When I was in Army basic training, our drill sergeants would always harass the Black females about our hair. (only us, of course) Mind you, the longest haired one out of the five of us had shoulder length hair. But whenever the drill sergeants would see one of us touch our hair, or when we were in the PX getting hygiene and hair items, they would always say something about "horse hair"- referring to hair extensions.
"Don't you go trying to sneak some of that horse hair into your head"
"Oh, are you fixing your weave? Your horse hair about to fall out? I don't know who you're trying to look pretty for."
The thing is
1. NONE of us had hair extensions.
2. NONE of us even had long hair - like I said, the longest hair was shoulder length.
3. My hair was in AFRO form. I wore cornrows and twists because it wasn't long enough to make a neat afro puff in the back of my head. So, seriously, if I'm going to wear hair extensions in basic training, where the most convenient style that conforms to Army regulations would be a bun...don't you think I'd get longer extensions so I wouldn't have to braid and twist for hours? We barely had time to sleep!
4. But finally -
PLEASE find me a horse with an afro on his butt, so I can understand why these ignorant, racist drill sergeants thought I was wearing horse hair!
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