the roots of the hairstyle , is it okay for them to wear the hairstyle? Is wearing one simply considered appropriation I'm asking because recently a kpop idol whose song was recently released recently apologized for wearing a certain kind of braids for cultural appropriation in her music video, when can someone wear them and when can they not?
As a latina who has a few black ancestors I have curly hair and I would constantly straighten it to make it wavy at the salon. Right now I'm embracing my curls but I guess they seem to be a bit porous because of how frizzy they can get? My hair would fall off a lot between showers, so I guess constantly exposing it to heat in order to straighten/curl it at the salon damaged it.
I noticed that as a light skinned woman, my thick, type 4 hair was praised as opposed to my darker skinned counterparts. I eventually began to hate my hair as I noticed that many other light skinned women around me had much silkier, looser curls. Update: I now have locs 💗
I’m a type 4 (b &a) LSBW (2 Blk parents) too. I quit relaxing my hair a long time ago. I don’t do much with it though. Not into time-consuming hair routines. I felt the same way when I was relaxed. Spend as little time as possible. Right now, my hair is a mess and I’m going to go to the barber 💈 and get it cut down into a fade of something.
as a black girl my self people would always like it or hate it.And I just want people to understand that it's our culture not a "style" or say my natural hair Is fake and/or a "weave" which in the end is so wrong with others try to seem nice but it comes out wrong or seem mean it's ok to say its beautiful but use it and say that it's not a style it's the history that comes with it.
As a white girl with curly hair I was bullied for years for it and many other things. I was called a poodle, people would touch my hair all the time and my mom or the hairdresser didn't know what to do with it so they just brushed it out. I reached a point where I was afraid of school breaks because of this bullying. Teachers told me to hide my hair because it was too distracting and people couldn't see the blackboard even though I was already in the back of the class and I was wearing glasses. I ended up embracing ny hair and getting rid of the bullying in highschool happily. But all this traumatic experience is uncomparable to what black women went and sadly still go through. They deserve all the support and appreciation for going through all this and many other forms of oppression. And more than that people need to understand why their gorgeous hair is part of their culture!
@@queennzinga5988 because even if I had a bad experience it still is much better than a black person's experience and it also doesn't give me any right to wear box braids, dreads etc. I want people to understand that, especially when many defend Kim K for wearing those haorstyles.
@@mochitea5638 yess thank youu! I love my hair now and all types of curls. I hope everyone learns to embrace their unique beauty and love themselves for who they are!
I’m gonna share some of my thoughts (I’m a white minor and has always lived in a small town.) in my life I haven’t thought anything about black hair other than it’s hair. It never even crossed my mind that hair like that was “unprofessional” or “ugly” it really made me think because I never thought anything less of African American hair. I remember the first time I saw a girl in box braids I thought wow her hair is so pretty. it’s so weird to me to think about how others thought bad things about natural hair. My mother raised me well I guess, She’s always taught me from a young age to accept others and be kind. Now that I’m older and I try to educate myself on topics like this it still surprises me how you could judge someone’s HAIR like that. sorry if this sounds like I’m trying to be a white knight or something I wanted to share my thoughts growing up. Anyways, the judgement on poc over hair etc is sad because it’s your culture/ the way you were literally born.
I feel the same way & agree with everything you said. (Well, except that I don't think white people should feel like they need to apologize for having an opinion or wanting to be part of a conversation - but I get why you said that. I'm also white, but from a fairly large city.) It sounds like you have a great mom! There were students with natural African American hair at my school when I was growing up, so it looks normal to me, and I agree that box braids are really pretty.
as a brown pacific islander- i feel very validated yet sad that i relate to a lot of your experiences. i don’t have particularly kinky hair, but my hair is a mix of 2c and 3a. i used to not know how to take care of my hair- and i lived in white oregon so NOBODY really did- so my hair was always either frizzy or poofy. i damaged my hair by straightening it, but i kept doing it because i subconsciously confirmed to eurocentric features. people have bullied me on my hair, and people have talked about how wild and weird it looks. i’ve been laughed at for it, but even though i’ve always ignored it- that all came crashing down on my in middle school and the societal treatment i got quite literally altered the view i had of myself. i’m sad to say that i also relate to how european influence and colonization has lead to cultural discrimination, and not only that- but death, torture, rape, and slavery. i HATE how most of my island’s history has been erased due to colonization. i HATE how eurocentric beauty standards still effect our island nation, despite the fact that only 2-3% of our population is white. people are becoming more aware, but it’s still hard. i find solace in the comfort of being able to relate to this, but i hope that we as a society find a solution to this treatment. we’re not victims of mistreatment, but survivors amidst adversity from a not-so-inclusive society.
Thank you so much! I’m a white European and I knew that hair was important for black woman but didn’t understand why. Now I feel like I’m closer to understanding this, THANK YOU A LOT ❤️❤️❤️
I never got bullied about my hair, but I was always insecure of it. I’ve always kept it natural, taken care of it, wear it in tons of styles and people would say its beautiful but I didn’t feel beautiful. One day there was this white boy in my class who would always stare at me and it kind of made me uncomfortable because I don’t like being stared at to a extent. And he came up to me and asked me about my hair and how do I change it every so months. He seemed so curious and happy about it when I told him. The next day I remember him coming up to me again, ranting about what he watched on youtube about it and he said he loves my hair/culture alot and that he finds it beautiful on me. That made me feel so much better to this day.🤍
I had this exact experience with my close friend he kept pointing out how cool my braids and different natural styles were and always wanted to watch me do my hair. I was so taken aback because of all the negativity I had gotten (having short “bad” hair and being called a boy all the time). It really does hit different
Finding your channel is a breath of fresh air. As a history major this was amazing. As a first generation Mexican-American, this was eye opening in so many ways. Thank you♥️
being mexican, i understand the relationship you have with your hair i’ve been straightening my hair everyday for three years bc I hate that my hair is so wavy/curly and i wish i would have confidence in my natural hair but when you see white girls having perfect straight hair it’s so hard to feel like i’m not being judged.
In APUSH rn and I just think you should know that we learn much more about that history than before. It’s so great to be learning more about this stuff and I hope they only teach more from here. Incredible video ❤️
I’m so happy TH-cam put this in my recommended, I always hated it when people used to touch my hair or say “you should straighten your hair, I think it would nice on you”. That has been happening since I started school, so thank for making this video!
Wow... Amazing! I love the poem at the beginning and end of the video. It was a beautiful way to finish the video. This was very educational, enlightening and thought provoking. Thank you for making this!
i’ve always struggled with my hair :( i have naturally ginger/red hair so as a black girl i felt like i always stood out from everyone and i hated it. then on top of that i started straightening my hair twice or three times a month because all the girls on tv (specifically the black girls) had straight hair. this got to the point where my hair was thin and constantly needed to be brushed or it wouldn’t look right. luckily, in 2019 i became interested in going natural and have since grown such an appreciation for my curls! i’ve been heat and dye (i used to semi-dye to make my hair darker) free for almost two years now and can finally see my 4b strands, i’m so happy!
I am a latina with curly hair, and it is so interesting how although the video is about black people’s hair, I am still able to relate to it and also to the comments. I feel like this is an issue that is also present in Latin America.
I feel like anyone who doesn’t have bone straight hair, has some sort of story. But a black girl with super kinky hair guaranteed has something she went through with her hair
It's due to colorism and antiblackness which is world wide due to colonialism, the justification for race based chattel slavery, imperialism. Colorism being that the "closer to whiteness" one is physically, they are better. E.g. wanting straighter hair, paler skin.
Imagine telling a Muslim woman that she's not allowed to wear her hijab to school, that would be an outrage because it is part of their culture. It should be exactly the same for black women and braids ITS LITERALLY THEIR CULTURE, but because white people have now decided after telling black women for hundreds of years that their braids are ugly they now think its cute and trendy whilst still not recognising black culture whilst doing so ( i.e. Kim K's "Boxer braids"). So now officials (schools, employers etc.) are deeming braids on black women "unprofessional"
@@accountforthepc373 it’s actually happening in a few countries, some places like Quebec refuse Muslims from certain jobs cuz of it. I just wanted to say hijab isn’t culture but religious. But I get ur point
I'm bi-racial and I'm from dominican republic and here we see natural hair like "bad hair" so k my mother used to straight it everyday and i was so ashamed to go out with my hair not straighten, i hated having curly hair and a year ago i started take care of my curls even when my mother and my dad told me i was ugly, the school teachers told me i should brush it even when we know what happens if you brush curly hair and i had to live with the shame and now i love my hair.
im white but have two black little sisters and can i just say it is SOOO hard to do their hair like yall are so talented. it takes my mom and i hours just to do cornrows. luckily neither of my sisters have heard anything negative (or rlly anything at all) abt their hair from peers, but one my sisters have said they wish they had my hair (thin and wavy) which broke my heart bc i think her 4c hair is beautiful
tell them what you think about their hair. let them know you think their hair is beautiful. they look up to u as a big sister and take what you say to heart
The most freeing moment in my journey with my hair was shaving my relaxed hair off. For once I wasn't tryna imitate nobody. Ive had a much healthier relationship with myself as a black person ever since I let go of that hair and found more people like me. Surrounding myself with black emo kids was a good choice lol.
My hair has been through its own adventures. It's been braided, fried, dyed, relaxed, curled, and so on. There was a time when my cousin relaxed my hair with a lye perm and I had a huge bald spot in my 20's. Luckily it grew out. There was also a time when the medication I was taking a couple years back was making my hair fall out. Now it grows back stronger. Now my hair is natural and I appreciate it more.
I'm so glad this came up in my recommendations. I really want to be a hairdresser after I graduate, but I'm so worried about working with different hair types as a white woman. I can't even imagine messing up a black woman's hair knowing how long it took them to grow it and feel comfortable enough to come into a salon and have a white women give them a trim. I truly do appreciate this perspective, and I'm going to educate myself the best I can. :)
I do not understand how you're so underappreciated! Your editing is impeccable and the content is so informative! As a white female I've learned so much and started being aware of so so many issues going on! Thank you so so much
When I was in middle school, my mom cut my hair, and I was bald and ashamed, I used to hide in the bathrooms or hide my face in the hood because people were doing fun with me, it was a terrible moment of my life...I used to hate myself, just because some non-black people were being rude to me... and then 1 year and a half after cutting my hair, I started styling myself with just box braids... I was not letting my hair breathe, I was addicted to boxing braids, because it made me feel more pretty, until today I can not use my natural hair because I am still ashamed due to the bullying I suffered in the past... so is not just hair there is a lot of story behind that
I remember two instances where the "its just hair" arguement got brought up First instance: animal crossing having a black hair styles update, someone (who was white) wore the puffs and called them space buns,causing an uproar on ✨Twitter✨, people were saying "it's just hair,it's not a big deal"(both white and black people) or "then black girls cant wear blonde wings cause that white culture" OR "you dont own a hairstyle" "Vikings wore braids" Second instance: saw a tiktok bout locs, same argument "its just hair" "Vikings wore locs" not knowing about rastafarianism, which is just.. ignorant I stepped in for the first instance,while the second I just rolled my eyes and scrolled, it's just so upsetting to see these people use that argue and makes me wanna 🤜👱♀️
Thank you so much for this. People are so quick to say, "its just hair, I can do whatever I want". just because you dont care about the cultural significance, doesnt mean you can diminish MY worth and value in MY black hair. Just because you're uneducated, you dont get to diminish MY history so that you can wear the style as a trend for a few days...Dont get me started on "Allies" that think that they're "appreciating" the styles, it was never theirs to reclaim.
It's funny that this popped up in my feed. I'm about to take out my faux locs (had them in for four weeks) and re-do my hair today. Haven't decided on a style yet.
*"Every black girl has a story about her hair..."* I didn't expect to get so emotional over this video.
Amen. I'm 43 and got emotional
Preach
@@astrogirl2675 My daughter and I are doing our hair right now. Room smelling like cholesterol treatments and braiding hair on the couch
@@4knewt505 cholesterol treatment? What....?
@@DiamondsRexpensive It’s a hair product.
the AUDACITY to tell black girls that they WOULD be pretty if ___ like WHO ASKED??
I SURE DIDNT ASK! and yet-
Been searching for 3 hours and I still don't know
You do know they say that same thing to EVERY girl?))
@@ellyjane1517 I’m sure but she is talking from the girls perspective..
@@ellyjane1517 um what are u on abt
Why, why, WHY are dreadlocks, cornrows, afros, etc. considered "unprofessional"? They're beautiful and completely suitable for any workplace!
Yes, hair should never be considered "unprofessional" in my opinion. It's part of someone's body, you're basically saying someone's body isn't professional like what
White colonialism. It's a way to force black people to aspire to attain something unachievable (which is to be less black). It's a trick promising acceptance from assimilation that is so well established that it's caused a mass number of black people to do it. To the point that if you don't you're seen as an outlier. But straightening your hair chemically or otherwise, laying your edges and buns isn't going to change someone's blackness . It just further propagates the idea of black people only being palatable if they change themselves.
Also
It's one of many styles worn by people in "the ghetto or jail" so like most things traditionally associated with those places it's seen as undesirable or representative of someone who is lacking either in finances, education, opportunities, freedom, class, manners, or morals. Though as more traditionally "hood" characteristics/symbols become fetishized or seen as fashion forward via the general public (Ex: clothing, speech, presence) I think it will eventually bleed over into the business/professional sector. But afro hair is beautiful and full of glory and should be celebrated.
In fear, I had to undone mine when the time for interviews came in
@@brynmcclennan973 I think there are certain professions that require hair to be pulled back, for example in the culinary arts or in a medical context, due to hygiene. But then again, most protective hairstyles do keep hair out of the way, so it's really just racism, isn't it?
Because it can be big and obnoxious or unsafe. like the the military, polce work, cooking,etc (Edit: Since everyone is angry at me I never said this was my personal belief. She asked why and i replied with what most jobs/establishments have said or that i heard/seen them say)
i remember in middle school, kids used to put gum in my afro and out of the three other black girls in my grade, i was the only one without straight hair. we had crazy hat day and one of my teachers wore a shitty afro wig and told me “look we match.” years later my hair is fucked from relaxers and i never learned how to take care of my hair the way it naturally is.
not even going to get started on my cousin who worked for the same company for years and the moment he got rid of his dreads and shaved his head he got promoted lmfao i hate it here.
No black, but curly latina and they did they did the gum thing to my hair too :( I hated when they put pencils and stuff on my hair just cause they thought it was funny
@@angelicaflorez6660 We all definitely go through, crap. Curly hair is beautiful, as a Afro-Hispanic with kinky hair, I wish I have curly hair
@@EmilyHernandez-jt4cs oh I think kinky hair is beautiful too! My grandpa had kinky hair 💕 it's just that I live in a part of Colombia where people are more white/mestizo like and in school they bullied anyone who wasn't the usual fair skinned, straight hair girl stereotype
That was horrible. Where were the adults? They should have stopped it
Omg I’m so sorry that happened to you
My mom relaxed my hair for YEARS. Then when it wasn’t relaxed it was in braids. Then she immediately stopped doing my hair without teaching me how to do it, then made fun of me when it looked “a mess.” I felt like if I didn’t have weave or a wig I wasn’t presentable or desirable.
Bro same I asked my mom to show me how to braid and style my hair she made fun of me for not being able to do it myself when she's " been doing it my whole life " then she told me to look it up...
@@kypauze1101 I don’t have the “black hair care” gene. Lol I literally just keep it twisted up and pay hairdressers as much as I can. Or wear wigs. I’m good 😂💖
@@kaniahankston4310 OML I thought I was the only one. My brother's stupid ex girlfriend was payed once to twist my hair. She stopped twisting it because she said she was doing her hair by 7. BITCH WE AREN'T A MONOLITH. I'm sorry that I was never taught. I notice that I learn things better when people actually teach it to me, rather than 'searching it up." They tell us to search shit up and then wonder why half of our generation is "lazy."
Its nothing like a black mom who cuss you out for not being able to do something she never taught you how to do....
I had a similar experience. As a kid, my hair would be in a puff or a natural braided style with bow bows sometimes. Maybe a pigtail on special occasions. I would get a blow out at the Dominican salons (this was in the mid 00s when they were all the rage) once or twice a year. My family was shocked at how long my hair was once straightened. As a middle schooler, my mom left me to do my own hair without any guidance. I started straightening it in middle school after wearing a bun and blow out. I started getting perms after my mom realized how long my hair was while straightened. They were fine at first until they broke off my hair so badly that I had to wear fake ponytails. My hair grew back after she stopped the perms from the salon. I rarely washed my hair because I was so afraid of it reverting and I also didnt know how.
I was a straight natural until this year. I hated being my hair and started to question why I wore my hair straightened all of the time. It didnt feel like me, this also was during the same time that I began healing from my childhood. On a quest to find my authentic self, I big chopped. My hair went from bra strap length to a buzz cut. I had horrible heat damage - hair was straight in many places, my curls went from 4a to 2c because of years of straightening. in college, I was so embarrassed when people saw my hair on a wash day because of how strangly it was.
My mom would yell about how dry, thick, and how tender headed my hair was as a kid. I internalized that and saw straight hair as better. Mind you that I also went to a predominantly white middle and high school. She would get upset and make fun of me that I couldn't do my hair as a kid while not even showing me how because she didnt love or know how to do her own. It's just so sad. I have a lot to process still..
I hate how black women get fired just because of their hair. it's their culture, let them appreciate it. it's also their body and hair, I don't see why it matters
You can hate it but what are you doing to stop it
@@fedhaamour I really can't do anything I'm a minor in an extremely conservative family as much as I want to do something abt it I can't
@@ryleighd7147 there’s a crown act at that you can sign
@@fedhaamour huh?
@@paanora440 I meant there's a petition to end hair discrimination against black women!!
This reminds me of a person who claimed that Kim K, a white woman, wearing box braids would make "wearing braids more mainstream" (an exact quote) in society....while Black girls and women are still ostracized and punished for wearing braids and their natural hair.
@@LangkeeLongkee Honestly we probably would still be ostracized for it. Simply because we are black. Just because wearing black hairstyles may become more mainstream (which I really hope it doesn’t) dose not mean that black women would be praised for it just like a non black person. For example acrylic nails black women made it popular ridiculed for it then non black people got there hands on it (pun not intended) and it got more popular and black women to this day are still called ratchet ghetto unprofessional for literally just wearing nails. So even if black hairstyles are more mainstream we’re still gonna get hate regardless.
@@LangkeeLongkee Yeah I would love to share my culture with non black people in America but until I can happily wear my culture without being ridiculed for it it’s not gonna happen anytime soon. :/
@@LangkeeLongkee a lot of trait that we already have (like big lips and hips) are seen as desirable on white and non black women, but seen as ghetto and “unkempt” on black women in America
Yep
@@LangkeeLongkee that’s exactly what I’m saying... Black women were told to cover their bodies and big buts since slavery, but then the kardashians made it “fashionable”. I (and many other black women) remember getting bullied for our big lips RIGHT BEFORE the whole Kylie Jenner lip trend came out, making big lips now more wanted and desirable, even thought we were told that our big lips were ugly. Hair styles like box braids and corn rows were seen as ratchet and ghetto until the kardashians (once again) made them desirable and “mainstream”. Do you see the pattern? Things that black women have had for literal centuries were seen as “unkempt”, but on white people, it is seen as more desired...
I HATE when people say "it's just hair" I'm like TO YOU it's just hair
Same!
They will never understand that.
Apparently, it's not JUST HAIR. Every show that has a makeover session has white women crying or refusing to cut their hair when it was voluntary (as part of the TV show format) and would be done by a professional. It seems to me that their identity is just as intertwined with their hair as black women.
they didn’t say it was “just hair” when they were making fun of it
@Ash Hegde um who tf said I was on welfare, and WTH does welfare have to do with freaking hair. I swear like y'all are so annoying. And even if someone was on welfare they don't have the right to care about their hair? 🧐 miss me with that BS
I was denied from jobs left and right when I wore faux locs as a protective style at interviews. I had to slick my natural hair into a bun with a bunch of gel to make it look as “ straight as possible” just to get a job. It’s more than “ just hair”.
Eh not in my eyes
@@Zombina638 wow, who fucking asked!
@@Zombina638 you mean not in your limited perspective
@@bethanyreynolds7270 no but keep yapping
the way that most black hair styles are considered to be “unprofessional” is just so wrong in so many ways..
@Ash Hegde If you have nothing of value to say, just own that. Stop embarrassing yourself.
“the black woman is the most unprotected, unloved woman on earth ... she is the only flower on earth ... that grows unwatered”
Oh Lord 🤣🤣
@@monie948 what
@@gingerbread9691 so dramatic. It's not true imo.
I mean unloved woman on earth? *Eyeroll*
Who are you trying to get love from?
We have Our men, family, children, community,sisterhood, friends etc
@@gingerbread9691 if Black women wld stop trying to find love from their oppressor they won't feel that way.
1st item of change is them fkn STRAIGHT wigs/sew-ins. Love your own hair.
Yt pipo &others are looking at us ¬ understanding the whole wig thing. & I agree bc it's gotten way out of hand ☹️. 90% of us wear them. Fros are rare.
When we change our self image to what TMH/God made us &stop wearing other women hair, our community will be healthier spiritually, and all other areas of our community will start to heal.
@@monie948 I don’t know where you got the idea from that black men protect black women? And I’m not talking about the few that you know I’m talking about the entire collective of them
until our hair is treated like "just hair" anyone who says it comes off as ignorant.
This would lead you into a paradox... if you don’t treat it like just hair it never will be... if you really want this to not be a problem you need to take the steps toward you own end goal
@@Willow-ej7sc how? Our hair is never been treated like "just hair" and if u think that its ignorant. Mainly because our hair is scrutinized and hated on from everyone, including our own ppl. And we as black women do try to treat our hair as "just hair" but still get hated on for that, so idk what ur saying.
@@LangkeeLongkee I didn't over simply anything, because it is that simple.
@@LangkeeLongkee oh my bad
@@paige2166 well, yea... that’s why I said a change would be required for it to be seen as such, I already see it that way but many others don’t, if you think this requires more nuance that’s fine
As a girl from Germany I am a bit shocked that it seems like we get educated about African American history better than the people in the US
The American Education System shocks me so often...
I mean... You could think that a country that is proud of its pluralism would let that show in the educational system as well :(
Same but in the UK I have a lot of black friends and I always hype them up about theirs braids and hairstyles
Schools obscure this part of our history partly out of shame and partly because educating us about the depth of own mistreatment would pose a threat to the status quo. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
That's because the United Daughters of the Confederacy got so powerful, they ended up being able to dictate what schools could teach their students.
Same, here in the Philippines we learn about African poetry and Black history
I hate when people said it's just hair, bc you dint have to grow up feeling like it was ugly, you didn't have to perm it at a very young age to feel pretty and be accepted.
Because it's just hair. This victim mentality is lame and you need to stop blaming everyone
@@angela8737 did you not watch the video-?
@@raverie1225 I watched it and there are so many holes in this video and TH-cam doesn't prove everything. Sounds like American education
@@angela8737 oh shut up
@@angela8737 your not Black so your opinion doens't matter yt privileged person
It is crazy to me how so many people are always quick to say ‘It’s Just Hair’ especially since it not only represents our culture but our history. And if it’s not just hair it’s just a trend something for people to adopt for the sake of fashion whilst black women are ridiculed for even participating in the quote on quote fashion trends we were the blueprint for.
I hate it.
Personally, it can be worn by any woman of any color but I hate how non-black women especially white women use it as nothing but a silly little trend or a hairstyle that they created (looking at you, Kim. K). If I see a non-Chinese person wearing a traditional Chinese dress, I will feel represented but if they started wearing it to be popular or trendy, then what's the point of wearing a traditional dress. The same applies to this situation. It is hair but it's more than that. If you wanna wear it, cool but credit who created it and make sure you fucking respect them.
But if someone tells them it's ok, they will be ALL ears. 🙄
If it truly was "just hair" then black women wouldn't be getting fired from their jobs or sent home from school literally because of their hair. They know it's a bigger deal but to excuse themselves from their mistakes and fucking racism then they cry "oh it's just hair"
@@adam.n-steve No, it cannot be worn by any woman of color. It's like you missed the entire point of this video.
Also, if you're Chinese (Asian) like you made it seem in your comment about feeling represented, you have *no* say in what someone can do with Black culture. Your opinion on absolutely anything that has to do with permitting the use of Black culture is irrelevant.
your editing skills are IMMACULATE
Truly, wondered why I didn't find you sooner
I aspire to have my editing chops be more like hers like omg 😍 so good. All her content is so good
Yesssss 🙌🏾 💯 agree
Definitely. I’m a new sub
something that just dawned on me as you talked about cutting slaves hair as punishment is that in Ghana (i'm Ghanaian), schools insist that young black girls cut their hair. meanwhile white or non-black students get to keep their hair.
Omg It was always a question in the back of my mind as to why the majority of young girls I saw had shaved heads. 😳 that’s very upsetting, damn.
@Pingo it’s absurd isn’t it? and the thing is, nobody truly understands the source of that rule, yet the public schools insist on following it
Yhhhh ik!! I’m Ghanaian too I don’t live there, but I realised that all my cousins in Ghana had to have their hair cut... when I asked why even they couldn’t tell me :(
@@UnfilteredMay im half ghanaian and i always thought that since hairstyles in Africa are often used as a status symbols, schools required girls to keep their hair short to minimize class divide and bullying based on wealth. Kinda like school uniforms. I don't know if that's even true or if it is, if it actually works. But I think that girls should be allowed to wear their hair however they want. Forcing them to all wear the same clothes and have the same hairstyle kinda eliminates individuality and self expression. It's super sad
You hit the nail right on the head
If I wear my afro one more time and someone asks me to “comb my hair” ,. Y’all best be ready to bail me out 😭😭😭😭
Because I’m tired 😭🥺
PLEASE I'll prepare the funds😭😭
@@cheesecake2048
Thank you
Afros are so beautiful 😭😭
i'll throw in but do also get pics. we need them for.... _emotional support_
Fr
smack them haters with the “at least my hair healthy”
I feel like everyone is OBSESSED with black women and our hair whether it be natural or not. It honestly seems as though we can’t win. We wear our natural hair ( especially if it’s not like the loose curls praised in the black community) we get criticized or if we wear weave we also get criticized. Just do what makes you happy with YOUR hair. And I do agree my hair is part of my identity, and I hate how other people always tell me how I should style it like bby I didn’t ask😒. I also have a story about my hair and how I grew to appreciate it and love it 😊.
in my fam they still call less coarse hair “good hair” and i hate that term sooooo badly. my sons hair isnt as coarse and family always saying oh they wish they had his hair, he got good hair, etc and mentally i’m over it. i dont even say anything to them abt it atp🤦🏾♀️
Thank you queen 😂💙
wtf america is so weird
i have looser curls and i think 4c is beautiful❤
No one is obsessed...just curious as to why you spend so much money on hair? I can't imagine spending that much money on my hair to get it done! Mind you, I can't imagine spending more than 30 bucks on a haircut...guess I am cheap. Also, why come in with your hair looking different constantly? A cut, sure, but I don't care what color your skin is...extensions and all that mess are just weird. Wear your hair the way you want and quit caring so much about others. I have quit caring about what others think and I am much happier...it comes with age btw. We all just end up old anyway so why worry about aesthetics and just work on what is on the inside.
Hair is such a beautiful thing, hair has so much history, especially black women's hair. It's insane to me how anyone could say it's "just hair", if it's "just hair" why do people get fired, bullied and harassed over it?
Personally as a black american I see it as just hair? Because yk it grows out my head I don't think much of it is that bad I'm not sure
@@celinas7197 Well this “hair” has history
@@chenmae9747 as everything
@@valehuber2232 Where did you come from? No duh everything has history, but was I talking about everything or do you need to reread my comment?
I believe that one day black people will be able to wear their hair as they wish, and maybe when it will happen, non-blacks will be able to wear culturally black hairstyle. It's not "just hair" until it's perceived as 'just hair" by your manager or teacher or politician.
If you terribly want dreadlocks somehow, put in the work. Defend black women, help them and act to make this world more welcoming of them. Fight for their rights and maybe just maybe one day it will be "just hair"
When I had box braids in elementary school, these girls called me horse hair too...
im so sorry :c
Black boys would also say this to me and other black girls in my school
And I used to get so angry
So I used to have short hair and sometimes I would wear weave one time when I wore it at school some guys called me she man
Now everybody wears them
@@monie948 Exactly
I dont understand how someone could say to a young girl that they would look more pretty if they did something different to themselves. Like that's pretty rude
yeah and they're literally just a kid... they have no clue until someone rudely points it out to them
Tbh this happens a lot, not just about hair. "Youd be so pretty if you lost weight" even if you're at a healthy weight is a common one.
This happens everywhere. Not trying to get people to look away from the racism. But I do want to point out nowadays or maybe its always been like this people think it's okay to just have an opinion and tell people it like they think its special or something.
I'm from Australia, specifically an area that is pure whiteness.
I have barely any exposure to anyone outside of my race and these videos are so enlightening.
I know it isn't your job to educate me but these give me a starting point to learn so much more.
Thank you
💗💗 thank you for learning I'm an American so perspective like these don't even come across my mind
@@loverrboyy2879 Yeah, our country is such a huge melting pot, yet for some reasons not everyone has come to accept that still.
i live in america but the area i live in is 91.1% white (literally that’s the official number) and i don’t get much exposure either so these videos are def very helpful
Wasn't Australia all Black before whites came and colonized it?? Btw, there is NOTHING "pure" about whiteness on the planet... they've done waaay too much to atone!
@@loverrboyy2879I’m from a small country in Central Europe (I grew up being part of the majority culture in an environment where the “wrong kind of white” could elicit racial abuse and even governmental discrimination, to give a little context).
I also watch these videos. They are educational, offer me glimpses into different cultures and experiences. And maybe they will help me examine my own preconceived notions and how I interact with the world.
They say it’s “just hair“ but then they discriminate black woman because of the hair. Why do you discriminate them if it’s “just hair“???
Thankyou
my braincells are only 2 cm can i still participate 😭🤚
I’ll make an exception 😤
@@Shanspeare XD
One time a white drag queen in a purple paper wig told me my fro was "crazy." Dead ass.
word? people...
The audacity
The caucasity
Yare Yare Daze
Purple paper wig???🤨
I'm indigenous Hispanic/Latino, so I don't know black women's struggles entirely, but I remember I would constantly get comments about how my hair was "damaged" or how it looked like I hadn't brushed it. I remember crying in my room over it, because my hair was not like a white woman's, and I wanted straight shiny hair. I can't imagine what it's like for black women, but in my own experience I know it's hard dealing with comments like that.
I can relate
@@mariedit9935 ??? Yalls hair is the closest to theirs ???
@@yeeyeejuice5747 what?...
@@nevadaite Hispanic people hair is literally if not almost the same as in their hair is the beauty standard...so how is it not like white woman's it totally is
@@yeeyeejuice5747 Not really. Being latino doesn't mean any thing about how you look, its not a race. For example I have very very curly hair, like, not like the ones in shampoos commercials, similar at some point in the videos, specially in the front, in the back is more easy to deal. Always people asked me why I don't treat it well or like that. I still don't feel confident about it
The “it’s just hair” sentiment is so disregarding and invalid in every sense. Both black women and men in modern society have to deal with strange comments and treatment chock full of racist rhetoric that continues to stigmatize their mere existence. Whether it be that their natural hair is “unprofessional”-and when wigs are worn, they’re made fun of for a number of reasons I’m too tired to even unpack. To THIS day I have to convince my mom that her 4b hair is beautiful and that relaxing it is only doing her damage, yet she thinks it’s “nappy” and undesirable, and this sort of attitude is absolutely a result of the racist beauty standards and lack of respect that surrounds the black body (in this case, hair) perpetuated in America. But yea, “it’s just hair”: says every uneducated, apathetic lunatic.
i hate when people ask to touch my hair and when I tell them “no” they get offended
like what? 🤦🏽♀️
One of my hair stories that still grinds my gears: We were doing a musical production in school and the musical was very black vs white and certain characters were written to be sterotypcially black. My teacher casted no black leads and replaced them all with Asians (which isnt their fault but my teachers) I had to play s person who existed in both the black and white spaces and I was told by my white teacher that "She didn't think a black girl going to a pwi would wear their natural hair," despite the fact that in real life I am a black girl at a pwi who wears their natural hair.
Even though my character was a background character I still had to get my hair shoved into straight ponytails to "fit the character," while the Asian girls got to wear black cultural hairstyles and lay their edges and wear big hoops etc.. what really hurt was watching the bulk of them call the hairstyles ghetto amongst other things...and during this production this wasn't even the worst thing that my teacher had done to the black people in the cast this was just the tip of the iceberg
🤢🤮 how does your teacher even still have their job ???!?🗣👏🏼
omg as a black girl who did theatre in a white neighborhood i felt this so deep, it almost made me cry I'm so sorry
Ugh this reminds me of how a high school near mine where the students were all wealthy white kids put on a production of West Side Story. High school theatre directors can be the worst.
Your teacher needs to get fired like for real I don’t play around with that b.s she’s a racist and I’m not here for it
I really hate almost every school project that has black people involved in it. It always endup in pure racism. Like in my school it was black people's day, the day where slavery ""ended"" in my country. For that they put a white girl to be the main topic, she was supposed to be Princess Isabell while all the others students were slavery. The problem is, it did not showed all the slevery fight, black and poc fight to make Isabell assign it, they just made her as a complete white savior, like if she was an angel that came to help black people, like if black people did nothing SHE freed them. When actually, she took YEARS to assign the end of slavery, my country was the LAST to end slavery and EVEN SO it continued, it did not had the same amount of cruelty but it continued. And not even gonna talk about the way they represent egypcians...
Ironically, the most memorable comment I got on my hair was from an older black lady. I showed up to work with my natural hair for the first time and everybody else was cool with it but her.
“I liked it better straight. It was more professional 😒” Granted, she was an old bat so I shouldn’t have expected much from her
It's possibly jealousy. I had an older black woman at my job years ago tell me that if she had her hair in braids like mine was at the time she wouldn't be taken seriously or professionally at work. Hers wasn't a mean comment but it made me see things from her perspective.
Internalized anti blackness is rampant
We are our own worst enemies at times
I get that from older generation black women too. My kids and I wear braids and twists. The comments are always about getting blow outs or straighten out hair. My daughter lives her curls. I like braids.
It's unfortunate but many of the elders in our community grew up embracing self hate that said straight hair is good and professional and natural is not. The so called "good hair" vs. "bad hair" narrative.
as a chinese, i can relate to your relationship with your hair to a certain extent. I remember feeling too asian because I have black hair and finding so many ways to make my hair brown. Now years later, I chopped off my hair because it aligns with my gender expression.
I love that for you. Keep finding ways to be yourself!!! Because you!!! Deserve!!! It!!!!
I'm so sorry you felt like this. I've always felt jealous of people with smooth black hair and considered dyeing my brown hair black
@@Shanspeare thank you love that for u too!
I'm sorry I just don't feel like this is the same ma because its not no one is checking for asian womens hair the way you felt was on you the way we felt was from other people constantly intervening in our culture to assert their privilege and dominance over people they once had in their talons
@@yeeyeejuice5747 they said to an extent, and its also jus their personal experience so
Something that upsets me is the harmful associations that people make with black hair when they appropriate the culture. I listen to kpop and theres alot of appropriation and racism in that industry. What gets me is that most of the waring of braids or locks or durags is done using their rappers ... We all know why. But whether or not it is a rapper wearing the styles they often talk about how the style was used to make them look tough. Cornrows are a style that little kids wear because its an easy way to take care of really coily hair. Stylists take those styles and put it on kpop stars so that they look ...idk if the word is threatening. Then kids and ignorant people watch their kpop faves talk about how they needed braids for a tough guy asthetic and so the cycle of associating blackness with violence and danger continues. Its something that I didn't fully process untill this year.
not at how jessi ripped of a black female artist for drip mv and snubbed her on ig when she confronted her about it
O damn that is a good point
So Ive beeen listening to Korean music for ten years and been hanging out with black ppl for 30 years. I dont really understand why Kpop fans are ok with black rappers rocking canerow and dreada but take issue when Asian rappers do it. I find Kpop fans to be some of the most racist ppl Ive ever met and its ironic considering theyre listening to Asian music. Why do ppl listen to Kpop music and then discriminate and be racist to Koreans? Just sad.
@@army4chair345which artist did she rip off? The production? If she did the artiat can sue otherwise it is likely just inspired like most music and art is inspired.
@@DarkAngel2512becuz when you're using a culture as an aesthetic, then it is deemed as cultural appropriation/cultural colonisation. u wouldn't understand if you dont do your research
I remember growing up and being told by a guy I was interested in “why don’t you wear your hair like normal girls?” I was saddened so much by it...and confused...I used to always wear my hair in braided ponytails with the ballies and barrettes then changed to styling my hair into tight buns when I got older because I didn’t know how to style my natural curly hair. I also think people confused me so much with being white that they didn’t understand that my hair was different from theirs. I used to hate wearing my hair in the braided ponytails because sometimes my classmates would make fun of my hair saying it looked like dookie because my hair is dark brown. I’m still afraid to wear an Afro in public..and feel anxious when wearing braided protective hairstyles because I don’t want ppl to think I’m a white person doing cultural appropriation when in reality I’m black but have a light complexion.
I was told by a guy that I liked, "I would definitely date you if you weren't black." The worst part about this was that HE was also black. Darker than me, even.
@@radioactive_baby I’m so sorry you had to go through that people can be idiots, and how is he going to say that when he’s black too and darker than you, some guys are unbelievable
@@tysheriadorsey9934 it's called self hatred, low self esteem, insecurity, etc, etc.
@@exhalencee I don't feel any of these things only a little anxious at times but that's about it.
@@tysheriadorsey9934 i wasn't talking about you. i was replying to a comment about black boys who hate darker skinned black women, even when they are darker skinned themselves
7:50 damn I had no idea. Totally makes sense. Especially if braiding patterns were used as maps to freedom. I can see slave owners shaving hair to limit resources. Reminds me of how slave owners would make a show out of drowning slaves to deter others from learning how to swim so they couldn't use swimming to escape either. Wild. Absolutely bonkers.
Not to mention that slave traders would shave their heads so they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other. Hairstyles sometimes showed whether they were married, how many kids they had, and more importantly which tribe they came from. It's quite sad how far the rabbit hole goes.
@@adamisgreatfightme it’s so sad that they were treated so badly and so cruelly. And yet people still deny that any of that affects black people today ☹️. Even though that trauma is carried throughout the generations
😔
smh ppl are sick
As a non-American black person, this is so sad. No one should be discriminated against because of the way they wear their hair. Every black girl has a story with her hair, but the experiences around different backgrounds and cultures do change and influence your relationship with your hair.
I was never teased about my hair, the only moment I had issues about it (other than learning how to style it) was when I was wearing bright blue box braids which were not allowed in my school, and the problem was the color, not the braids. Granted I did go to a private school, but a friend of mine told me that she was bullied for her hair and she was told every day that she had “coconut hair” but she went to public school.
I don’t exactly believe every time someone takes part in a cultural thing is cultural appropriation, as long as they are not mocking it I don’t see any issue with it. The person who taught me how to braid my hair was a white person, and without her, I wouldn’t have learned so much about my hair at the time. More people adopting a way of doing things normalizes it, and in my eyes, as long as they are doing it in a respectful way, it’s heartwarming whenever I see other people think my culture is considered beautiful and partaking in it.
I learned to see it as “just hair” because no one ever gave me a reason to think otherwise. Hopefully soon our hair can be seen as something “normal” and not as a reason to be fired, bullied, or harassed.
Wonderfully worded. Afro-Latina trinbagonian sister here and I completely agree.
This is very well worded. I'm a girl who is born and raised in West-Europe, and I am from African descent. I had a similar experience as you. I completely agree with your comment.
I agree 100%. I am a Caribbean American who grew up in a diverse city, and my hair was always appreciated. My views now are similar to yours.
If it's any comfort to us, it really doesn't matter. We will always be criticized for something whether it is our hair or anything else. If not our hair, it will always be something else they will find to point out. The Most High made us different and unique. Even the Messiah we have hair of wool like his.
I feel like a learn a lot about the Black American experience from your videos! I definitely had a very complicated relationship with my 3C/4A hair as a Japanese-Jamaican kid brought up in London. Thankfully now at 23,I am finally learning to fully appreciate how it grows out of my head
I love that 🥺 thank you! 💜
As you should 😌
As a black person who is AFAB i really felt that. I remember one day being at school and staying the whole day with a hood, it was really hot in that day but I did not wanted people to see my hair, I remember that there was one person who worked at my school and asked me why I was with that hood. I telled her the reason and she said "Girl your hair is BEAUTIFULL. And NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let anyone tell you otherwise." I just started crying so hard since than i started using more my natural hair without hiding it, started to be a bit more comfortable to use my hair down (altought that I only used it one day at my school), and after all that time I only straightned my hair once because my mom was willing to do so (she frequently makes fun of my hair and others hair and also make fun of black features and fat people even tho she is and has both of those.)
What's AFAB?
@@squidwardtentacles7144 assigned female at birth
your mom is wrong for that!
Typical black mom who has some internalized hatred for herself,taking it out on others. It’s really sad. I’ve heard a lot of sores of moms being disrespectful to their daughters and their own crowns in that regard and it’s heartbreaking...
Why not just say youre a black man instead of saying AFAB?
People don’t understand why I’m so passionate about my hair or natural hair, they just think it’s stupid because they don’t understand since they grew up with white hair.
I was bald from 3rd grade till 6th grade because my family said that my hair was unmanageable and thru out those years I was called ugly and I looked more like a boy, it really messed up my self-esteem, then 7th grade I started relaxing my hair and I was told it looked dirty I should cut it off and the when I did, I was told I looked better with hair. Now I just keep it in braids or wigs, because I’m afraid of showing my natural hair and get criticised.
Someone always has something to say about a black girl’s hair and it always negative, we’re tired.
I just hugged you. I can relate. I once got joked at a black hair salon when I went for a perm and the beautian lined up 5 large jars of perm and a broom and announced to the salon that's what she needed to do my hair. I stopped going and have been in braids for 20 years and yes, I do my own hair.
BTW, I see your profile pic and you're very pretty. I like your eyes. Stay strong, Queen 👑. From an old lady living in southern arizona.
I hope you just ignore opinions. People are casually cruel and can't mind their own damn business. My sister is similar... she's slowly learning to love her own hair, but still prefers her wigs. Our hair is lovely. I look at old pictures of African Americans and their hair and they did wonderful styles. We can do the same.
@@opaluni I was looking at a group of soldiers at my job and I saw the young black females sporting twists, locs, fro, braids. I was so proud! Then I remember the echoes of the generation before me that would call it beadybeads and nappy. They looked at natural in confusion, saying "why would you do that to your hair?". We just have to push past them and stay healthy and hold on to our uniqueness.
Your hair is beautiful
Youre so pretty in your pfp
The fact that this video had to be made is just sad. People really need to buy some more brain cells from Lowes.
Sometimes TH-cam recommends the best channels and this is one of those days
Same new subscriber here 👋🏾
YES!!
I definitely got shamed and bullied for wearing weave. In sixth grade other kids would pull off my fake ponytail and toss it around like a ball. I also got bullied for having a relaxer, which broke my hair off. It was such a pain.
@Ash Hegde Stop replying with these useless comments. You're not adding anything
Honestly, as a white boy from Uruguay, living in a city where you literally can't see people darker than an almond, I have seen many people, mostly woman, appropriating black hairstyles, and I just wanted to thank you so much for opening my mind and informing me about what is behind these recent trends.
In UK its not recent. We have so many black people in London near where I live that its normal to see anyone of any race with their hair in dreads or canerow.
I always get mesmerized by how much blackness as an experience intertwines no matter where we’re from. I get that you’re coming from the perspective of an black american but I myself am african and I can tell you I too have gone through the phases of being in elementary school and getting home every day to ask my mum why my hair wasn’t as curly as so and so (since here ppl are mainly black and I happened to be in a class where 99,9% where either mixed or lightskin). Then by middle school i got my first perm and had damaged chemically treated hair. Just before high school I found out abt the natural hair movement and decided to go natural, where I struggled to accept my 4c texture bc it ‘didn’t achieve the curls I was being sold’. Now I’m fully able to understand how my hair is a huge piece of who I am and how I stand as a person too, so yeah: it’s never “just hair”. Amazing essay!!!
same. and i’m british
@@kianaw.8096 You can say British white, bc there’s Asian British, black British etc
This video is just wow... the amount of hate I got on my video about the hypersexualization of black women made me not wanna make any more videos about how black women are treated and this video reminded me how much we need videos like this! keep up with the amazing content :)
I’m mostly African American (my dad is half Iraqi) and we were talking about job discrimination concerning ethnic hair, and my dad straight up said “of course I would think poorly of a woman with weave if I was hiring! It’s not clean and nice. An interviewee should come in with a sleek bun or something, it’s more professional.” I can get that if you’re coming in with a neon green wig to a job interview where they don’t usually accept brightly colored hair, but just like plain black braids? Give me a break.
Tbh my dad has some other internalized racism stuff going on, so this wasn’t too surprising.
hii! im asian, and you've helped educate me so much on black women overall. thank you so much
*i clicked so fast because i wanna hear about others’ perspective since i voluntarily shaved off my hair*
Issa Rae on insecure made me so happy to see hair representation in media. I love that black women have versality in our hairstyles like wigs, weave, braids, locks etc but I rarely see our natural afro hair in the media but the range of hairstyles throughout the 4 seasons of insecure and seeing Issa's twa grow was so amazing to me. We need more of that in media and social media.
if its just hair stop trying to control how i wear it thanks 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆 and my mom contributed to this to. somehow braids were okay but letting it lose was a big no. i didnt start wearing it out till i was an adult
commented this in p much the first five seconds but loved this video
The trauma I have from my curly type 4 black hair just makes me cry anytime I think too deep or try to talk about it. To all my Black Queens, Kings And Royals in between our hair and the diversity of it is BEAUTIFUL and just beyond magical, dear to say even divine, no matter how hat they say just know that and try to remember that, I do 💜
As a mixed race person I can relate I remember going to school as a little girl and returning back home in tears and my mother and sister popped off at the school
First of all, i would like to say that I love how u structured the video. Second of all, I completely agree us history doesn't dive deep enough into the issues of salvery. Also, In terms of cultural appropriation, i wish people would step back before giving their opionion and actually take time to educate themselves. One of the main reasons people don't see the connections to what happened historically comes down to the lack of education on these subjects from the general public and schools education. That's also the reason why i liked how u structured this video😊
idk if it helps but my school definitely went over slavery and the oppression of black people up until modern times. In my APUSH class we went over Jim Crow laws, brown v board of education, tulsa, black disenfranchisement, the Little Rock nine and told us the Civil War was about slavery. So there is hope!
It's always funny to me when non-black people wear our hairstyles and then claim they are "appreciating the culture" and then say "its just hair" in the same sentence?
Like how are you going to claim cultural appreciation then completely strip the hairstyle from its culture because it doesn't fit your narrative?
im genuinely curious here, are there circumstances where “appreciating the culture” is a valid reason? im mestizo and personally would like to see more native (south) american culture in media and such, but could totally imagine how frustrating it would be to see it mistreated or misrepresented. i think a lot of peoples “its just hair” arguments are gut reaction to a misunderstanding due to lack of experience- the idea that nobody under *any* circumstances should ever wear a durag for ex because of race *feels* inherently wrong to somebody who doesnt have the experience of negative racial implications. it feels like a lot of people, blatantly or not, miss the reason why these things can be harmful when theyre treated like accessories and nothing else
Hello ,as long as non black people acknowledge the roots of the hairstyle , is it okay for them to wear the hairstyle? Is wearing one simply considered appropriation I'm asking because recently a kpop idol whose song was recently released recently apologized for wearing a certain kind of braids for cultural appropriation in her music video, when can someone wear them and when can they not?
This is actually the first time I've had a head full of natural hair. I'm 23.
As a latina who has a few black ancestors I have curly hair and I would constantly straighten it to make it wavy at the salon. Right now I'm embracing my curls but I guess they seem to be a bit porous because of how frizzy they can get? My hair would fall off a lot between showers, so I guess constantly exposing it to heat in order to straighten/curl it at the salon damaged it.
15:55 made me look up from doing my nails “they can try on blackness at no expense” this is so true - everything in this video was.
Wow, this was so powerful. Another masterpiece. 💞
Discovered you today and discovered my obsession with your makeup skills at the same time
Yess tell’m bestie 🔥😍 amazing documentary. I’ve never this much information about our history of our hair
Period bestie !
I noticed that as a light skinned woman, my thick, type 4 hair was praised as opposed to my darker skinned counterparts. I eventually began to hate my hair as I noticed that many other light skinned women around me had much silkier, looser curls.
Update: I now have locs 💗
I’m a type 4 (b &a) LSBW (2 Blk parents) too. I quit relaxing my hair a long time ago.
I don’t do much with it though. Not into time-consuming hair routines. I felt the same way when I was relaxed. Spend as little time as possible.
Right now, my hair is a mess and I’m going to go to the barber 💈 and get it cut down into a fade of something.
same, i have long 4c hair and a lot of people praise it but somehow can’t fathom the idea of dark skinned black people with the same hair.
as a black girl my self people would always like it or hate it.And I just want people to understand that it's our culture not a "style" or say my natural hair Is fake and/or a "weave" which in the end is so wrong with others try to seem nice but it comes out wrong or seem mean it's ok to say its beautiful but use it and say that it's not a style it's the history that comes with it.
As a white girl with curly hair I was bullied for years for it and many other things. I was called a poodle, people would touch my hair all the time and my mom or the hairdresser didn't know what to do with it so they just brushed it out. I reached a point where I was afraid of school breaks because of this bullying. Teachers told me to hide my hair because it was too distracting and people couldn't see the blackboard even though I was already in the back of the class and I was wearing glasses. I ended up embracing ny hair and getting rid of the bullying in highschool happily. But all this traumatic experience is uncomparable to what black women went and sadly still go through. They deserve all the support and appreciation for going through all this and many other forms of oppression. And more than that people need to understand why their gorgeous hair is part of their culture!
I'm so sorry, your hair looks beautiful😌
Why are you coming and share your experience here ?
@@queennzinga5988 because even if I had a bad experience it still is much better than a black person's experience and it also doesn't give me any right to wear box braids, dreads etc. I want people to understand that, especially when many defend Kim K for wearing those haorstyles.
stay strong girl, there are some horrible people who feel jealous or attacked by someone's hair i do hope your better now
@@mochitea5638 yess thank youu! I love my hair now and all types of curls. I hope everyone learns to embrace their unique beauty and love themselves for who they are!
This video was actually amazing and informative. I got to see another perspective as to why black hair is so important. Thanks for educating me
I’m gonna share some of my thoughts (I’m a white minor and has always lived in a small town.) in my life I haven’t thought anything about black hair other than it’s hair. It never even crossed my mind that hair like that was “unprofessional” or “ugly” it really made me think because I never thought anything less of African American hair. I remember the first time I saw a girl in box braids I thought wow her hair is so pretty. it’s so weird to me to think about how others thought bad things about natural hair. My mother raised me well I guess, She’s always taught me from a young age to accept others and be kind. Now that I’m older and I try to educate myself on topics like this it still surprises me how you could judge someone’s HAIR like that. sorry if this sounds like I’m trying to be a white knight or something I wanted to share my thoughts growing up. Anyways, the judgement on poc over hair etc is sad because it’s your culture/ the way you were literally born.
I feel the same way & agree with everything you said.
(Well, except that I don't think white people should feel like they need to apologize for having an opinion or wanting to be part of a conversation - but I get why you said that. I'm also white, but from a fairly large city.) It sounds like you have a great mom!
There were students with natural African American hair at my school when I was growing up, so it looks normal to me, and I agree that box braids are really pretty.
as a brown pacific islander- i feel very validated yet sad that i relate to a lot of your experiences. i don’t have particularly kinky hair, but my hair is a mix of 2c and 3a. i used to not know how to take care of my hair- and i lived in white oregon so NOBODY really did- so my hair was always either frizzy or poofy. i damaged my hair by straightening it, but i kept doing it because i subconsciously confirmed to eurocentric features. people have bullied me on my hair, and people have talked about how wild and weird it looks. i’ve been laughed at for it, but even though i’ve always ignored it- that all came crashing down on my in middle school and the societal treatment i got quite literally altered the view i had of myself. i’m sad to say that i also relate to how european influence and colonization has lead to cultural discrimination, and not only that- but death, torture, rape, and slavery. i HATE how most of my island’s history has been erased due to colonization. i HATE how eurocentric beauty standards still effect our island nation, despite the fact that only 2-3% of our population is white. people are becoming more aware, but it’s still hard. i find solace in the comfort of being able to relate to this, but i hope that we as a society find a solution to this treatment. we’re not victims of mistreatment, but survivors amidst adversity from a not-so-inclusive society.
Thank you so much! I’m a white European and I knew that hair was important for black woman but didn’t understand why. Now I feel like I’m closer to understanding this, THANK YOU A LOT ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself, if only more people were like you
i'm really happy you made this video! When I was little I hated my curly hair and didn't know how to take care of it. Now I love my hair!!
I never got bullied about my hair, but I was always insecure of it. I’ve always kept it natural, taken care of it, wear it in tons of styles and people would say its beautiful but I didn’t feel beautiful. One day there was this white boy in my class who would always stare at me and it kind of made me uncomfortable because I don’t like being stared at to a extent. And he came up to me and asked me about my hair and how do I change it every so months. He seemed so curious and happy about it when I told him. The next day I remember him coming up to me again, ranting about what he watched on youtube about it and he said he loves my hair/culture alot and that he finds it beautiful on me. That made me feel so much better to this day.🤍
thats kind of sad 😥
@@terejosh13 why?
I had this exact experience with my close friend he kept pointing out how cool my braids and different natural styles were and always wanted to watch me do my hair. I was so taken aback because of all the negativity I had gotten (having short “bad” hair and being called a boy all the time). It really does hit different
Sis, share your wattpad experiences with me, also I need some hair ideas you look beautiful in pfp
He probably wanted some of that kuch
Finding your channel is a breath of fresh air. As a history major this was amazing. As a first generation Mexican-American, this was eye opening in so many ways. Thank you♥️
Hi
being mexican, i understand the relationship you have with your hair i’ve been straightening my hair everyday for three years bc I hate that my hair is so wavy/curly and i wish i would have confidence in my natural hair but when you see white girls having perfect straight hair it’s so hard to feel like i’m not being judged.
THIS DOES NOT COMPARE THIS IS A CONVERSATION FOR BLACK WOMEN AND FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND
@@yeeyeejuice5747 ??? they're just sharing their own experience. people understand issues better if they can find something to relate to
@@yoshita4140 nah bullshit. this over inclusiveness is how black women get silenced in the first place
@@yeeyeejuice5747 thank you!
Start off by not putting white girls above u . Their hair being straight doesn’t make it perfect or better than yours.
In APUSH rn and I just think you should know that we learn much more about that history than before. It’s so great to be learning more about this stuff and I hope they only teach more from here. Incredible video ❤️
I’m so happy TH-cam put this in my recommended, I always hated it when people used to touch my hair or say “you should straighten your hair, I think it would nice on you”. That has been happening since I started school, so thank for making this video!
Your storytelling is amazing! ✨🌈 I love the creativity of the video and how informative/educational it is.
Wow... Amazing! I love the poem at the beginning and end of the video. It was a beautiful way to finish the video. This was very educational, enlightening and thought provoking. Thank you for making this!
Thank you for being here and sharing ur vulnerability with us ಥ‿ಥ ur a genius
I know this is a serious issue but the Shakespeare reading took me out
I was bullied for my hair. Yall are NOT gonna just say "its just hair"
👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Always love your videos! I'm excited to learn more about hair
It's never just hair...😔😔
i’ve always struggled with my hair :( i have naturally ginger/red hair so as a black girl i felt like i always stood out from everyone and i hated it. then on top of that i started straightening my hair twice or three times a month because all the girls on tv (specifically the black girls) had straight hair. this got to the point where my hair was thin and constantly needed to be brushed or it wouldn’t look right. luckily, in 2019 i became interested in going natural and have since grown such an appreciation for my curls! i’ve been heat and dye (i used to semi-dye to make my hair darker) free for almost two years now and can finally see my 4b strands, i’m so happy!
I am a latina with curly hair, and it is so interesting how although the video is about black people’s hair, I am still able to relate to it and also to the comments. I feel like this is an issue that is also present in Latin America.
I feel like anyone who doesn’t have bone straight hair, has some sort of story. But a black girl with super kinky hair guaranteed has something she went through with her hair
It's due to colorism and antiblackness which is world wide due to colonialism, the justification for race based chattel slavery, imperialism. Colorism being that the "closer to whiteness" one is physically, they are better. E.g. wanting straighter hair, paler skin.
I was waiting for you to bring up how most hair companies for black hair and wigs are owned by the asian and white community
Imagine telling a Muslim woman that she's not allowed to wear her hijab to school, that would be an outrage because it is part of their culture. It should be exactly the same for black women and braids ITS LITERALLY THEIR CULTURE, but because white people have now decided after telling black women for hundreds of years that their braids are ugly they now think its cute and trendy whilst still not recognising black culture whilst doing so ( i.e. Kim K's "Boxer braids"). So now officials (schools, employers etc.) are deeming braids on black women "unprofessional"
"Imagine telling a Muslim woman that she's not allowed to wear her hijab to school, " They did that in France :S
@@punkykenickie2408 DID THEY REALLY WTF!!!
Stop the world I wanna get off I hate it here.
@@accountforthepc373 it’s actually happening in a few countries, some places like Quebec refuse Muslims from certain jobs cuz of it. I just wanted to say hijab isn’t culture but religious. But I get ur point
I'm bi-racial and I'm from dominican republic and here we see natural hair like "bad hair" so k my mother used to straight it everyday and i was so ashamed to go out with my hair not straighten, i hated having curly hair and a year ago i started take care of my curls even when my mother and my dad told me i was ugly, the school teachers told me i should brush it even when we know what happens if you brush curly hair and i had to live with the shame and now i love my hair.
im white but have two black little sisters and can i just say it is SOOO hard to do their hair like yall are so talented. it takes my mom and i hours just to do cornrows. luckily neither of my sisters have heard anything negative (or rlly anything at all) abt their hair from peers, but one my sisters have said they wish they had my hair (thin and wavy) which broke my heart bc i think her 4c hair is beautiful
tell them what you think about their hair. let them know you think their hair is beautiful. they look up to u as a big sister and take what you say to heart
It’s really not hard
The most freeing moment in my journey with my hair was shaving my relaxed hair off. For once I wasn't tryna imitate nobody. Ive had a much healthier relationship with myself as a black person ever since I let go of that hair and found more people like me. Surrounding myself with black emo kids was a good choice lol.
Same💆🏽♀️
so me too!!!! i felt free and it definitely made me embrace not only my hair but my blackness more.
My hair has been through its own adventures. It's been braided, fried, dyed, relaxed, curled, and so on. There was a time when my cousin relaxed my hair with a lye perm and I had a huge bald spot in my 20's. Luckily it grew out. There was also a time when the medication I was taking a couple years back was making my hair fall out. Now it grows back stronger. Now my hair is natural and I appreciate it more.
It’s really unfortunate that these styles are only being recognized now. They were always beautiful and should’ve been just as desirable back then. 🥺
I'm so glad this came up in my recommendations. I really want to be a hairdresser after I graduate, but I'm so worried about working with different hair types as a white woman. I can't even imagine messing up a black woman's hair knowing how long it took them to grow it and feel comfortable enough to come into a salon and have a white women give them a trim. I truly do appreciate this perspective, and I'm going to educate myself the best I can. :)
@Tori depends on the hair, mine is 4a/4b, so just condition it, comb from ends to roots in sections, detangle before washing and style accordingly
I do not understand how you're so underappreciated! Your editing is impeccable and the content is so informative! As a white female I've learned so much and started being aware of so so many issues going on! Thank you so so much
When I was in middle school, my mom cut my hair, and I was bald and ashamed, I used to hide in the bathrooms or hide my face in the hood because people were doing fun with me, it was a terrible moment of my life...I used to hate myself, just because some non-black people were being rude to me... and then 1 year and a half after cutting my hair, I started styling myself with just box braids... I was not letting my hair breathe, I was addicted to boxing braids, because it made me feel more pretty, until today I can not use my natural hair because I am still ashamed due to the bullying I suffered in the past... so is not just hair there is a lot of story behind that
I remember two instances where the "its just hair" arguement got brought up
First instance: animal crossing having a black hair styles update, someone (who was white) wore the puffs and called them space buns,causing an uproar on ✨Twitter✨, people were saying "it's just hair,it's not a big deal"(both white and black people) or "then black girls cant wear blonde wings cause that white culture" OR "you dont own a hairstyle" "Vikings wore braids"
Second instance: saw a tiktok bout locs, same argument "its just hair" "Vikings wore locs" not knowing about rastafarianism, which is just.. ignorant
I stepped in for the first instance,while the second I just rolled my eyes and scrolled, it's just so upsetting to see these people use that argue and makes me wanna 🤜👱♀️
The writing, delivery, and editing of this video is just... *chef's kiss* 💜
the problem is discrimination at the workplace, as long as is secured and functional for the job then no one should tell u shit about your hair
Thank you so much for this. People are so quick to say, "its just hair, I can do whatever I want".
just because you dont care about the cultural significance, doesnt mean you can diminish MY worth and value in MY black hair. Just because you're uneducated, you dont get to diminish MY history so that you can wear the style as a trend for a few days...Dont get me started on "Allies" that think that they're "appreciating" the styles, it was never theirs to reclaim.
“i like your weave” is actually a micro aggression because u can just say “hair”...
THIS
But it isnt your hair if its your weave. That isnt racism. Intent matters.
It's funny that this popped up in my feed. I'm about to take out my faux locs (had them in for four weeks) and re-do my hair today. Haven't decided on a style yet.
Lord, 🤦🏽♀️we go through so much trauma when it comes to beauty standards. I'm so glad we are educating ourselves because knowledge is power ✊🏾