African American
Related: About this forumFor Quayblue and her beautiful hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Back in the 60's (the stone age) when I was in high school, all of my Black friends either had gorgeous Afros or those beautiful tiny braids that lay close to the head. Sometimes they had pretty beads all entwined in those braids and I was so jealous. I wanted braids like that done to my hair so bad that I begged my old fashioned dad to let me have it done. Now, dad didn't believe that his girls should do anything to their hair like coloring, frosting or cutting too much so of course he said flat NO. He said if I wanted to braid my hair, just braid it down the back and leave it alone. The years go by and I forget all about wanting to have those braids until just a couple of weeks ago. I take this old 65 year old body to the beauty shop and I ask the stylist if she can do it. Sure, she says, but I usually charge about $150.00 for doing it. Okay I say. That's a little steep but I figure it will last a long time. How long does it take I ask. It usually takes me about 6 hours to do the job right. I look at her like she is from another planet and say "as you shitting me?" My lower back jumped three feet into the air, twisted up in knots and I hadn't even sat in the chair yet. I paid her 20 bucks for a wash and a trim instead. The moral to this tale is be proud of your beautiful hair. There are a bunch of us old white women who swap your naturally curvy wavy hair for our own any day of the week.
Warpy
(111,122 posts)with a friend who had a beautiful close cropped natural cut. We always want what we don't have, I guess. Then she explained bed head to me and I realized that what we want has just as many liabilities as what we have.
chillfactor
(7,572 posts)I am white, 74 years old, so natural curly hair is easy to take care of....one thing though...natural curly hair sometimes does what it wants to do and not what I want it to do
athena
(4,187 posts)is that every time you get a haircut, you risk disaster. I'd been going to the same person for six years, and she destroyed my hair three weeks ago. She put in way more layers than my hair can handle. I hate it. I'm guessing it'll take about six months to undo the damage.
Also, not all curly hair is the same. Black hair is very different from white curly hair and needs much more care.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)take a trip to the Bahamas or any of the Caribbean Islands and stroll out onto any beach ... you can get your braids (with braids) and a Rum Punch for less than $20.00!
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)That means I would have to update my passport then pay for a trip to the Bahamas.
wildeyed
(11,243 posts)so I could make my limp, stick-straight hair fluffy and kinky. We all want what we don't have.
I really enjoyed Quayblue's thread too. Rember that time they made black women's hair against military regulations? That was some next-level bullshit. Hair is such a personal thing, but also political. The thread was so good because it married both sides of that coin really well.
Jessica Williams explains Operation Black Hair.
Quayblue
(1,045 posts)I really appreciate where you're coming from. And you are one of the posters whose posts who I definitely love reading. Thank you for the encouragement, from the bottom of my heart.
I get what you're saying....but I still feel a bit uncomfortable about it as a black woman... and I have to think about it and put it into words...
I'm not angry at all, just thoughtful. I will be back....
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)A good stylist is a pearl beyond price, yet mine just messed me up (a little).
I love the look of braids, but if I could not seriously scrub my scalp every morning it would drive me nuts.
My ideal would be if I looked good enough with very short hair, whether curly, wavy, or straight. I settle for medium and wavy because it is what it is. At least I don't have to mess with it much.
Quayblue
(1,045 posts)Black tried to fit in. We tried... it didn't work. And it never would have. Straightening it still wouldn't make perceptions of us any different. Personally and in the past, I would feel good in the moment after it's done, but then what?
And now, the hair movement is not about trying to fit, but being unapologetically Black. Acceptance of Blackness. Moving forward. Forcing forwardness because there is no choice. Otherwise our children our stuck in the same-ass cycle.
It really is that deep.
I wish it weren't.
In the same breath, I would braid and bead your hair. Because sometimes we got to sit still and talk with each other.
Peace.
cyberpunk
(78 posts)Being six years old(prior to my sainted mother taking a pair of what I can only assume were hedge clippers to my mane) and having my mom, or aunt, or cousin braiding my hair while we watched music videos. Whether MTV, BET, or VH1 depended on the time of day, but the air always smelled like cocoa butter and leave-in conditioner. Weird, those two smells whether alone or commingled never fail to remind me of home.