Hair Stereotyping?

[alexis917]

I know people can judge you on a lot of things- including (especially) your hair!
Care to share?

I've gotten:

-All Asians have straight hair
-All Asians need to have blunt bangs (where did that come from....?)
-Asians dye their hair because they want to look Western

I know my friend recently colored her hair red, and now people assume that she has a temper.
Ironically, she's the shyest, most gentle person I know, she just likes her hair bright!

[leslissocool]

Oh I hear those a lot! I hear "thin hair can't grow long". I also was told that my hair (which is the size of 2 medium hairs and the size of 4 fine hairs) can't curl or be frizzy so I must have F-M hair. How does that make sense?!?

I've heard that asian hair is the "darkest" naturally, but my hair is super dark - one level away from black- naturally :shrug:. I always see many middle eastern women with hair as dark or darker than many asians :confused:.

[Annibelle]

Tagging onto the black hair thing-- I always hear that people of African descent have black hair. In my experience (I've lived most of my life in neighborhoods that are 60% African American), it's actually quite rare. It's often clearly dark brown, not black. Same with Asian hair... it's weird. Caucasians are identified as having a zillion shades of hair, but there's also lots of variation within color and with tone in other people's hair, but we just label it "black" without truly noticing.

[Seeshami]

Thick hair is better then thin.

Are you people out of your freakin minds? I have TBL hair and I can't get the stupid crazy monster to stay in an infinity bun because IT'S STILL NOT LONG ENOUGH. :steam

The Naughty Mess says, "I will never be long enough because you keep insinuating I am fat.":pins:

[HintOfMint]

I've had people assume that I have my hair long for cultural/traditional purposes (I'm of Indian descent) and every woman in my family has their hair long. Actually, my mother has had a bob for decades!:D Moreover, many Indian people in the US branch out from long hair and have it short, highlighted, straightened... etc. When I use coconut oil (inspired by this site mostly, not my mom) South Asian friends laugh at me for being so "old-fashioned."

ETA: slightly off topic but the people who have encouraged me the most to cut my hair in a more "modern" or "trendy" cut have been South Asian. Everyone else is like, NEVER CUT IT!

[McFearless]

Tagging onto the black hair thing-- I always hear that people of African descent have black hair. In my experience (I've lived most of my life in neighborhoods that are 60% African American), it's actually quite rare. It's often clearly dark brown, not black. Same with Asian hair... it's weird. Caucasians are identified as having a zillion shades of hair, but there's also lots of variation within color and with tone in other people's hair, but we just label it "black" without truly noticing.

You could be confusing "black hair" meaning Afro textured hair for the color black. But yes people of African descent have black hair not rarely at all, dark brown hair, light brown hair too. Very diverse.

I've seen heard lots of comments about hair being one way or the other. Black people can't grow hair long, certain qualities attributed to afro textured hair, which sucks. And I've heard the red hair temper comment too! Very odd. Thin hair should be kept short I hear too, same with hair on older women. *sigh*

[Kaelee]

I know people can judge you on a lot of things- including (especially) your hair!
Care to share?

I've gotten:

-All Asians have straight hair
-All Asians need to have blunt bangs (where did that come from....?)
-Asians dye their hair because they want to look Western

I know my friend recently colored her hair red, and now people assume that she has a temper.
Ironically, she's the shyest, most gentle person I know, she just likes her hair bright!

The first time I saw an Asian person with curly hair I was genuinely shocked! It's so ingrained in our culture to believe this that I didn't know it was possible unless they were mixed race!


Thick hair is better then thin.

Are you people out of your freakin minds? I have TBL hair and I can't get the stupid crazy monster to stay in an infinity bun because IT'S STILL NOT LONG ENOUGH. :steam

The Naughty Mess says, "I will never be long enough because you keep insinuating I am fat.":pins:

I hear that! Not that I would give up my thick hair for anything, but at BSL I still can't manage a lazy wrap bun.

I've heard that "curly hair is SO difficult to care for"....now when I had my hair permed, it was easier to care for/style then it's ever been before or since. Just wet, scrunch and go! (And when I mention that, people say "well that's because it wasn't NATURALLY CURLY. If it were NATURALLY curly, you'd have a horrible time with it!" :rolleyes:

[McFearless]

I've heard that "curly hair is SO difficult to care for"....now when I had my hair permed, it was easier to care for/style then it's ever been before or since. Just wet, scrunch and go! (And when I mention that, people say "well that's because it wasn't NATURALLY CURLY. If it were NATURALLY curly, you'd have a horrible time with it!" :rolleyes:
Haha this made me laugh. But seriously if it you had it all your life it would get hard from time to time! :p

[Kaelee]

Haha this made me laugh. But seriously if it you had it all your life it would get hard from time to time! :p

So does straight hair! :lol: My hair has the personality of spring steel. It's like memory wire. SPROING!

[PraiseCheeses]

"Haawwww haawww hawww! No wonder you made [silly mental arithmetic mistake], huh, blondie? Haaawwww haaaawww haaawww!"

:steam:


On the other hand, I'm often assumed to be "sweet and innocent and proper" - so I get away with quite a bit of mischief. :twisted:

[goldloli]

I've heard that "curly hair is SO difficult to care for"....now when I had my hair permed, it was easier to care for/style then it's ever been before or since. Just wet, scrunch and go! (And when I mention that, people say "well that's because it wasn't NATURALLY CURLY. If it were NATURALLY curly, you'd have a horrible time with it!" :rolleyes:
Idk man, perms are nice and uniform, natural curls can be all over the place. I wrestle with the difference between stringy waves and spiral curls, tangling themselves together, the lack of predictability in how hair is going to turn out once dry, clump or not clump, will this product enhance curl or weigh it down or be crispy, fizzy halo and limp ends. My friend has a perm and she can wash and go her hair always turns out the same. I've considered getting a digital perm instead of natural texture just for easier handling and styling.

[kitschy]

Yeah, curly hair and the mixed race thing. Where did that come from?

[jeanniet]

Tagging onto the black hair thing-- I always hear that people of African descent have black hair. In my experience (I've lived most of my life in neighborhoods that are 60% African American), it's actually quite rare. It's often clearly dark brown, not black. Same with Asian hair... it's weird. Caucasians are identified as having a zillion shades of hair, but there's also lots of variation within color and with tone in other people's hair, but we just label it "black" without truly noticing.

I'm of South Asian (Indian) descent, and I've had so many arguments over the years with people who insisted my hair was black when it's clearly very dark brown. It's like at a certain point people can't comprehend hair that's really dark but not black. True black hair is really not nearly as common as people think.

[truepeacenik]

If you have red hair, you are Irish (maybe Scottish)
Um, no. Sephardim met French/Northern Italian/ maybe Dutch Ashkenazim. We paled out, and I have red hair.

[rowie]

The first time I saw an Asian person with curly hair I was genuinely shocked! It's so ingrained in our culture to believe this that I didn't know it was possible unless they were mixed race!


This, only I have Spanish in me so I kinda lived up to your original thought. :P Gosh I'm so jealous of your "spring steel" straight hair! It's not fun to have hair that is rebellious whenever it encounters humidity. :( Maybe someday i'll do the Japanese straightening system, but i'll only consider this instead of cutting my hair if I ever get bored with long hair. :)

[Sharysa]

Echoing the "Asian hair is straight and glossy" stereotype. Although that's mainly because the straight-and-glossy Asian hair is already an ingrained beauty standard amongst Asian cultures.

Hell, "Asian Hair" is a stereotype in itself, and this article (http://audreymagazine.com/breaking-the-asian-myth-asian-hair/) is great about all the different types of hair we have. Mine is that wonderful combination of thick, almost-wavy, and slightly frizzy.

It happens to be perfect since the bohemian look is majorly in right now, but I had a horrible time with it in high school. Mom still says my hair looks messy when it's curly, and if I want "good" curls, I should get a perm.

[rowie]

Echoing the "Asian hair is straight and glossy" stereotype. Although that's mainly because the straight-and-glossy Asian hair is already an ingrained beauty standard amongst Asian cultures.

Hell, "Asian Hair" is a stereotype in itself, and this article (http://audreymagazine.com/breaking-the-asian-myth-asian-hair/) is great about all the different types of hair we have. Mine is that wonderful combination of thick, almost-wavy, and slightly frizzy.

It happens to be perfect since the bohemian look is majorly in right now, but I had a horrible time with it in high school. Mom still says my hair looks messy when it's curly, and if I want "good" curls, I should get a perm.

Thanks for the article. :blossom: I think I would classify myself as part Yoko mixed with IU.

[Springlets]

-Asians dye their hair because they want to look Western


I don't know, I've lived in China for a year and a half so I see it a lot. Maybe they're not trying to necessarily look western, but the kind of hair that they dye their hair to does not naturally exist in their culture, so... :shrug: I think the shade palettes definitely come from western hair shades. And considering how the traditional standard of beauty was going for a darker, true black hair, I see this trend in lighter hair colors as an influence from western culture.

Mostly I think they just want to be different from each other, but starting out with such a dark level naturally, they can only go to so many colors. Most of them have a lot of red or orange pigment in them. Although I think it's interesting that in order to "stand out" from each other, they end up coloring their hair to pretty much the same shade: medium reddish brown. That's the one I see most often anyway.


As for people seeing asians, african-americans, indians, etc. as all having black hair, considering that level 4 (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=loreal+excellence+dark+brown&newwindow=1&sa=X&biw=1280&bih=666&tbm=isch&tbnid=6SPGyU69QQ8hWM:&imgrefurl=https://www.localpharmacy.com.au/LOREAL-EXCELLENCE-4-DARK-BROWN-PACK/&docid=gQUqmgqXMruSsM&imgurl=https://www.localpharmacy.com.au/images/P/572.jpg&w=305&h=262&ei=WOitUc2CFer1ygH37YCABQ&zoom=1)is conventionally viewed as the darkest brown, it doesn't surprise me. Here in China, people seem to see any westerner hair as blonde hair so... (for example, my husband has level 4 hair and one of his co-workers asked me if it was "bronde? Brownish blonde?")

[Kherome]

Ha, Bronde, I like that. It's better than "dishwater" or whatnot.

[vamq]

People with "frizzy" hair don't take proper cair of their hair.

Let me explain that by "frizzy", I mean 1c or 2a hair here.

Others tend to think that wavy 1c/2a hair is just straight hair that is not taken care of properly.
Specially people in the town were I live are quite stupid, and only believe in either curly or straight hair. 2b or 2c and the entire 3-type hair is curls, everything from 1a to 2a is straight. I've been told on multiple ocaasions that I should use product X to tame that frizz, or that I should heatstyle my hair so it will be nice and flat.

[Anje]

Oh, yes. As a redhead (and a Leo), everyone says I've got a fiery choleric temperament. Really?!? I was under the impression that I'm pretty mellow, if a bit of a random goofball.

By the way -- in my experience, almost no one thinks that they themselves have black hair. They've all seen it in bright sunlight when you can tell that it's still made of brown pigments. My brother's definitely included in this, and so is one of my cats. You can see the warm tones in bright sunlight, but everyone else would describe the hair on both of them as black.

[Springlets]

Ha, Bronde, I like that. It's better than "dishwater" or whatnot.

Ooh yes, the terrible stereotype that dark blonde hair is "mousy", "street dog", "dishwater", "nothing" color. And that those with this color (http://www.stockngo.com/excellence-creme-triple-protection-color-creme-7-dark-blonde.html) of hair who say they are blonde are really just light brunettes who are delusional that they're still blonde and just have a thing against brunettes. They don't. When I hear all of the other people in this thread insisting that they have really dark brown hair instead of black, I don't automatically assume that they just hate black hair and want to have brown hair. I assume that they just want to be true to their actual hair color. It's the same for dark blondes.

[knux]

When people find out that I am aboriginal there first question other than whether or not I have to pay taxes is why my hair is wavy... They see my mother with her long, black, straight hair and think that that is the standard. Many people mention Pocahontas. I have to remind them that my DNA comes from two sets of 23. :D

[Firefox7275]

Ooh yes, the terrible stereotype that dark blonde hair is "mousy", "street dog", "dishwater", "nothing" color. And that those with this color (http://www.stockngo.com/excellence-creme-triple-protection-color-creme-7-dark-blonde.html) of hair who say they are blonde are really just light brunettes who are delusional that they're still blonde and just have a thing against brunettes. They don't. When I hear all of the other people in this thread insisting that they have really dark brown hair instead of black, I don't automatically assume that they just hate black hair and want to have brown hair. I assume that they just want to be true to their actual hair color. It's the same for dark blondes.

See I don't necessarily think that is a stereotype, many people who want to describe themselves as 'dark blonde' don't have any discernible blonde tones or warmth, and I count myself and my sibling in that group. We are similar to the colour of the house mice/ voles I have handled courtesy of past cats, there is no warm brown or pale yellow tones it's more ash brown-grey closer to silver than gold. Some mousey types achieve a dark blonde canopy from sun lightening, I used to before I started dying and protecting my hair from UV. My sibling's hair has always been fairly short as an adult and is too pale to be a sun worshipper so never seen any blonde 'highlights'.

[Springlets]

I disagree, most people I know with this type of hair (and my hair can look like it too) appear to be "mouse" indoors, but a lighter gold color outside or in the sun. The same principle works for people whose hair seems to appear black inside but brown outside. However, that's another stereotype to me: blonde does not mean only yellow and golden. Blonde can be ash and beige colored as well. "Mouse hair" (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5c/d6/74/5cd6747261a24f0388ed33f85dc52918.jpg) appears quite yellow, pale, and golden to me compared to an actual rich brown (http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/736x/98/d1/54/98d1544bef39f5b2f6f01ff0522513f5.jpg).

[LadyCelestina]

I have seen very very few asians in my life,so it's sort of shocking to hear there are curly asians too...Do black people have straight hair sometimes?

I think one of the biggest myths I have ever heard is that naturally curly hair is always very porous,or very fine.Just...according to who? According to what?

[Annibelle]

I have seen very very few asians in my life,so it's sort of shocking to hear there are curly asians too...Do black people have straight hair sometimes?

I think one of the biggest myths I have ever heard is that naturally curly hair is always very porous,or very fine.Just...according to who? According to what?

According to one hair website (was it naturallycurly?), whether you're a wavy or a curly depends on how fine the hair is. Straight hair is baby fine, wavy hair strands are a bit thicker, and curly hair is coarse. :rolleyes: I guess because just sticking with these simple types is easier than saying that there are different strand thicknesses for each texture?

[LadyCelestina]

According to one hair website (was it naturallycurly?), whether you're a wavy or a curly depends on how fine the hair is. Straight hair is baby fine, wavy hair strands are a bit thicker, and curly hair is coarse. :rolleyes: I guess because just sticking with these simple types is easier than saying that there are different strand thicknesses for each texture?

Naturally curly says the exact opposite,the curliest hair types are super fine and 2's 1's are medium to coarse :D

[Annibelle]

Naturally curly says the exact opposite,the curliest hair types are super fine and 2's 1's are medium to coarse :D

Hm, then I'm not sure who it was. Well, I still disagree with naturallycurly-- I'm 2b (sometimes 2c) and my hair is extremely fine. :/ And my DH has 1b hair and it's just as fine as mine. So I'm not sure why these sites are saying such things. I'm glad LHC allows us to specify for ourselves. :)

[Kaelee]

This, only I have Spanish in me so I kinda lived up to your original thought. :P Gosh I'm so jealous of your "spring steel" straight hair! It's not fun to have hair that is rebellious whenever it encounters humidity. :( Maybe someday i'll do the Japanese straightening system, but i'll only consider this instead of cutting my hair if I ever get bored with long hair. :)

:lol: don't be too jealous, it has it's own challenges. Some days I'd almost do anything for what people refer to as "limp" hair. It doesn't matter the humidity, it rebels regardless. I try to put it in a bun and big CHUNKS stick out...I can't do a cinnamon bun because my hair seems to be stronger than a ficcare and forget sticks, most of the time.

Part of it is thickness, my braid tassle has to be about 4 inches long because once I get to the last 4 inches, big chunks of my hair seem to just...end. And I don't get one or two small pieces sticking out, I get a big chunk sticking straight out at a funny angle. Forget doing any braided updos without (tightly!) securing the braid first...and "rolling" the hair? Forget that too. It just won't stay bent.

I know a woman with (beautiful!) naturally curly hair who just braids it and it stays with nothing to secure it. The hair grips onto itself and it stays. :bigeyes:

[Firefox7275]

I disagree, most people I know with this type of hair (and my hair can look like it too) appear to be "mouse" indoors, but a lighter gold color outside or in the sun. The same principle works for people whose hair seems to appear black inside but brown outside. However, that's another stereotype to me: blonde does not mean only yellow and golden. Blonde can be ash and beige colored as well. "Mouse hair" (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5c/d6/74/5cd6747261a24f0388ed33f85dc52918.jpg) appears quite yellow, pale, and golden to me compared to an actual rich brown (http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/736x/98/d1/54/98d1544bef39f5b2f6f01ff0522513f5.jpg).

As I said, many not most or all. Likely we are also talking at cross purposes, I am in the UK so there is likely to be far more here who have not had as much incidental UV exposure as you in California so are displaying their true colour. I would imagine its almost impossible to avoid sunlight at least some of the year where you are? All blonde has some warm tones, to me if it's ash or beige blonde it has a mix of 'silver' and 'pale gold': I have seem many mouseys here that do not have warmer blonde 'highlights' without UV damage. I've never seen an ash or beige blonde box dye that looks anything like my natural, they all have more 'pale gold' mixed in with the 'silver' more like your avatar. My mouse looks like a house mouse not like your (lovely) hair - anyway a mouse itself looks different indoors and out.

[shutterpillar]

People with "frizzy" hair don't take proper cair of their hair.



I'll second this. I don't know how many friends I have had come up to me and suggested that my hair was damaged because it's naturally frizzy, then recommend I flat iron it or try some miracle product. Not much damage in my hair... and the slight damage I do have is very well taken care of. I've tried every product under the sun on my hair, and even before I dyed it for the first time when I was a teenager, it was still frizzy. *shrug* its just how it is. I refuse to flat iron it daily because people have no idea what natural hair looks like anymore since dying and heat styling it to an inch of its life is just the norm now.

off my soapbox. ;)

[Annibelle]

I have frizzy 2b hair, but it's more "fluff" now than "frizz"; it was straight-up "frizz" when I treated it like it was 1b. (Though to others, hair that doesn't look like it's from a Pantene commercial is "frizzy" no matter how you slice it.) People comment on it occasionally, and I do love the look of sleek hair, but there are beautiful frizzy/fluffy heads of hair that wouldn't be quite as nice if they were tamed. :) I know I look better with my fluffy waves than I ever did with sleek straight hair-- it just suits me better. But I know lots of people who look stunning with sleek straight hair who would look weird with frizz.

[shutterpillar]

I agree, Annibelle. I think the frizz suits me. ;) Back when I used to flat iron all the time, I always felt like it looked off. I was never satisfied with it. I like the volume my waves/frizz give me as well. Leave-in conditioner and oil tames it some, but since all of my hair will never be the same length all over, there is always going to be those frizzy flyaways. :)

[Rufflebutt]

Back when I had black hair, people often assumed I was goth or emo. Despite my very non goth or emo style of dress. I even got kicked out of a shop once because the owner thought I must have been a delinquent.

[Rufflebutt]

I don't know, I've lived in China for a year and a half so I see it a lot. Maybe they're not trying to necessarily look western, but the kind of hair that they dye their hair to does not naturally exist in their culture, so... :shrug: I think the shade palettes definitely come from western hair shades. And considering how the traditional standard of beauty was going for a darker, true black hair, I see this trend in lighter hair colors as an influence from western culture.

Mostly I think they just want to be different from each other, but starting out with such a dark level naturally, they can only go to so many colors. Most of them have a lot of red or orange pigment in them. Although I think it's interesting that in order to "stand out" from each other, they end up coloring their hair to pretty much the same shade: medium reddish brown. That's the one I see most often anyway.


As for people seeing asians, african-americans, indians, etc. as all having black hair, considering that level 4 (http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=loreal+excellence+dark+brown&newwindow=1&sa=X&biw=1280&bih=666&tbm=isch&tbnid=6SPGyU69QQ8hWM:&imgrefurl=https://www.localpharmacy.com.au/LOREAL-EXCELLENCE-4-DARK-BROWN-PACK/&docid=gQUqmgqXMruSsM&imgurl=https://www.localpharmacy.com.au/images/P/572.jpg&w=305&h=262&ei=WOitUc2CFer1ygH37YCABQ&zoom=1)is conventionally viewed as the darkest brown, it doesn't surprise me. Here in China, people seem to see any westerner hair as blonde hair so... (for example, my husband has level 4 hair and one of his co-workers asked me if it was "bronde? Brownish blonde?")

I think the whole "they're trying to be white" idea is kind of ********, though. I mean, yes blonde hair and light brown shades aren't naturally present in the Asian genome. But what if they simply just got tired of seeing dark hair all of the time and they wanted to try something different? If a white brunette tries to dye her hair blonde, how is that different from an Asian brunette doing the same? Pink, blue, and green hair are not present in ANY variation of humans anywhere. Does that mean that people who dye their hair weird colors are trying to look like aliens?

[MaryO]

I was very entertained in reading all the comments on this thread. I think stereotyping comes from ignorance because I was rather surprised to find out (here) that asian people can have curly hair. I know silly- but I've never actually met an asian person with curly hair so you sort of assume...:couch: I was also under the impression that Indian ladies wear their hair long for religious purposes because all the Hindus I know actually wear long hair but it's just because they like it! ;-)

Very enlightening conversation- thanks!

[truepeacenik]

I remember being surprised at how curly my friends hair was after time in the water. I'd always seen his coils weighed down to ringlets. He's ethnic Chinese, Guangoong Province.
I had this vision of Chinese hair as more or less straight to wavy...I hadn't thought of how serious curls could get there. But genetics, and empire, are tricky things.
We joke that he got my curls. I always wanted the curls so many Jewish women had.


Could someone explain why "frizzy" is considered such a negative, aside from the person trying for a particular style?
I get won't do what I want, but why would others judge that?

[lazuliblue]

Short pink and blue hair = Lesbian/Bi :mad:

[Achlys]

People have assumed multiple times that I straighten my hair. I guess naturally straight hair is considered to be fairly rare and straightening is very common also. I try not to go "how dare you think I'd do something like this to my hair?!" and just reply that it's natural and my hair is quite fragile and I try to avoid damage. :lol:

[jacqueline101]

I hear thin hair can't grow.

[MintChocChip]

This is such an interesting thread to read! Another person here who will insist my hair is dark blonde, no matter what people say. To me it is definitely not brunette, even when people will refer to me as 'the girl over there with the brown hair'. Ummmm, no. I love brunette hair, mine is just not brunette! However, I must confess I do refer to my boyfriend's hair as being black all the time! He refers to it black too even though there a few brown hints in the sunlight. I used to refer to my dad's hair as black when I was younger and he used to get very annoyed and say his hair was dark brown and not black, so clearly I am JUST as bad! :bigeyes:

[Tristania]

"All Scandinavians are blonde." My family is Scandinavian all the way back to the 12th century, and yet, I'm a brunette. I guess I lost out in the genetic lottery.

[Venefica]

"All Scandinavians are blonde." My family is Scandinavian all the way back to the 12th century, and yet, I'm a brunette. I guess I lost out in the genetic lottery.

I get that one allot well blond hair is not uncommon here but you have Scandinavians of any hair color, one of my best friends growing up have nearly black hair. This was also a myth about the Vikings while research show that red hair was more common at the time, not blond. That being said I am naturally dark blond of hair, and I am a Scandinavian. :P

[rainfortheend]

Pixie cut? You're either a lesbian, a mom, or have let yourself go in some way (ah, the TV trope of the despairing post-breakup girl who decides to start her life anew with a dramatic chop.) One of the perks of having a pixie was being ignored by jerkbags.

People with fine/thin hair shouldn't have long hair. People over 35 shouldn't have long hair. Grey hair is frowned upon. Gah!

[McFearless]

Do black people have straight hair sometimes?



Yup.


I think one of the biggest myths I have ever heard is that naturally curly hair is always very porous,or very fine.Just...according to who? According to what?
It isn't true, though I think that statement came out as a way of combating the generalization that hair becomes more coarse the curlier it is. Coily Afro textured hair is often fine.

[browneyedsusan]

Pixie cut? You're either a lesbian, a mom, or have let yourself go in some way (ah, the TV trope of the despairing post-breakup girl who decides to start her life anew with a dramatic chop.) One of the perks of having a pixie was being ignored by jerkbags.

People with fine/thin hair shouldn't have long hair. People over 35 shouldn't have long hair. Grey hair is frowned upon. Gah!

OOH!! Those things get me all wound up too!! :rant:

[PraiseCheeses]

"Curly/wavy/frizzy/long hair indicates that you must not be a competent professional, and you must straighten it to be taken seriously."

... I'll admit to thinking in the past that the Asian girls I knew with wavy and curly hair must style it or have perms, and I'm grateful for this forum clearing up that myth long before this thread. :)

[Helix]

I've heard that kinky afro hair doesn't grow fairly often throughout my life but my 4abc kinks beg to differ, (currently creeping up on WL).

[trolleypup]

Men shouldn't have long hair
A man with long hair is gay

lalala!

[Kherome]

Men shouldn't have long hair
A man with long hair is gay

lalala!

Seriously? I've never heard that. The gay men I've met all have really "styled" hair, not long.

[Springlets]

As I said, many not most or all. Likely we are also talking at cross purposes, I am in the UK so there is likely to be far more here who have not had as much incidental UV exposure as you in California so are displaying their true colour. I would imagine its almost impossible to avoid sunlight at least some of the year where you are? All blonde has some warm tones, to me if it's ash or beige blonde it has a mix of 'silver' and 'pale gold': I have seem many mouseys here that do not have warmer blonde 'highlights' without UV damage. I've never seen an ash or beige blonde box dye that looks anything like my natural, they all have more 'pale gold' mixed in with the 'silver' more like your avatar. My mouse looks like a house mouse not like your (lovely) hair - anyway a mouse itself looks different indoors and out.

I'm from California, but I've been living in China now for over a year a half. The places I've lived in are certainly less sunny than Cali, and it's where I've done the bulk of my natural roots growing. For me, it's always been a matter of lighting, so maybe I am different from others. This (http://s809.beta.photobucket.com/user/Blaircorneliabass/media/SANY0021b-2.jpg.html?sort=3&o=13) and this (http://s809.beta.photobucket.com/user/Blaircorneliabass/media/SANY0020.jpg.html?sort=3&o=56) were taken in the same place, within hours of each other, just in slightly different lighting.

In any case, "mouse" hair color is definitely deemed by professional hairdressers as blonde.


I think the whole "they're trying to be white" idea is kind of ********, though. I mean, yes blonde hair and light brown shades aren't naturally present in the Asian genome. But what if they simply just got tired of seeing dark hair all of the time and they wanted to try something different? If a white brunette tries to dye her hair blonde, how is that different from an Asian brunette doing the same? Pink, blue, and green hair are not present in ANY variation of humans anywhere. Does that mean that people who dye their hair weird colors are trying to look like aliens?

You're right, since we don't have any aliens walking around with blue or green hair, I assume people who dye their hair that color do so simply because they want to. Unfortunately, the colors the Chinese women I see dye their hair to mostly represent colors naturally found in Western societies, so I guess we'll never know if they're correlated. Personally, I believe they do because previous to exposure to Western culture, no one was trying to lighten their hair but to darken it to true black. Like, since the beginning of their civilization. Whereas dyeing hair to lighter colors such as yellow and red have been present in Western culture for an equally long time.

I don't see them dyeing their hair to Western colors as an anti-Asian thing. I think they do it because it's different and foreign, in the same way that I've heard people in Scandinavian countries covet dark hair colors and exotic looks. I live in a suburb of a large city (Guangzhou) and in my little suburb, my husband and I are practically the only foreigners. We have people stare at us as we walk by, people want to take pictures with us. It's an extremely homogenous society; a lot of these people have never left the country so they've never seen someone who looks like us. When I go into the city, I don't have the same impression at all, I don't stand out anymore because there are a lot of foreigners there. I imagine, back when Western society was more homogenous, an Asian person would be given a similar awed treatment. I think people are just fascinated by what's different to them, and it's even stronger when you live in a non-mixed society.

[leslissocool]

I lived in SoCal and my hair in the sun is black without any type of hair dye. When I mean it's dark, I'm standing next to people with "black" hair and my hair is 2-3 tones darker. In the sun, my hair looks black :lol:. I use straight blue to get it to look blue black, or else it never shows :shrug:.

[Ayjay]

"Blondes always have thin hair" Gosh I can't remember how many times my mother, who has really dark thick wavy hair, told me that I had really thick hair....for a blonde. Really?!?! I don't think my hair is all that thick and I wonde what my mother would say of Torrin paige's hair. Hers is easily twice my thickness.

[Neneka]

People are very often thinking fine straight hair = thin hair. People always tell me I have thin hair although my thickness is average and not even on the thin said. Also thin ends are always damage. :rolleyes: (I think thin hair looks really beautifully delicate. I am not saying that thin hair is a bad thing.)

Also. People say fine straight hair needs some "texture" and should be dyed/damaged to look good.

Also some people think that those with ashy tones should dye their hair. It's like brainwashing. I hate so much when people talk about mousy hair or dishwater blonde and so on. Most people where I live have ashy blonde/blondette hair naturally and I have heard people here dye their hair more than anywhere else but that might not be a fact. I am not really sure where I heard it... Anyway so many people think their natural hair colour is horrifying and ugly even though they haven't really seen it for long time. (Again... Dyeing hair is not a bad thing. I have dyed mine a lot.)

[alexis917]

Oh I hear those a lot! I hear "thin hair can't grow long". I also was told that my hair (which is the size of 2 medium hairs and the size of 4 fine hairs) can't curl or be frizzy so I must have F-M hair. How does that make sense?!?

I've heard that asian hair is the "darkest" naturally, but my hair is super dark - one level away from black- naturally :shrug:. I always see many middle eastern women with hair as dark or darker than many asians :confused:.

I actually think I see more people with thin hair growing it long here!
Also, metal bands seem to have a lot of guys with long and thin hair. You make good points!

[alexis917]

Seems like a LOT of these are about thin hair!

And as for guys with long hair being gay, I've heard that one, but I'm in high school. Everything someone doesn't like must be "gay."
A guy in my class was actually told he "smelled gay"....after hugging his girlfriend, who goes heavy on the perfume.

[kme81]

Blondes are dumb, spoiled, racist... ugh.

I have a friend with extremely light blonde hair, she once met someone who could not believe that she wasn't Swedish! :D (Although, I am afraid that I fit the stereotype: I am a German/Swedish mix with blonde hair and greenish-blue eyes. :))


Edit: Oh, and if you are a blonde AND a Christian then you must be a holier-than-thou hypocritical, fake, rich brat. <-- I must admit that I totally believe this sometimes. :shake:

[starlamelissa]

I have blonde hair naturally. I always heard from hair dressers just how thick my hair was, and that As a blonde it was extremely rare to have such thick wavy hair. Made me feel special.

[yoni]

I disagree, most people I know with this type of hair (and my hair can look like it too) appear to be "mouse" indoors, but a lighter gold color outside or in the sun. The same principle works for people whose hair seems to appear black inside but brown outside. However, that's another stereotype to me: blonde does not mean only yellow and golden. Blonde can be ash and beige colored as well. "Mouse hair" (http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5c/d6/74/5cd6747261a24f0388ed33f85dc52918.jpg) appears quite yellow, pale, and golden to me compared to an actual rich brown (http://media-cache-ec2.pinimg.com/736x/98/d1/54/98d1544bef39f5b2f6f01ff0522513f5.jpg).

Oh that's me here! I always say I have black hair but everyone around me says I have brown/dark brown, heh :D

[Sharysa]

I have seen very very few asians in my life,so it's sort of shocking to hear there are curly asians too...Do black people have straight hair sometimes?


... I'll admit to thinking in the past that the Asian girls I knew with wavy and curly hair must style it or have perms, and I'm grateful for this forum clearing up that myth long before this thread. :)

Well, if they're perfect ringlet-type curls, then it's probably styled. Or they won the genetic lottery. :D One of my classmates is half-Filipino and half-Japanese, and his hair is ridiculously curly and frizzy.

Would braid-waves count as "styling," since I do it to enhance my natural wave?

[Nightshade]

Freckles = natural redhead.

A few years ago I went to a dermatologist to have a mole removed from between my shoulderblades. The doctor was immensely polite and asked if I minded if his intern attended the removal. It didn't bother me, so the intern watched.

After it was over and the nurse ran away with my mole in a jar for biopsy (everything came back normal), the doctor and intern left. On his way out the doctor asked the intern, "So what do you notice about her skin?"

Intern, "Very pale with lots of freckles. You see that a lot with natural redheads."

They'd gone before I could tell the poor boy about henna :lol:

[truepeacenik]

Freckles = natural redhead.

A few years ago I went to a dermatologist to have a mole removed from between my shoulderblades. The doctor was immensely polite and asked if I minded if his intern attended the removal. It didn't bother me, so the intern watched.

After it was over and the nurse ran away with my mole in a jar for biopsy (everything came back normal), the doctor and intern left. On his way out the doctor asked the intern, "So what do you notice about her skin?"

Intern, "Very pale with lots of freckles. You see that a lot with natural redheads."

They'd gone before I could tell the poor boy about henna :lol:

Well, that is true. But not unique to reds.
So, correct but silly assumption?

And what does it say about the tones you get from henna?

[eresh]

If your is very long uou must be religious...
I get that a lot!

Also if your hair is very long AND you wear long skirts...you must be a witch...or at least a crazy cat lady.
Some none hairtype related stereotypes ;-)

[truepeacenik]

Short pink and blue hair = Lesbian/Bi :mad:

No, no, no. It's mid back purple! Lol.

(Or in my case, thigh length and red...natural red)

[PrincessIdril]

I disagree, most people I know with this type of hair (and my hair can look like it too) appear to be "mouse" indoors, but a lighter gold color outside or in the sun.

Sounds a lot like my hair. It is insane how golden my hair is in sunlight.
Have to say I get seriously fed up when other people insist that I'm wrong about my hair colour and that I'm not dark blonde I'm a brunette. ARGH it's attached to my head, I know better than anyone what colour it is!

[Nightshade]

Well, that is true. But not unique to reds.
So, correct but silly assumption?

And what does it say about the tones you get from henna?


Yeah :) I thought it was cute (and flattered) he assumed he was a natural redhead. I love talking about henna, so I'd have corrected him if they weren't already out the door and I felt they could have spared the time.

[lacefrost]

There are loads of them:

-Curlies have low self esteem, that's why they don't straighten their hair.

-The curlier your hair is the finer it is. (Clearly this is a lie. I'm 4a/C/iii)

-Black women can't grow their hair long.

-Damaged hair or dry hair is "coarse".

-Coarse hair isn't soft.

The one that annoys me the most is that damaged/dry hair is "coarse" and that coarse hair isn't soft. It annoys me to no end because I find those beliefs even on this forum. I often seem to run into posts where someone complains that their hair feels coarse. Or people are complaining about their hair being "coarse and wiry", (especially in the gray-haired posts.) While I understand this is simply ignorance it annoys me at best and is hurtful at worse. Most of my hair is coarse. All of my hair is incredibly soft. Not like silk but soft like your favorite t-shirt, soft like the Egyptian Pima cotton sheets you put on your bed, soft like the fluffiest dog ever. But everywhere I look people are trying to fix their "dry coarse ends." Gives me the sad face.

[leslissocool]

TMost of my hair is coarse. All of my hair is incredibly soft. Not like silk but soft like your favorite t-shirt, soft like the Egyptian Pima cotton sheets you put on your bed, soft like the fluffiest dog ever. But everywhere I look people are trying to fix their "dry coarse ends." Gives me the sad face.

You are lucky, because my coarse is not soft to touch, think like those synthetic brooms and you can feel each strand. It's moist, with enough protein, but if you touch my hair (or my daughter's hair) and you touch my son's hair that's really fine, it's a huge difference. So by comparison, my hair isn't soft.

Now I've managed to make is a bit softer with cones (and now the aloe vera rinse!) but it's temporary soft, if I were to just wash and condition it's not like that. But I do agree, damaged hair is NOT coarse - it's damaged.

To me, hair has too many variables. People can have 3 different types of hair in heir head, and colors, and textures.

[rowie]

The one that annoys me the most is that damaged/dry hair is "coarse" and that coarse hair isn't soft. It annoys me to no end because I find those beliefs even on this forum. I often seem to run into posts where someone complains that their hair feels coarse. Or people are complaining about their hair being "coarse and wiry", (especially in the gray-haired posts.) While I understand this is simply ignorance it annoys me at best and is hurtful at worse. Most of my hair is coarse. All of my hair is incredibly soft. Not like silk but soft like your favorite t-shirt, soft like the Egyptian Pima cotton sheets you put on your bed, soft like the fluffiest dog ever. But everywhere I look people are trying to fix their "dry coarse ends." Gives me the sad face.

Girl, I'm jealous that your coarse hairs are soft! My coarse hairs feel rough and like horse hair. I've never had it feel "soft" and I think you are right about people stereotyping that coarse hair is damaged/dry hair, and I used to get that a lot, but now I don't get any of those since I bun my hair all the time. I do admit though that these comments still make me feel uneasy about my multi hair textures and I revert back to longing for straight hair.

[melikai]

If you have red hair, you are Irish (maybe Scottish)
Um, no. Sephardim met French/Northern Italian/ maybe Dutch Ashkenazim. We paled out, and I have red hair.

There are quite a lot of redheads here in Serbia too, it really surprised me when I first moved here. :)

[Sarahlabyrinth]

You have long hair, therefore you are a hippie. (this from my sister). Er, nope.

You are over 22 therefore you must have short hair (like all of us) so you don't look as if you are trying to be young. And you have to hide the greys.(This also from my sister) . Sigh.

[NoRush]

I've also heard the "you're so lucky your hair is straight!" comment more times that I can count and let me tell you... Not so. While it is true that my hair only needs to look a blow dryer and fingers and it becomes pin straight, it's also true that volume is a constant fight, curls don't hold, hairstyles unravel without notice. I've accepted that I have to live with straight hair but I still wish I had a tiny bit of a wavier texture.

My grandma olso loved to tell me that I would "look great with short hair" *hint, hint* well I chopped it off to ear legth two years ago and... I didn't notice any such thing :shrug:

On another note I don't think in this day and age people can expect to put an "ethnicity" within a standard, I honestly don't think there are many people who are not mixed race/ethnicity in some way, even if one has the "look" doesn't mean that somewhere in their dna there isn't a recessive gene from generations ago that determines a trait no one would expect. I look like your average italian girl for instance, but I'm a blend of at least 4 ethnicities (that I know of), who knows what my kids will look like, even if my partner should be an "all italian" guy? Migration, invasion, colonization, wars, all of it has resulted in mixing and matching of genes over the centuries. A person might identify with a specific culture or a predominant racial trait but generalizing that everyone with one or two common traits would have all others is common is unrealistic imo...

[alexis917]

You have long hair, therefore you are a hippie. (this from my sister). Er, nope.

You are over 22 therefore you must have short hair (like all of us) so you don't look as if you are trying to be young. And you have to hide the greys.(This also from my sister) . Sigh.

A lot of people seem determined to hide their grey hair.
I don't know when my hair will start going grey, but I'm honestly excited....weird, right?
My grandmother has super silver hair. Like new quarters, or something.


And redheads in Serbia? I never would have guessed!
There are a few redheads where I live, but they all dye their hair so nobody knows until their roots grow in.

[lacefrost]

You are lucky, because my coarse is not soft to touch, think like those synthetic brooms and you can feel each strand. It's moist, with enough protein, but if you touch my hair (or my daughter's hair) and you touch my son's hair that's really fine, it's a huge difference. So by comparison, my hair isn't soft.


Girl, I'm jealous that your coarse hairs are soft! My coarse hairs feel rough and like horse hair. I've never had it feel "soft" and I think you are right about people stereotyping that coarse hair is damaged/dry hair, and I used to get that a lot, but now I don't get any of those since I bun my hair all the time. I do admit though that these comments still make me feel uneasy about my multi hair textures and I revert back to longing for straight hair.

It isn't luck, so feel no need to be jealous. It's trial and error. 99% of my hair is coarse and my hair used to feel like broomsticks all the time. When you all of your hair is coarse and everyone keeps saying your hair is "brittle", "damaged", "bad", etc, you end up spending a lot of time looking for something that works. For me, Yes to Carrots conditioner helps. Olive oil and honey, cocoa and shea butter help. I practically pour that in my hair. I have to stay away from protein because what does protein do but add thickness to your strands? I figure, my hair already struggles with roughness due to thickness. So no protein treatments, coconut oil, etc. I henna once every couple months because it helps with my moisture content. My best advice is to stay away from things saying they're "strengthening" (because coarse hair is already strong) and look for things that are all all about moisturizing. And to just realize that silky hair should not be the goal. Of course these are just my observations, so take from it what you will.

[Natalia]

Russians have dark hair. Im a blonde so people assume im sweedish even though i have other russian features.

[MidnightMoon]

Well, yesterday I told my sister I wanted hair down to my knees...
she said I'd look like a freak and she hopes it doesn't grow that long...
seriously...a freak :/

[MidnightMoon]

Russians have dark hair. Im a blonde so people assume im sweedish even though i have other russian features.

I'd say it depends on the region, although I find that we have a larger amount of people with dark hair than northern europeans. In the larger cities it would be a 50/50 (hah even my mom and her brother are a good example, he's blond and blue eyed while her hair and eyes are brown), but you should consider people with darker features which have more asian influence too as part of the image people have of russians :P.

[AnqeIicDemise]

If I have my hair in a bun, I'm suddenly rather conservative... but if its loose, I'm a hippy liberal.

People also think my hair is black. Um. no. Just a really, really dark, dark auburn brown. You can see the red when I'm the sun. Y'know, what little of it we have here in PNW. -snicker- It was so much redder in Cali where it got sunbleached.

[Ayjay]

*laugh* Does it matter what kind of bun? People seem to think that tightly back buns are for Librarians/ School teachers

[AnqeIicDemise]

These folk are rather unobservant and can't tell the difference between a Natilus or a cinnamon bun. They just see its up and no length is hanging past my shoulders.

[Sharysa]

The one that annoys me the most is that damaged/dry hair is "coarse" and that coarse hair isn't soft. It annoys me to no end because I find those beliefs even on this forum. I often seem to run into posts where someone complains that their hair feels coarse. Or people are complaining about their hair being "coarse and wiry", (especially in the gray-haired posts.) While I understand this is simply ignorance it annoys me at best and is hurtful at worse. Most of my hair is coarse. All of my hair is incredibly soft. Not like silk but soft like your favorite t-shirt, soft like the Egyptian Pima cotton sheets you put on your bed, soft like the fluffiest dog ever. But everywhere I look people are trying to fix their "dry coarse ends." Gives me the sad face.

I noticed that too, although my experiences were along the lines of "coarse hair is too heavy and stiff to move well, so you need LAYERS AND CONES to make it bouncy." My hair is coarse and one length with fairy-tale ends, and I think it feels like thread or embroidery floss. Again, not silky-soft like most people tend to want, but it's fun to play with.

And to my irritation, small breezes can make fly around if it's loose. Not just for a second or two--if a breeze comes up, my hair practically levitates until it stops.

[chen bao jun]

I'd say it depends on the region, although I find that we have a larger amount of people with dark hair than northern europeans. In the larger cities it would be a 50/50 (hah even my mom and her brother are a good example, he's blond and blue eyed while her hair and eyes are brown), but you should consider people with darker features which have more asian influence too as part of the image people have of russians :P.
Lots of Russians seem to have light brown hair and blue eyes in combination with almond eyes and high cheekbones which is a very lovely look.

[chen bao jun]

I have coarse hair. I don't get offended at people saying their hair is coarse and meaning 'rough' because 99% of the time, they actually don't know what coarse hair is. Also, to be truthful, though my hair feels good when it is properly moisturized, I don't think its ever actually 'soft'. At least, not compared to fine-haired people like my mother and sister. My mom has super-fine 4b or 4c hair, natural at this point in her life and my hair never feels as soft as hers does when she is even semi-taking care of it. My sister is a 4a and the same is the case. I am a 3c with 3b in parts and my great asset is that my coarse hair is very strong and doesn't need the babying theirs does. I don't get the breakage. You might call mine soft sometimes, I guess--if you had never felt theirs. I know its not jsut the 4 hair type because my friends with fine hair who are types 1 and 2 also have a silkyfeeling to their hair that mine never gets--my hair is fun because its bouncy and springy with lots and lots of body but soft is not a word I think is suitable for it. And that's fine.

[chen bao jun]

Idk man, perms are nice and uniform, natural curls can be all over the place. I wrestle with the difference between stringy waves and spiral curls, tangling themselves together, the lack of predictability in how hair is going to turn out once dry, clump or not clump, will this product enhance curl or weigh it down or be crispy, fizzy halo and limp ends. My friend has a perm and she can wash and go her hair always turns out the same. I've considered getting a digital perm instead of natural texture just for easier handling and styling.
Yes, a curly perm and actual curly hair are completely different things. What makes me angry sometimes is that what people call 'curls' are often the fake ones--big uniform spirals which never frizz.

[chen bao jun]

I have seen very very few asians in my life,so it's sort of shocking to hear there are curly asians too...Do black people have straight hair sometimes?

Yes, we can have naturally straight hair. I have several cousins who have type 1b or 1c hair, though it is unusual. I'd say something like 99% of black people have hair ranging from type 3c to 4c, but in the remaining 1% there are definitely wavies and a few straighties.
Of course, any time you talk about black people in the Americas, you must realize that you are talking about racial mixture. A lot of times it is so far back that even the person does not realize they have it, but that random DNA has a way of popping up after several dormant generations, even in that case and you get a trait that your parents don't have, your grandparents don't have--but its still in your ancestry. I'm from the Caribbean where the racial mixing is obvious and you get all kinds of things that are rarely seen in the US, very dark people with natural light blue eyes, lots of black people with light brown or fiery red hair of all complexions, so take what I say in that context.

[lacefrost]

I noticed that too, although my experiences were along the lines of "coarse hair is too heavy and stiff to move well, so you need LAYERS AND CONES to make it bouncy." My hair is coarse and one length with fairy-tale ends, and I think it feels like thread or embroidery floss. Again, not silky-soft like most people tend to want, but it's fun to play with.

And to my irritation, small breezes can make fly around if it's loose. Not just for a second or two--if a breeze comes up, my hair practically levitates until it stops.

Yes, my hair is like thick thread. I can strings beads on it. And yeah, no my hair isn't silky soft at all. That's the finies domain. My hair is cottony soft. And when it's straight, just like yours, it fluffs all about in the slightest breeze. (Which I think is very cool in a superhero kind of way). I think it just really annoys me when people think that the only kind of softness there is is "silky soft" and if it's not that, then it's not soft at all. I just wonder, "Don't these people love soft teeshirts?" Or perhaps people secretly hate cotton and would just wear silk all the time if they could?

[lacefrost]

I have coarse hair. I don't get offended at people saying their hair is coarse and meaning 'rough' because 99% of the time, they actually don't know what coarse hair is. Also, to be truthful, though my hair feels good when it is properly moisturized, I don't think its ever actually 'soft'. At least, not compared to fine-haired people like my mother and sister. My mom has super-fine 4b or 4c hair, natural at this point in her life and my hair never feels as soft as hers does when she is even semi-taking care of it. My sister is a 4a and the same is the case. I am a 3c with 3b in parts and my great asset is that my coarse hair is very strong and doesn't need the babying theirs does. I don't get the breakage. You might call mine soft sometimes, I guess--if you had never felt theirs. I know its not jsut the 4 hair type because my friends with fine hair who are types 1 and 2 also have a silkyfeeling to their hair that mine never gets--my hair is fun because its bouncy and springy with lots and lots of body but soft is not a word I think is suitable for it. And that's fine.

I guess, for me, the bolded is the thing. For me, comparing my hair to someone who has fine hair is a trap. Just like comparing my hair to someone's hair that loosely curls is a trap. All it does is going to make me feel bad. I had to learn to love my 4a-afro hair and not compare it to 3c clumpy curls (or even 4a clumpy curls). Cause in society, the 3c clumpy curls are valued more than hair that is an afro. And I'm never going to have curls that clump. Just like I'm never going to have hair that feels like silk. And the more I compare my hair to hair that is unlike mine, the less value I will see in my own hair.

I can't say that my experience is the same for everyone. A lot of people have more self-confidence about these things. It's just that when I was growing up, I was teased mercilessly, even bullied, because of my hair. Because my hair was "rough" and wouldn't lay down. And I honestly believed my hair would always be rough because it was coarse and that it was ugly hair because it wouldn't lay down flat. Those things were (and are) common knowledge. So for me, the best thing was to realize that coarse hair could be soft but in a way that was unique to coarse hair. (And to learn that hair that didn't lay down could be awesome in a way that's unique to hair that doesn't lay.) That's why it bothers me so much when people say coarse hair = rough hair. It's like saying 4a hair = bad hair. Neither of those things are true and can be damaging to people's self-concepts, even though 99% of the time people aren't being malicious.

[Annibelle]

I have fine hair, but I've always thought of it as "cottony soft" instead of "silky soft." Maybe it's my texture, but I'm not even a curly-- I'm 2b. My hair is fluffy and fairly big for how thin it is. :hmm: I wonder what that's all about. Now, my hair WAS silky soft when I used cones and wore my hair straight.

[leslissocool]

See, I have confidence in my "rough" hair. I do have soft teeshirts, if you touch my daughters hair and then my soft t-shirt the hair is a heck of a lot rougher (and she CO and use TONS of cons). It does feel like horse hair which IMO it's beautiful.

I never went through what you did Lacefrost, but I am very sorry you went through that :blossom:. I can understand why you have issues. IMO saying something is soft or rough doesn't have in any way shape or form negative connotation, it's texture comparison like saying wood vs tile one is sleek and the other one is "rougher".

[alexis917]

I feel for all of you ladies with coarse hair!
My hair tends to be quite coarse naturally.
It's not from damage- it tends to kink and get crinkles when damaged.
I go to a predominantly white school, and most of the girls share a hair type:
Thin, fine, light brown to platinum blonde, usually highlighted or dyed.
They've never really touched hair like mine.
A girl in my biology class braided my hair for me, and said it felt like dog hair...
Ouch. I'm a cat person anyway.

[Annibelle]

I have one! Maybe it's accurate, but I don't know. :shrug: My best friend (who is African American) once told me that "white people smell like dogs when their hair gets wet." I thought it was absurd, but after some research online, I discovered that a lot of people feel that way. :confused: DH insists it isn't true, but we're both white, so maybe we're just used to it. :lol: Thoughts? (Personally, it didn't really offend me, since I don't mind the smell of dogs...)

[trolleypup]

Seriously? I've never heard that. The gay men I've met all have really "styled" hair, not long.
This is the stereotype from the casually homophobic crowd. The reality is that a long haired man is much more likely to be straight!

Hmm...long haired guys are likely to be free thinkers, druggies, hippies, bikers, metalheads, or Native American (seriously!). :rolleyes: I've been accused or labeled as all of these plus the above ones.

[Neneka]

I have one! Maybe it's accurate, but I don't know. :shrug: My best friend (who is African American) once told me that "white people smell like dogs when their hair gets wet." I thought it was absurd, but after some research online, I discovered that a lot of people feel that way. :confused: DH insists it isn't true, but we're both white, so maybe we're just used to it. :lol: Thoughts? (Personally, it didn't really offend me, since I don't mind the smell of dogs...)

I have heard this too (on the internet. Not IRL) but I doubt it's a fact. Maybe it's partly true. Like originally white people come from cooler climates and when they go to warmer places where "non-white" people live they maybe sweat more and then smell because their bodies are not used to that climate. Maybe they produce more sebum too. I don't really know.

[Yozhik]

I just recently encountered this one - because my hair is longer than the norm I must not know anything about "fashionable cuts" and must also be more "traditional/conservative."

Harrumph!

[Ayjay]

A girl in my biology class braided my hair for me, and said it felt like dog hair...
Ouch. I'm a cat person anyway.

My dog has quite soft fur...I'd take it as a compliment!

[Sharysa]

My dog practically has "people hair." Occasionally when I play with her and my braid or a lock of hair falls on her, it blends in perfectly texture-wise.


I think it just really annoys me when people think that the only kind of softness there is is "silky soft" and if it's not that, then it's not soft at all. I just wonder, "Don't these people love soft teeshirts?" Or perhaps people secretly hate cotton and would just wear silk all the time if they could?

Well, considering how narrow the ideals of beauty/fashion are, of course they'd think coarse hair is weird. Plus, it might be that cotton is too "normal" for most people to think highly of.

[AnqeIicDemise]

I guess, for me, the bolded is the thing. For me, comparing my hair to someone who has fine hair is a trap. Just like comparing my hair to someone's hair that loosely curls is a trap. All it does is going to make me feel bad. I had to learn to love my 4a-afro hair and not compare it to 3c clumpy curls (or even 4a clumpy curls). Cause in society, the 3c clumpy curls are valued more than hair that is an afro. And I'm never going to have curls that clump. Just like I'm never going to have hair that feels like silk. And the more I compare my hair to hair that is unlike mine, the less value I will see in my own hair.

I can't say that my experience is the same for everyone. A lot of people have more self-confidence about these things. It's just that when I was growing up, I was teased mercilessly, even bullied, because of my hair. Because my hair was "rough" and wouldn't lay down. And I honestly believed my hair would always be rough because it was coarse and that it was ugly hair because it wouldn't lay down flat. Those things were (and are) common knowledge. So for me, the best thing was to realize that coarse hair could be soft but in a way that was unique to coarse hair. (And to learn that hair that didn't lay down could be awesome in a way that's unique to hair that doesn't lay.) That's why it bothers me so much when people say coarse hair = rough hair. It's like saying 4a hair = bad hair. Neither of those things are true and can be damaging to people's self-concepts, even though 99% of the time people aren't being malicious.


I'll be the first to admit that I thought the same. The only coarse hair I'd ever seen was either my own or my bff's hair and ours was caused due to heat damage/neglect. I equated coarse hair with damage for many, many years.

Then I discovered all those wonderful youtube videos about hair. ^-^ I fell in love with curls. The tighter the curl, the more gorgeous it is to me. Curly hair is magic!

Anyhow, ltdr, I made an African American friend with natural hair. (I grew up in a primarily Vietnamese community.) Oh. My. Her hair is *AWESOME*... and despite the tight curls and the coarseness, she has the most softest hair, ever. I have to sit on my hands whenever I see her because I just want to play with her hair. I want to fluff it. Its as soft as the softest yarn I've ever touched. [eta and I mention yarn because it is soft and fluffy and while not 'silky', it is still soft. Its just a different texture. Also, because of the post above me made me think about it too. There is softness other than silk. And it can be just as gorgeous as anything else too.]

I swear, ever since I started on my long hair journey, I've never, ever, ever, looked at hair the same way again. Curly or otherwise.

[Carrie Ingalls]

Some classics that I have gotten numerous times are:
a). that I am not allowed/permitted to cut my hair.
b). I must have never ever cut my hair.
c). obviously I've never heard of donating hair to charity.
d). I must be a hippy/treehugger

And an amusing one, that I guess is sort of a reverse stereotype are the comments I've gotten that "Ive never seen a white girl wrap her hair like that" or "back in my country the women wear wraps like that, but I've never seen someone from here do that." Those comments were not as much a comment on my hair as they were commenting on my Buffs (which I wear most of the time).

[prettyhairisred]

I do wish I had Asian texture hair instead of white though! Out of my friends who are Asian, even those with wavy hair like mine, the texture just feels different. It's really hard to explain, like the stands are thicker? Anyways, all that I know is that their hair can be heat treated, died and treated roughly and still look beautiful and grow long, whearas when they do the same things to my hair the poor thing

[Diamond.Eyes]

A lot of people assume that I'm Irish because I'm a ginger, but I am actually Scandinavian (Norwegian). I recently found out that 5%-10% of people with Irish and Scottish background have Viking/Scandinavian ancestry, which means that many Irish/Scottish redheads are actually Scandinavian redheads. It's confusing, but most redheads in the world are of Scandinavian descent. :p

[Maelyssa]

A lot of people assume that I'm Irish because I'm a ginger, but I am actually Scandinavian (Norwegian). I recently found out that 5%-10% of people with Irish and Scottish background have Viking/Scandinavian ancestry, which means that many Irish/Scottish redheads are actually Scandinavian redheads. It's confusing, but most redheads in the world are of Scandinavian descent. :p

Not to derail the thread but it's like that for Russian heritage as well. On my father's side, our Russian ancestors come from early Vikings. Hence why you see some taller with lighter colored hair and some stockier with darker hair. At least very generally speaking.
I was once very very very obsessed with my heritage. :)

[Springlets]

I'd believe it, a family I grew up with had Norwegian background and half of them were light blonde and half were red-haired. All of them were very tall, haha. :)

[Sagi1982]

My turn:
- blondes have babyfine hair. (I'm a natural light ashblonde and have coarse, thick hair. :p)
- brunettes are serious and honest
- people of Celtic descent are redheaded, people of German, Dutch or Scnadinavian descent are light blonde (too bad my grandgrandmother was a Roma woman and blackhaired *rofl*)
- redheads are wild, brave and eccentric (some of them sure - but also some of all hair colors ;))

[gthlvrmx]

According to one hair website (was it naturallycurly?), whether you're a wavy or a curly depends on how fine the hair is. Straight hair is baby fine, wavy hair strands are a bit thicker, and curly hair is coarse. :rolleyes: I guess because just sticking with these simple types is easier than saying that there are different strand thicknesses for each texture?
yeahhhh everyones hair is different XD my dads hair is like a 4c and its finer than mine XD my moms hair is very straight and is coarse while mine is curly and its m/f XD so its really off, black people can have fine hair

and about the striahgt hair thing....wow thats one thing my old black friends told me.....they said no blac person has straight hair, if it is, its a weave
and im like WUT

i couldnt believe it XD i always thought some black ppl had striaght hair O.o i think it can be possible! i think so ??? i mean asians can have curly hair so why cant black people have straight hair..ive seen them have wavy hair! that's true though she was mixed with chinese :P

[chen bao jun]

yeahhhh everyones hair is different XD my dads hair is like a 4c and its finer than mine XD my moms hair is very straight and is coarse while mine is curly and its m/f XD so its really off, black people can have fine hair

and about the striahgt hair thing....wow thats one thing my old black friends told me.....they said no blac person has straight hair, if it is, its a weave
and im like WUT

i couldnt believe it XD i always thought some black ppl had striaght hair O.o i think it can be possible! i think so ??? i mean asians can have curly hair so why cant black people have straight hair..ive seen them have wavy hair! that's true though she was mixed with chinese :P
As I mentioned before, some black people have 1b type hair. I have several relatives who do. We consider ourselves to be black. We are mixed with British, Jewish and Asian Indian, but we definitely have African ancestry. These people definitely do not have hairweaves.
My oldest son had completely straight hair, no wave in it whatsoever, until he was four years then but then it went very curly, he is a 3c now (he's 26). But one of my aunts (she's 92, one nephew and several second cousins have 1b hair. They vary in complexion. My aunt is very white and when she tells people she is of African descent, they don't believe her, but my nephew is darker than I am and some of the cousins are chocolate colored, their features vary so far as being narrow or broad, some of them look quite African but people tend to assume they are Asian Indian because of the stereotype that African descent means you can't have naturally straight hair.


I have one! Maybe it's accurate, but I don't know. :shrug: My best friend (who is African American) once told me that "white people smell like dogs when their hair gets wet." I thought it was absurd, but after some research online, I discovered that a lot of people feel that way. :confused: DH insists it isn't true, but we're both white, so maybe we're just used to it. :lol: Thoughts? (Personally, it didn't really offend me, since I don't mind the smell of dogs...)
I never thought white people smell any particular way, and not different from black people and I actually never heard this stereotype before. It sounds -- strange.
Maybe it depends on what the person eats? When I was in China, I was there six months when several people said, 'you don't smell foreign anymore'. I was like, 'what do you mean' and they said'foreigners smell different from us, we think its because you eat so much more meat.'


I had to learn to love my 4a-afro hair and not compare it to 3c clumpy curls (or even 4a clumpy curls). Cause in society, the 3c clumpy curls are valued more than hair that is an afro. And I'm never going to have curls that clump. Just like I'm never going to have hair that feels like silk. And the more I compare my hair to hair that is unlike mine, the less value I will see in my own hair.



Well, you have beautiful hair, lacefrost and also you are very pretty.
You are young, like in your twenties. Even if I didn't see your photo I would have known that from the bolded quote above. "Society' at least the black part of it, loves curls that clump nowadays. This was not always so. Fifty years ago society didn't love curls, period. Even white girls who had curls were ironing them out (sometimes with a clothes iron, on an ironing board). Nobody cared whether your afro hair was curly or non curly, you were supposed to get as straight as possible, bone straight. My curls most certainly clump, naturally, I don't need any product to have clumps all over the place, but I also have low porosity hair that doesn't ever get bone straight. I can get the curls out with heat with chemicals but am left with poufy coarse looking frizz. I can tell you, this was not desirable. People were always scolding me for not being properly groomed and not caring about my appearance. While my sister, who has 4a hair, no curls, but it is fine and can get very straight with a perm and have that 'swing' as they called, was considered to have what is obnoxiously called 'good' hair, more than me. Both of us have hair that grows as long as our shoulder blades without LHC methods so my hair at least was 'long' but I can assure you 'society' did not like it.
You can't go by what 'society' likes because it changes every few years.


Yes, my hair is like thick thread. I can strings beads on it. And yeah, no my hair isn't silky soft at all. That's the finies domain. My hair is cottony soft. And when it's straight, just like yours, it fluffs all about in the slightest breeze. (Which I think is very cool in a superhero kind of way). I think it just really annoys me when people think that the only kind of softness there is is "silky soft" and if it's not that, then it's not soft at all. I just wonder, "Don't these people love soft teeshirts?" Or perhaps people secretly hate cotton and would just wear silk all the time if they could?

My hair just simply isn't any kind of soft. It is not cottony soft, it is not silky soft, it is not soft. It is not rough either. It is sproingy and bouncy and full of body and alive and it obviously feels good to people to play with (I can't get other people to keep their hands out of it, whether black or white and you should have seen how crazy Chinese people were about it in Taiwan) and so I feel completely unworried about 'softness'. I know people who have beautiful hair which feels soft (like my mom and sister) but obviously, its not the only good quality to have in hair.


Some classics that I have gotten numerous times are:
a). that I am not allowed/permitted to cut my hair.
b). I must have never ever cut my hair.
c). obviously I've never heard of donating hair to charity.
d). I must be a hippy/treehugger

And an amusing one, that I guess is sort of a reverse stereotype are the comments I've gotten that "Ive never seen a white girl wrap her hair like that" or "back in my country the women wear wraps like that, but I've never seen someone from here do that." Those comments were not as much a comment on my hair as they were commenting on my Buffs (which I wear most of the time).
What's a buff?

Did anyone already mention the stereotype that women with curlier hair are more 'sexy' or 'willing' or 'wild.'
I don't know where this one came from but it does seem like a fair amount of men think that the woman with less smooth and tidy hair will like, just jump into the sack with them at the first suggestion--or if they don't actually think that, they fantasize that.
I think this is why in business the demand is always that you keep your hair under perfect control, if not cropped very short, then perfectly smooth and pulled back. so the guys around the board room table don't start thinking about sex.
I've always found this particular stereotype very obnoxious.

[HintOfMint]

Did anyone already mention the stereotype that women with curlier hair are more 'sexy' or 'willing' or 'wild.'
I don't know where this one came from but it does seem like a fair amount of men think that the woman with less smooth and tidy hair will like, just jump into the sack with them at the first suggestion--or if they don't actually think that, they fantasize that.
I think this is why in business the demand is always that you keep your hair under perfect control, if not cropped very short, then perfectly smooth and pulled back. so the guys around the board room table don't start thinking about sex.
I've always found this particular stereotype very obnoxious.

Woah, really? I knew about the whole corporate straight hair thing but I've always heard other reasons related to grooming, neatness, homogeneous, and "less ethnic"--all horrible and unfair, but not the sexual willingness part of it.

As far as the stereotype in general, I've heard magazines say "messy bed head is sexy" (some variant of loose curling-iron waves) as a style for marketing purposes and I know the image is sold as "sexy," but I don't know if men make that real-life leap to assuming wavy and curly haired people are more wild. I have many male friends and they make assumptions about women, sure, but it's usually based on clothes, demeanor and well... an actual history of having sex with a lot of men.:p

[dwell_in_safety]

I have heard this too (on the internet. Not IRL) but I doubt it's a fact. Maybe it's partly true. Like originally white people come from cooler climates and when they go to warmer places where "non-white" people live they maybe sweat more and then smell because their bodies are not used to that climate. Maybe they produce more sebum too. I don't really know.

Yep, it is because white people do produce more sebum, on average. :) sebum smells much more when it's wet.

[Sharysa]

I don't know where this one came from but it does seem like a fair amount of men think that the woman with less smooth and tidy hair will like, just jump into the sack with them at the first suggestion--or if they don't actually think that, they fantasize that.


I do wish I had Asian texture hair instead of white though! Out of my friends who are Asian, even those with wavy hair like mine, the texture just feels different. It's really hard to explain, like the stands are thicker? Anyways, all that I know is that their hair can be heat treated, died and treated roughly and still look beautiful and grow long, whearas when they do the same things to my hair the poor thing

When my hair was getting straightened/blow-dried/washed-frequently in high school, it was pretty lifeless. It ended up looking stick straight for a few years, but it never really looked good until I consciously started taking care of it in mid-2011.

[Anje]

Yep, it is because white people do produce more sebum, on average. :) sebum smells much more when it's wet.

This is what I've heard, too. We're greasier on average.

[gthlvrmx]

I never thought white people smell any particular way, and not different from black people and I actually never heard this stereotype before. It sounds -- strange.
Maybe it depends on what the person eats? When I was in China, I was there six months when several people said, 'you don't smell foreign anymore'. I was like, 'what do you mean' and they said'foreigners smell different from us, we think its because you eat so much more meat.'
you are wht you eat :P ppl smell differently based on what they eat. :P you eat garlic, you might smell like garlic ;D
my us history teacher told us that someone made a racist remark saying that black people smell bad and something else and their hair smells bad and he was like "thats cuz they differently maybe. not everyone but majority yes. that's why some indians and filipinos smell differently. walk into their homes and it smells different. ppl who eat like you their homes will smell similar to yours"
and i was like WOA. makes sense. XD my room will smell weird XD i eat way different i dont eat all that junk food and fatty food :P i think its true. my family from mexico do smell different but once they were here and ate our food, showered in our water and all that they started smelling more like us XD i could tell i smelled differently when i got to mexico i was like woa...omg theyre looking at us i dont fit in XD

my mom and i have sensitive noses :P

and yeah the smelly hair smell my friends told me i had whent hey said "your hair smells like a black girls hair" and i wa like....i hanvet washed my hair in 2 weeks -_- butt. and then old black friend told me...umm yeahh it might smell like that if you dont take care of your hair/scalp and some blakc girls don't really well cuz they want to keeptheir hair striaght or not too dry soo...it smells.

and i was like my bad XD wash experimenting with hair :P

but yeah you can tell it shows in your oils with what you eat how you will smell :P you hair will give off a different smell :P

[gthlvrmx]

Did anyone already mention the stereotype that women with curlier hair are more 'sexy' or 'willing' or 'wild.'
I don't know where this one came from but it does seem like a fair amount of men think that the woman with less smooth and tidy hair will like, just jump into the sack with them at the first suggestion--or if they don't actually think that, they fantasize that.
I think this is why in business the demand is always that you keep your hair under perfect control, if not cropped very short, then perfectly smooth and pulled back. so the guys around the board room table don't start thinking about sex.
I've always found this particular stereotype very obnoxious.

it's extremely obnoxious. when my hair is curly ppl think im some rocker/metal head who smokes pot and has bad morals/values

and im like...you got allthat from my hair?! O.o?

wow. since when does your hair being curly have to do with your morals and values...i don't even understand the smoking pot part it doesnt mean youre a bad person XD
ive never been into rock/metal music ever!! XD

so it's odd. with my hair down, people think im more crazy and wild and like something wild! cuz thats when the men approach me the ones who like it kinda crazy :P
which is odd...cuz im like...im not that crazy im fun and all but..wtf? jokes on them i never wear my hair down anyways XD its in a bun all the time so no one's ever gonna see it. but i dont wear dark colors anymore so people don't think im into super dark heavy metal stuff just slighlty but im still like...wtf...this is such a weird stereotype. i just wear bright colors and shorts...all the time..XDXD
honestly the bun never changes only some ppl notice when my bun gets bigger or if its in a new style thats it :P they get all happy about it when its a complicated braided bun :P


when my hair is in a bun, no one realy notices XD cant wait until my hair is to my knees and see how people react and what they think XD i think i fit in a lot more with the pacific islander crowd when it comes to hair XD once people hear i dance hula, theyre like OHH ok not rocker youre hawaiiian!

and im still like..wtf? noo i dance HULA! HULLAA. XD it does not mean im hawaiian XD hula dancers dont have to be hawaiian to be dancinh hula you can be white...or black..or mix...or mexican...or whatever race really color doesnt matter XD no one cares what race you are you just dance iono. stereotypes. i leave em alone.

long hair for guys the stereotype is so messed up many ppl think youre some rowdy noncaring s.o.b who drinks and parties like crazy and just is strange or off.
the younger generations think youre cool for being rebellious
and im like....iii just love my hair XD long hair foreverr ;D

but once you get to floor length theyre like, rebellious or just weird? O.o? XDXDXD

more like i do what i want when i want :P

[marykatz]

A lot of people assume that I'm Irish because I'm a ginger, but I am actually Scandinavian (Norwegian). I recently found out that 5%-10% of people with Irish and Scottish background have Viking/Scandinavian ancestry, which means that many Irish/Scottish redheads are actually Scandinavian redheads. It's confusing, but most redheads in the world are of Scandinavian descent. :p

That is interesting. I just meant an entire family of red heads and I asked if they were Irish and they said they were of Jewish descent. I said "people must ask you if you are Irish all of the time" and she said "no never". So I felt like maybe that was a bad thing for me to say.
I also have a red headed friend who thinks the term "ginger" is derogatory.

People tell me I have typical "insert derogatory term for an Italian here" Hair and I should straighten it, get a keratin treatment etc..

[chen bao jun]

Yep, it is because white people do produce more sebum, on average. :) sebum smells much more when it's wet.
I know white people on average produce more sebum than black people (I have no idea where Asians fit into this scenario). But to me that just explained why white people washed their hair so VERY often, like daily (that was before I knew the people on this forum). I didn't associate it with any sort of smell. (and I have a very keen nose). Also, I hate to say, but I have been around black people who were very racist against white people in the past, and I still am occasionally. (my father almost joined the black muslims about forty years, you want to hear racism, listen to them. Louis Farrakhan is a current spokesperson). I have heard all kinds of obnoxious, racist, anti-white people remarks. But I have never ever heard that white people smell bad, or like wet dogs in particular.

[chen bao jun]

you are wht you eat :P ppl smell differently based on what they eat. :P you eat garlic, you might smell like garlic ;D
my us history teacher told us that someone made a racist remark saying that black people smell bad and something else and their hair smells bad and he was like "thats cuz they differently maybe. not everyone but majority yes. that's why some indians and filipinos smell differently. walk into their homes and it smells different. ppl who eat like you their homes will smell similar to yours"
and i was like WOA. makes sense. XD my room will smell weird XD i eat way different i dont eat all that junk food and fatty food :P i think its true. my family from mexico do smell different but once they were here and ate our food, showered in our water and all that they started smelling more like us XD i could tell i smelled differently when i got to mexico i was like woa...omg theyre looking at us i dont fit in XD

my mom and i have sensitive noses :P

and yeah the smelly hair smell my friends told me i had whent hey said "your hair smells like a black girls hair" and i wa like....i hanvet washed my hair in 2 weeks -_- butt. and then old black friend told me...umm yeahh it might smell like that if you dont take care of your hair/scalp and some blakc girls don't really well cuz they want to keeptheir hair striaght or not too dry soo...it smells.

and i was like my bad XD wash experimenting with hair :P

but yeah you can tell it shows in your oils with what you eat how you will smell :P you hair will give off a different smell :P

The idea that black people smelled bad started during slavery. Weeks on a slave ship packed together and after that living in a situation where you did heavy outdoor work all day and did not have access to proper sanitation, you would smell bad too.
Other odd ideas started at that time, such as that black people in Africa ran around naked without clothes (clothes were taken away when packed on the ship), that there were no cities and no major civilizations there and other such stereotypes, all meant to prove how slavery was really a good thing. It's unfortunate that so many of these stereotypes have lasted and also how people, swinging the other way, have gotten oversensitive about noticing that there any differences between black and white people, though there are obviously are and differences are not necessarily a bad thing.
It is true that black women wash their hair less than white women do--not every single black woman, but a lot of us. As you on LHC know, not washing your hair every single day doesn't actually mean that it smells bad--though you get accused of it, if you give this information out. I for one could never wash my hair daily, or even every other day, because curly hair is dryer and I also (like a lot of black women) have a dry scalp, producing little to no sebum. My hair does not get greasy from not being washed every day, as it CAN'T (no sebum to speak of). I read posts with confusion where people talk about how greasy their scalps get, because it just does not happen to me. I have always washed my hair once a week and I think that is common in the black community. In the old days when hair was straightened with a hot iron, a person washed their hair on Friday night and had it pressed Saturday morning and then put in curlers to be ready for Sunday. When the chemical straightening came in, a person washed their hair and blowdried on Saturday and used a hot iron to curl it up on Sunday morning. I have never ever heard of not washing your hair for extreme periods of time in order to preserve the straightening in it. (Extreme meaning, less than once a week.)
There are nasty people in every race, so I couldn't say that there is no such thing as a black person who walks around with nasty hair that smells. But you couldn't generalize it as the norm. Even when black women wear these hairstyles that they keep for months, such as certain types of braids, they are regularly washed, sometimes through a stocking cap or something. In fact a reason many black women have historically had hair that falls out, so appears not to grow is the fact that they were washing their hair in sulphate shampoos that can't be tolerated in black hairtypes, not even once a week, since they are especially drying to curly hair types and scalps that don't produce much, if any sebum, so the hair was always dry and easily broke off.

[chen bao jun]

That is interesting. I just meant an entire family of red heads and I asked if they were Irish and they said they were of Jewish descent. I said "people must ask you if you are Irish all of the time" and she said "no never".
If you read older books, which are unfortunately quite often openly anti-semitic, one of the stereotypes about Jews is that they have red hair.
I have not noticed Jewish people I have known (and I have known a ton, growing up in New York City) to be more prone to red hair than anyone else, and in fact, I am never able to tell if someone is Jewish from the way they look. I might make a guess if I hear certain sorts of last names, or an accent (though accents are not common anymore as Jewish people usually have been here for several generations) or see someone wearing jewelry such as a star of David or a 'chi'. But I've never seen any difference between Eastern European descent Jews and other people from Eastern Europe--and clearly Hitler didn't see any difference either, or he wouldn't have made people wear yellow stars to pick them out.
I was good friends with a Jewish-Christian mixed religion couple once. The woman, who was not one bit Jewish, but had thick, very curly reddish hair (she was Irish or Scottish descent, something like that) was continually having people assume she was Jewish because she had curls that went frizzy sometimes. (No one said anything about it being red). The man, who was the Jewish one, usually just had people commenting what extremely blue eyes he had and how good-looking he was with the blue eyes and fair skin and dark hair, and nobody ever thought he was Jewish until he gave the last name. But his hair never frizzed.
Such is the power of stereotype.

[neko_kawaii]

Funny about the red hair stories. I was shopping with my red curly haired mother ages ago when a shopkeeper stopped us to ask her if her family came from a specific county in Ireland that is known for its combination of red hair and brown eyes. While, yes, she has Irish ancestors, they aren't very recent and there are too many other possible sources for her brown eyes to attribute them to a specific county.

[Alun]

Men shouldn't have long hair
A man with long hair is gay

lalala!

I'm not sure that the people who say this actually believe it. It's more like they are just trying to annoy us.

[gthlvrmx]

The idea that black people smelled bad started during slavery. Weeks on a slave ship packed together and after that living in a situation where you did heavy outdoor work all day and did not have access to proper sanitation, you would smell bad too.
Other odd ideas started at that time, such as that black people in Africa ran around naked without clothes (clothes were taken away when packed on the ship), that there were no cities and no major civilizations there and other such stereotypes, all meant to prove how slavery was really a good thing. It's unfortunate that so many of these stereotypes have lasted and also how people, swinging the other way, have gotten oversensitive about noticing that there any differences between black and white people, though there are obviously are and differences are not necessarily a bad thing.
It is true that black women wash their hair less than white women do--not every single black woman, but a lot of us. As you on LHC know, not washing your hair every single day doesn't actually mean that it smells bad--though you get accused of it, if you give this information out. I for one could never wash my hair daily, or even every other day, because curly hair is dryer and I also (like a lot of black women) have a dry scalp, producing little to no sebum. My hair does not get greasy from not being washed every day, as it CAN'T (no sebum to speak of). I read posts with confusion where people talk about how greasy their scalps get, because it just does not happen to me. I have always washed my hair once a week and I think that is common in the black community. In the old days when hair was straightened with a hot iron, a person washed their hair on Friday night and had it pressed Saturday morning and then put in curlers to be ready for Sunday. When the chemical straightening came in, a person washed their hair and blowdried on Saturday and used a hot iron to curl it up on Sunday morning. I have never ever heard of not washing your hair for extreme periods of time in order to preserve the straightening in it. (Extreme meaning, less than once a week.)
There are nasty people in every race, so I couldn't say that there is no such thing as a black person who walks around with nasty hair that smells. But you couldn't generalize it as the norm. Even when black women wear these hairstyles that they keep for months, such as certain types of braids, they are regularly washed, sometimes through a stocking cap or something. In fact a reason many black women have historically had hair that falls out, so appears not to grow is the fact that they were washing their hair in sulphate shampoos that can't be tolerated in black hairtypes, not even once a week, since they are especially drying to curly hair types and scalps that don't produce much, if any sebum, so the hair was always dry and easily broke off.

yeahh :P i heard about that the whole thing about slavery.
my head smells different than my brothers head though but we use the same products now? its still slightly different.
it doesnt smell as bad anymore because well i taught him how to wash his hair XD butttt iono my moms hair smells different and my dads head smells the worst XD which is odd. my sebum whatever i dunno XD and then ppl tell me boys smell more than girls and im like ionoo...kinda yeah? XDXDXD maybe its a hormone thing :P
i think washing your hair once a week is too much if youre hair is in like braids and stuff XD to keep the style wouldnt it be best every 2 weeks?
i did it every other and it still itched like crazy i hated ittttt. so bad. made my hair fall out too much weight and just awful and my scalp did have a weird smell i sweat a lot and yeah gross no never again .XD
mmm as for the hair that seems not to grow, the braided styles that are so tight seem to be really a big blame. plus how dry it can get plus if it's really curly hair, it looks like its not growing.
they say those braids dont pull out your hair or cause hairful and im like...wut a lie...XD depends on how sensitive your scalp is but still...repeated stress and stuff will cause it to fall those braids arent coming off everyday to rest your natural hair that is being pulled XD if you have thick hair, yeah, they take tinier chunks if you get like medium sized braids and noppee. not good. wear it for a month and its gonna pull something

i mean at the point when they told me "yeah you get headaches! always in the beginning for the first 2 weeks" thats when im like NOPE. THIS IS NOT A GOOD HAIRSTYLE. any safe hairstyle should not pull or tug and when it gets to the point where you get headaches and you gotta wait for it to leave after 2 weeks yeah noo....not good. XD
all i remember is our neighbors kids had type 4 hair and type 3 and the one who got cornrows her hair got cut after they took it out and it just didnt look the same, down to her shoulders and the other girl refused to get any cuz she liked her hair long, it was like classic length when you stretched it :P i think maybe longer, her hair was like almost buttcrack when curly or tbl :P really pretty :P

[gthlvrmx]

I'm not sure that the people who say this actually believe it. It's more like they are just trying to annoy us.

yeah theyre dumb....a man with long hair is gay?
i dont understand how native american cultures and pacific islander cultures even survived well enough to make more babies if men with long hair are gay..O.o??? (the ones that have their males have long hair XD)
probably trying to annoy us but theres nthing offensive or insulting in being gay so its not an insult XD
watevs ill flaunt ma style ;D

[KarisaLightYear]

Hi. :D I'm Asian. I live in Southern California, so there's plenty of Asians here! Among my friends (most of them Southern Asians), I'm the only one with naturally pin straight hair. They all have natural waves and curls, and straighten their hair lol. I'm Filipino (w/ Spanish/Chinese) by the way. Most other Filipinos I know have waves or curls. I'm the only one in my family other than my dad who has straight hair. But yeah, unless you're around a lot of East Asians, you probably won't find naturally straight hair among Asians often. Even the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean girls I met had to straighten their hair.

[Seeshami]

I'm not sure that the people who say this actually believe it. It's more like they are just trying to annoy us.

Nah they are just in denial that long hair is awesome no matter what the gender.

[AnqeIicDemise]

yeah theyre dumb....a man with long hair is gay?
i dont understand how native american cultures and pacific islander cultures even survived well enough to make more babies if men with long hair are gay..O.o??? (the ones that have their males have long hair XD)
probably trying to annoy us but theres nthing offensive or insulting in being gay so its not an insult XD
watevs ill flaunt ma style ;D

Ya try telling such a thing to an ancient nord and see what happens, I always say. People often forget/don't know that what is common today for heteros to wear/do were once the opposite. Like pink for boys, tights for women, receding hair lines, etc.

[chen bao jun]

i think washing your hair once a week is too much if youre hair is in like braids and stuff XD to keep the style wouldnt it be best every 2 weeks?
i did it every other and it still itched like crazy i hated ittttt. so bad. made my hair fall out too much weight and just awful and my scalp did have a weird smell i sweat a lot and yeah gross no never again .XD ...
they say those braids dont pull out your hair or cause hairful and im like...wut a lie...XD depends on how sensitive your scalp is but still...repeated stress and stuff will cause it to fall those braids arent coming off everyday to rest your natural hair that is being pulled XD if you have thick hair, yeah, they take tinier chunks if you get like medium sized braids and noppee. not good. wear it for a month and its gonna pull something
:P
Interesting. I was only talking about braided hairstyles with your own hair, not braids with extensions. Extensions will certainly make your hair fall out. And braids that are too tight do make you bald around the edges eventually, sometimes permanently. But I thought people did wash them weekly. the one time that I got microbraids (no extensions, I've never had those), I was told to put on a nylon stocking cap and wash my scalp through the nylon. I would still think washing every two weeks is sort of waiting a little too long, but maybe there are people who can go that long between washes. For me, its 5-7 days. My hair and scalp are incredibly dry when I try to do less than 4-5 days, but anything after 7 days feels gross. I have never known my hair to smell bad (not just that I am sensitive to bad smells but my husband really is and he would tell me)--I don't know at what point it would smell bad, but I have no intention of trying to find out.

[chen bao jun]

Some people just don't like long hair on men, though they should not try to push their preferences on others by making remarks of any sort.
I think long hair for men goes in and out of style just like long hair for women and has nothing to do with masculinity. Personally, I rather like longish hair on guys (though my husband would never wear his hair even slightly long, that's his preference.)
As for 'being' gay, you can't 'be' gay, it's something you do, and has nothing to do with your fashion choices or hair length. Nowadays you really don't have to guess at this, since people are only too anxious to tell you ALL about their private lives, whether or not you want to hear. The whole subject bores me incredibly.

[alexis917]

Some classics that I have gotten numerous times are:
a). that I am not allowed/permitted to cut my hair.
b). I must have never ever cut my hair.
c). obviously I've never heard of donating hair to charity.
d). I must be a hippy/treehugger

And an amusing one, that I guess is sort of a reverse stereotype are the comments I've gotten that "Ive never seen a white girl wrap her hair like that" or "back in my country the women wear wraps like that, but I've never seen someone from here do that." Those comments were not as much a comment on my hair as they were commenting on my Buffs (which I wear most of the time).

The you have long hair you must be a hippie one seems to be popular. I don't know why that is.
Ironically, a lot of women with longish hair in my town dye it, which I don't think is particularly eco-friendly.

[lacefrost]

Well, you have beautiful hair, lacefrost and also you are very pretty.
You are young, like in your twenties. Even if I didn't see your photo I would have known that from the bolded quote above. "Society' at least the black part of it, loves curls that clump nowadays. This was not always so.

Thank you. That is very sweet of you to say. :flower:

Society always changes in what it likes and does not like. All I can do is talk about my experience in current society and hope that will cause people to see the other side of things. And then one day, hopefully, society will change again for the better.

[alexis917]

Thank you. That is very sweet of you to say. :flower:

Society always changes in what it likes and does not like. All I can do is talk about my experience in current society and hope that will cause people to see the other side of things. And then one day, hopefully, society will change again for the better.

I agree, you do have great hair!
I always admire women of color for wearing their natural hair,
it seems like such a rarity around here, and it's interesting to see them conforming to their own standards of beauty.
It's also cool to see how different everyone's hair type and texture is!

[Sharysa]

I'm just reviving this thread because I've read a few posts here going "I wish I had that lovely straight Asian hair!"

Asians do not all have straight hair. Non-Asians rarely know this because most Asians straighten the crap out of their hair to fit in with that ideal. I did that in high school (because my hair was layered and wouldn't lie properly without it), and it took me getting to LHC to figure out that my hair was actually wavy, not "unmanageable but straight."

This article is awesome about the "Asian hair" stereotype: http://audreymagazine.com/breaking-the-asian-myth-asian-hair/

Also, there was a tiny tangent in another thread about different hair-colors being stereotyped, which fascinates me. A lot of non-Asians gush about my black hair, but I don't really see anything special because all my family has it. And it's a pretty big family--my mother has ten siblings and I lose track of all my cousins. Plus, I live in an area with a lot of other dark-haired people, including a lot of Asian-Americans (Northern California). I've struggled a lot with not having the rare blue-black hair. My hair color is difficult for me because it rarely photographs well, it doesn't show details so I can't do really intricate styles, and it blends in with 80% of the other Asian-Americans.

To flip the image, I like the spectrum of dark-blond/light-brown hair and it upsets me that a lot of those people hate their hair and they either lighten or darken it. I also love red hair and I hate how redheads (especially in Europe) are actively ridiculed or bullied. Sophie Turner dyes her hair red to play Sansa Stark, one of my most favorite characters ever, and while the media tends to love it, she mentions she's been made fun of for "being ginger."

[Key]

The biggest stereotype I hear is that only white people can be naturally blond.

[lunasea]

Gray hair will make you look years older.

A bun will make you look like an old lady.

Your hair is too thin and fine to: grow long, have a blunt cut, exist in nature, and is basically an affront to everyone if it's not properly styled, etc.

Ash brown hair is an unattractive color.

OMG, why did I get started; I could go on for days.

[Entangled]

The one that annoys me the most is that damaged/dry hair is "coarse" and that coarse hair isn't soft. It annoys me to no end because I find those beliefs even on this forum. I often seem to run into posts where someone complains that their hair feels coarse. Or people are complaining about their hair being "coarse and wiry", (especially in the gray-haired posts.) While I understand this is simply ignorance it annoys me at best and is hurtful at worse. Most of my hair is coarse. All of my hair is incredibly soft. Not like silk but soft like your favorite t-shirt, soft like the Egyptian Pima cotton sheets you put on your bed, soft like the fluffiest dog ever. But everywhere I look people are trying to fix their "dry coarse ends." Gives me the sad face.
I see why that woul be frustrating and a little insulting. However, I think something to keep in mind is that the one of the reasons we call coarse hair course is because we would get a little confused talking about thick hair (iii) vs. thick hairs (c). Coarse is often used to mean rough, like a coarse blanket or coarse manners. I looked at the definitions of the word:

-composed of relatively large parts or particles: The beach had rough, coarse sand.
-lacking in fineness or delicacy of texture, structure, etc.: The stiff, coarse fabric irritated her skin.
-harsh; grating.

So by definition one, our C indicator is correct. However, looking at definition two and three, it's easy to see how coarse is a word used to describe damaged ends. I don't think all people think that C hair is rough, though hearing our term might make them think 'coarse' hair is rough hair. I know it's not, because a significnt part of my hair is coarse (all of my under layer. Thank goodness they're resilient; they can take a beating from my collar). I think that LHC people do realize, however, that C hair can be very soft and smooth.

My sister used course to describe her hair when she was frustrated with its texture. She's a wavy more so that me, but always wears her hair straight by brushing wet or blow drying. She's also a iii, and her hair takes up a lot of space, with a little triangle head from blunt ends. When she used coarse, she was talking about its lack of sleekness. However, I know from braiding it that it is m with some f texture on top, and is capable of being smooth. Her hair isn't really touch OR coarse at all. Still, when she wears it down, it can feel rough from the supressed waves. It's semantics, but it explains the word's prevalence.

[chen bao jun]

I've got the rare color of hair that is actually truly black. It was very noticed when I lived in Taiwan. Nobody notices my hair color here. I also have coarse hair. I have just got into the habit of explaining that I mean my single hairs have a thick diameter when I tell people this. Otherwise, they argue. People think 'coarse' is an insult and try to reassure me that mine isn't. Or else, in the African American community, they think coarse means extremely tightly curly, which mine clearly isnt. Interestingly, extremely tightly curly is most often not only fine, but ultra fine hair. And it's not coarse in the sense that it feels rough either, unless it's been very severely damaged and is dry. When it's well cared for, it's the softest feeling hair of all, I have no idea how it could ever have got stereotyped as being rough in feel. It's not silky or smooth or sleek, but is incredibly soft. If my mom would let me, I could play in her hair forever, except that is fragile and I d break it off.

[LongHairLesbian]

I have one! Maybe it's accurate, but I don't know. :shrug: My best friend (who is African American) once told me that "white people smell like dogs when their hair gets wet." I thought it was absurd, but after some research online, I discovered that a lot of people feel that way. :confused: DH insists it isn't true, but we're both white, so maybe we're just used to it. :lol: Thoughts? (Personally, it didn't really offend me, since I don't mind the smell of dogs...)

I think there might be a teeny tiny grain of truth to that, actually. Not all, but a lot of white people have scalps that get oily after a couple of days, some after only one day. Speaking from my own experience, my wet, freshly washed hair smells like hair product. My wet, 2-4 day old, rained on/submerged in lake or pool water hair smells... not dissimilar to dog, albeit not as strongly. I think it's the smell of wet sebum, which tends to reach critical mass on my head after about 3 or 4 days. My rained on, 3 or 4 day hair smells a bit funky. But I don't usually take note of it, because I am used to the smell, and at that point my hair is going to be washed shortly. To someone that doesn't get oily, sebum-y hair, maybe this smell is more pronounced. We are all used to living in different bodies, and experiencing different things. :) But it is pretty rude to say that someone smells like a dog, just because they smell a bit different than you.


I'm just reviving this thread because I've read a few posts here going "I wish I had that lovely straight Asian hair!"

Asians do not all have straight hair. Non-Asians rarely know this because most Asians straighten the crap out of their hair to fit in with that ideal. I did that in high school (because my hair was layered and wouldn't lie properly without it), and it took me getting to LHC to figure out that my hair was actually wavy, not "unmanageable but straight."

This article is awesome about the "Asian hair" stereotype: http://audreymagazine.com/breaking-the-asian-myth-asian-hair/

Also, there was a tiny tangent in another thread about different hair-colors being stereotyped, which fascinates me. A lot of non-Asians gush about my black hair, but I don't really see anything special because all my family has it. And it's a pretty big family--my mother has ten siblings and I lose track of all my cousins. Plus, I live in an area with a lot of other dark-haired people, including a lot of Asian-Americans (Northern California). I've struggled a lot with not having the rare blue-black hair. My hair color is difficult for me because it rarely photographs well, it doesn't show details so I can't do really intricate styles, and it blends in with 80% of the other Asian-Americans.

To flip the image, I like the spectrum of dark-blond/light-brown hair and it upsets me that a lot of those people hate their hair and they either lighten or darken it. I also love red hair and I hate how redheads (especially in Europe) are actively ridiculed or bullied. Sophie Turner dyes her hair red to play Sansa Stark, one of my most favorite characters ever, and while the media tends to love it, she mentions she's been made fun of for "being ginger."

You make a lot of really great points in this post. :) Asian people's hair falls along a really wide spectrum, but the only type that's noticed is the super straight, shiny, thick, pitch black hair... a look that's often actually achieved by extensions, heat styling, and hair dye. It would be like someone saying that the typical "white girl" hair is pin straight, and light blonde, because that's the hair that Taylor Swift has... never mind that she actually straightens and lightens her hair. I have a friend who is filipino, and she has wavy-curly hair (in a perfect, cute little pixie atm!) and a lot of her cousins do too. But most of them straighten.

I guess people covet what they don't have, because I have heard many naturally blonette, "mousy" haired people talk about how disgusting their natural colour is, and many of them colour it darker. A naturally dark brown/black-brown haired white person is considered soooooooo lucky by other white people, as most of them have dark blonde to medium brown hair. Really dark hair is considered special. But it all comes down to perception and what you are used to; if you grew up in an area where 80% of the people have dark brown to black-brown hair, it's not special anymore.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. As a light haired person, I've always been blown away by how much more shine dark hair seems to pick up (blonde hair tends to absorb light, not reflect it), and how it doesn't look dirty as quickly as light hair does. :)

I think that the whole "ginger hate" thing spawned from UK/Europe/NA's stupid beauty standards: 1. the only "good" red/blonde hair colour comes from a bottle, and 2. white people need to be tanned to be pretty/handsome/healthy/strong/normal/whatever. I think that when people are made fun of for "being ginger", they aren't just being put down for their hair colour, but skin colour as well. A pretty, popular, "normal" UK/North American white girl is tanned and bleach blonde, or brunette. Dark red or auburn hair, especially if it comes out of a bottle, is okay. But natural light red hair is associated with paleness, which is super undesirable and ugly to a lot of white people. I keep saying white people because I have never heard of a person of colour giving a rat's hairy @$$ about "gingers" or pale people. It's so ridiculous.

[Entangled]

I can't understand prejudice against red hair--It's always been incredibly gorgeous to me.

[Mimha]

Silky hair

One thing that gets on my nerves is the confusion between shiny and silky, when we talk about hair. I may be a fussy aesthete, but I don't like when people use this very specific adjective on anything that looks like "shiny hair", however beautiful and thudworthy it can be.

By definition, silky hair IS shiny. But shiny hair is NOT NECESSARILY silky, because to be silky, hair must not only be shiny, but it must also have the characteristics of the silk : silk is famous because of the extreme finesse of the threads, its slippery fluidity, its specific way of reflecting the light (satin sheen), and its amazing softness. All this is only achievable by fine straight (or slightly wavy) hair ! Coarse hair can be deadly shiny/glossy/sleeky, etc. but it cannot be truly silky. (It already has a lot of other advantages, so let's keep this one for fine hair^^).

However, a "silky effect" can be obtained even by non-fine haired people by thorough bb-brushing. That's what I do when I want to get the "satin sheen" and soft texture that I so much love, despite the fact that my hair is medium^^ with quite a lot of body. (What ?? I haven't said that it was not allowed to cheat a little, if it's LHC politically correctly done ! :p)

Fine haired ladies, be proud of your hair main wonderful characteristic : your unmatched and mesmerizing silkiness !!!!

[Red'N'Curly]

I'm a redhead so I must be Irish, have a bad temper and be imaginative in bed.

My hair is too curly/thick/tangley to grow long.

My curls are a matted mess and need to be brushed to make them smooth and shiny (lol!)

[TwilightShadow]

I've been told I shouldn't grow my hair long, since I'm short (I'm between 5' and 5'1''). Apparently short people can't look good with long hair.

[Sharysa]

Screw that noise, Hobbit twin! We take a LOT less time to get to landmarks! *is five-feet tall*

[swearnsue]

I'm older with long hair. My dentist asked me today if I was a vegetarian or a vegan. LOL. I wasn't even wearing my Birkenstocks today!

I'm not really sure why he asked me that question. DH said it was because he couldn't find any pieces of meat between my teeth! LOL

[TwilightShadow]

Screw that noise, Hobbit twin! We take a LOT less time to get to landmarks! *is five-feet tall*

Yes, we do. :happydance:

[lady mechanic]

Red hair= firey temper. Yes I get mad. About the same amount or even less than everyone else. But for the most part I'm actually a very shy meek person. My daughter has white blonde hair. People always ask if i color it. Um HELOOOOOOO???? No I don't dye my 6 year Olds hair. It just grows out of her head that color.

[Angels+Eyeliner]

^ my Sister in Law had that incredibly pale blonde hair when she was younger (she calls it Targaryen blonde). People can be so stupid about kids' hair. People ask if my 1yo's hair is natural, because he's blonde (SO has brown, I have red) and because his first pictures show him with brown hair. I can't explain why his hair changed colour when he was a couple of weeks old. And I shouldn't have to.

Having ginger hair and getting some of the smartest grades in the school, I got all kinds of abuse for it. Gingers are 'bods' (geeks, nerds, etc.), ugly, don't have souls, don't feel pain, have bad tempers etc. I've also heard that gingers have a lower pain threshold than average. I haven't decided which applies to me because if you threw a pencil at me in maths class I would swear like mad, but I didn't utter a single curse word during labour.

When I started dying my hair red, people assumed I was blonde and therefore dumb (I guess because the hair dye box only shows you what happens when you put it over blonde or brown hair, and it didn't look dark enough to be red over brown?). When I grew it to bsl the first time, they assumed I was a self obsessed ninny. When I cut it to a ragged bob they assumed I didn't care about anything. When I shaved half of it off, they didn't dare tell me what they thought of me. When I dyed my hair purple they thought I was all fake (I have grey, yellow, dark green rings in my eyes that look green with ginger/red but look unnatural with purple. Just the way I liked it).

I do have a pretty bad temper, but I attribute it to the fact that I was locked in a cupboard for having red hair in school, not the fact that I have red hair on it's own.

[Entangled]

That's horrible! Some of the stuff about pain tolerance is based on some trends seen in experiments, though. Another thing that's true is that the rate of resistance to anesthetics is higher among natural redheads.. Pain is also associated with the same characteristics that go with the resistance. I don't remember enough specifics, but I can look up an article about it, if anyone's interested.

[Stray_mind]

My hair colour is grey, mousy and boring, short hair is much easier to manage, old women with long hair look untidy or like crazy witches, curly hair means more artistic and open minded person.....

[Rushli]

My mom was told that red heads are more resistant to pain meds when she had me. Incidentally, my anesthesialogist said I did take more to numb me for my c/s than a typical gal. I am auburn.

[Avis]

- Black hair + pale skin = goth/metal (nope, I was just made this way)
- Hair lacking in volume needs to be teased. But hair with lots of volume needs to be smoothed.
- Major hair cuts = recent break up
- Jewish people have curly hair
- People who dye their hair unnatural colors are just seeking attention
- Long hair is feminine (guys can totally rock long hair and look masculine!)

Of course there are more but those immediately come to mind along with the whole "All Asians have perfect, straight, silky black hair" stereotype. These are all really annoying too, but it's nice to know that there are people who understand that these things are not always true.

[dancingrain91]

I know what you guys mean about coarse hair having a different sort of softness. My best friend is a 1a/c/iii and her hair is so soft and smooth. Mine feels like a cat's hair and it's definately a different sort. Stereotypes I hate:

1) Dark blonde hair is mousy/dirty looking. I have tawny colored dark blonde hair and have people tell me it reminds them of fairy tale princess hair. I think it looks like lion's fur and I love it.
2) Fine hair can't grow/be thick/look good undamaged/look good undyed/etc... Most people I meet like my color and hair so I hate hearing and reading things that spread those notions.
3) Other ethnicity's hair is always blah coming from some suburban white girl. Which I am, but on a college campus I hear this a lot from the same people who accuse me of all kinds of racism (I'm not racist, really, this is unthinkable apparently but I live in a multicultural town and have friends of all shapes and sizes). I just feel like they aren't experts and every ethnicity has variance in their gene pool.
4) Straight hair never tangles. Please brush mine. I realize a lot of straight haired fineys have a limited tangle problem but I get full on dreads if I don't detangle often.
5) 1c/2a hair is just messy/unbrushed straight hair. Nope. It just looks that way. Sorry my hair looks like it's never been styled it just grows that way.
6) Any hair color/texture commentary on personality types. Along with face shape/eye color/height whatever means this person is blank in bed.
7) Nappy and dishwater being acceptable descriptions of anyone's hair. I'm sure there are others but those two are so negative sounding to me.

[jpitt]

As a guy with slowly lengthening hair I always get that I must be into music, specifically rock or metal, neither of which is true.

[Thistle4U]

I have thick hair as well. Buns are difficult.

[sarahchant]

5) 1c/2a hair is just messy/unbrushed straight hair. Nope. It just looks that way. Sorry my hair looks like it's never been styled it just grows that way.

So true, and caused me a lot of anguish growing up and even up until I found LHC and understood it.

[Sharysa]

So true, and caused me a lot of anguish growing up and even up until I found LHC and understood it.

Thirding that! My 1c/2a hair is more on the wavy side--it has nearly 2b waves, but they're really fragile and fall out pretty easily. It takes to braid-waves really well, and I wish I'd known this growing up so I wouldn't have been straightening it all the time.

Now I get a lot of comments on my hair being curly/wavy, and I'm just looking at all my fellow college students with obviously-straightened hair and going, "I wonder how many of them are at least borderline wavy like I am."

[animetor7]

One stereotype I've encountered is that because my hair lightens in the summer, I must dye my hair. Ummm... sun bleaching is a thing, just like tanning or freckling with sun. So yes, the ends of my hair are significantly lighter than my roots, they are also several years older and have seen much more sun.

[MidnightMoon]

One stereotype I've encountered is that because my hair lightens in the summer, I must dye my hair. Ummm... sun bleaching is a thing, just like tanning or freckling with sun. So yes, the ends of my hair are significantly lighter than my roots, they are also several years older and have seen much more sun.

I bet the ombre trend has something to do with that! :p

[0xalis]

People assume that I'm gay or listen to nothing but metal because I had / want long hair. But nah I'm into all the genders (ok so they're kiiinda right), and listen to a lot of music and most of it isn't metal. Stereotypes are weird and silly. And I won't even get started on racial hair-related sterotypes... Jeeze.

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

A lot of people have called me a 'goth' or a 'vampire' for having black hair.

[endlessly]

The only stereotype I've heard due to my long hair is that I must be very religious. Now, during the winter or if it's windy, I will cover my hair with a scarf because let's face it, I don't want any debris blowing into my hair and I don't want my hair drying out due to the cold. But, doing that plus having long hair apparently automatically makes you Muslim where I live. When I wear it loose or in a long braid, I must be in a strange Christian cult (have actually heard strangers say this, by the way). For the record, I don't dress super modestly either. Yes, I'm covered, but everything I wear is form-fitted and if I did have a very strict religious background, I doubt I'd be allowed to show cleavage like I normally do!

[hinabelle]

#1 comment I get after people discover I am half black and have naturally type 4~ish hair:
"You should get an afro!!"
Me: "How do you propose I do that?" :rolleyes:
When I first started getting these remarks, I'd try to explain that I'd have to shave my head and they'd
just tell me to do it anyway. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: So now I just ask them how they think I should
achieve their ridiculous request and that usually quiets them. :)

[RancheroTheBee]

#1 comment I get after people discover I am half black and have naturally type 4~ish hair:
"You should get an afro!!"
Me: "How do you propose I do that?" :rolleyes:
When I first started getting these remarks, I'd try to explain that I'd have to shave my head and they'd
just tell me to do it anyway. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: So now I just ask them how they think I should
achieve their ridiculous request and that usually quiets them. :)

I love any proposition that begins with "You should..."

Sorry, did I say love? I mean loathe. It's so forceful. I used to get "you should straighten your hair!" a lot when I was younger, when my hair was significantly curlier. Sure, let me take 3 hours out of my day to soothe you. :eyeroll:

[sweetestpoison]

#1 comment I get after people discover I am half black and have naturally type 4~ish hair:
"You should get an afro!!"
Me: "How do you propose I do that?" :rolleyes:
When I first started getting these remarks, I'd try to explain that I'd have to shave my head and they'd
just tell me to do it anyway. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: So now I just ask them how they think I should
achieve their ridiculous request and that usually quiets them. :)

It sucks you've had to deal with some ignorant people about your hair. Especially since they aren't saying "you have the right personality for an afro" or "an afro would really suit you" but instead are saying you should have a certain style just because of your ethnicity.


I love any proposition that begins with "You should..."

Sorry, did I say love? I mean loathe. It's so forceful. I used to get "you should straighten your hair!" a lot when I was younger, when my hair was significantly curlier. Sure, let me take 3 hours out of my day to soothe you. :eyeroll:

I can't count on all the fingers and toes of everybody within a 20 mile radius how many times I've heard "you really should straighten your hair" growing up. Almost as annoying now is the comment "I bet your hair would be really long if you straightened it" or "how long would it be straight??". It doesn't matter how long it is straight because I wear it curly, so take that world!

[Shibe]

I'm hispanic, don't have that luscious thick mane everyone assumes I should have!

[rina06]

Short hair = male hair.

Drives me mad. I had a co worker tell me when I had my hair up that I looked like a BOY. It was threaded through a headband for an updo.

[Soulina]

I have straight hair, no natural waves. Its really soft (especially when healthy), like puppy dogs coat,really shiny and when you pull your hand through it it almost feels liquid. I have alot of hair, but so fine. My hair is not thin( like damaged way) and I am in the i/ii category. Down sides naturally is that my hair gets really damaged easily and does not grow fast.

So I heard (especially hairdressers) so many times

1) Your hair wont grow long
2) You should cut your hair to give it volume
3) I should give it texture with dyes, teasing, curling, blow drying etc. (frying it to death)
4) I need to grow up and get adult hairstyle (:confused:)


I would love to have super curly hair, but I have to work with the genes I have. I also wanted to have dark skin when I was younger. I have extremely pale skin, I have this blueish tint in it, and I am considered pale even in Finland were I live.

[RoseofCimarron]

I get, "You must be super smart because you have brown hair and glasses, brunettes are much smarter than blondes." Really? That's funny because my stats teacher is blonde, and she is far smarter than I am/will ever be! I also have gotten something along the lines of this: "You have a Scottish last name, why isn't your hair more red? Why on earth is it brown?"

Lets see... I've also been told that long hair in a bun makes me look old, like "a 95-year-old widow in mourning" Yes, it was true that I was wearing a black dress when I was told that, but it wasn't a dress that any conventional 95-year-old widow in mourning would be wearing :wink:

[nitagurl]

I know a lot of black women who think that most other African Americans can't grow hair past shoulder length. I mean, honestly believe that it's genetically impossible unless that person is mixed race or something. How dumb is that? Like, really??

[Rosetta]

Oh my, this could very easily be confused with the "dumbest hair comments you've received" thread...! ;)


I also have gotten something along the lines of this: "You have a Scottish last name, why isn't your hair more red? Why on earth is it brown?"
Didn't now there was law requiring all of Scottish ancestry to have red hair...! :eek:


I've also been told that long hair in a bun makes me look old, like "a 95-year-old widow in mourning"
Yeah, this unfortunately seems to be how many (most?) people feel about buns...



So I heard (especially hairdressers) so many times

1) Your hair wont grow long
2) You should cut your hair to give it volume
3) I should give it texture with dyes, teasing, curling, blow drying etc. (frying it to death)
4) I need to grow up and get adult hairstyle (:confused:)

Familiar with all these, too... Especially having been brainwashed in childhood to think that only curled hair "looks nice", straight hair being the same as unkempt :eek: (Well, actually the brainwash didn't work on me, but still ;))

[chen bao jun]

#1 comment I get after people discover I am half black and have naturally type 4~ish hair:
"You should get an afro!!"
Me: "How do you propose I do that?" :rolleyes:
When I first started getting these remarks, I'd try to explain that I'd have to shave my head and they'd
just tell me to do it anyway. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: So now I just ask them how they think I should
achieve their ridiculous request and that usually quiets them. :)

People say this usually because they admire Afros so think everyone who could possibly have one 'should ' get one (for their viewing and touching pleasure). Well, in a sense. When they say 'should ' they don't mean , you ought to or must, it's more along the lines of 'thst would be so cool'.

They also think that all african descent hair types 'naturally' grow out of people's heads in afro form, so believe it's an easy request.

They don't mean to be irritating they mean to compliment so I don't see a reason to get mad at them, explaining doesn't do much good because it's so out of their experience, in my case I usually just s a y, and it's the truth, I used to have an afro for years and years but it was so much trouble to make my hair do that so even though I loved the w a y it looked, I stopped. Then they can ask me more if they want to be educated, if not, no biggie. After all, I didn't understand white people s hair for years either, basically thOught all white people were blond unless the y were jewish or Italian (and that blond wasn't attractive ) and that all hair that wasn't hypercurly was 'straight'.

I know better now so don't write posts correcting me but it took a loooong time to learn to see differently, you do have to learn to see things you aren't familiar with, it's a process, needs patience.

In your case, you could say that an afro would be hard to do and then let them question if they want more detail.
or you could just say you don't want to, you don't like afros, there's not a law that everybody has to like them and why would you have a hairstyle you don't like?

[jackie_brown]

When i say that i comb my hair only at wash day, people say:"What?? don't you brush your hair everyday??" like if i was a dirty person who doesn't take care of herself :rolleyes:
People with not curly/wurly hair don't know that us 2C/3x/4x hairtypes can't brush our hair everyday or we'd become a ball of frizz (and we'd broke our hair :().

[hinabelle]

chen bao jun: Ahh, I see what you mean! Now that I look back on it, I can agree
that the people who made those remarks weren't being annoying -- it just seemed like it at
the time. Thanks for giving me an eye-opener :)

[trolleypup]

Interestingly, if your hair gets long enough you go through all the stereotypes and come out the other side to a sort of prominent otherness!

[Rosetta]

When i say that i comb my hair only at wash day, people say:"What?? don't you brush your hair everyday??" like if i was a dirty person who doesn't take care of herself :rolleyes:
People with not curly/wurly hair don't know that us 2C/3x/4x hairtypes can't brush our hair everyday or we'd become a ball of frizz (and we'd broke our hair :().
Wonder what they'd make of the fact that I never brush my hair ;) I just comb, and that's all my fine straight hair needs.

[jackie_brown]

Wonder what they'd make of the fact that I never brush my hair ;) I just comb, and that's all my fine straight hair needs.

They'd think you're sloppier than me :rolling:

[veryhairyfairy]

Interestingly, if your hair gets long enough you go through all the stereotypes and come out the other side to a sort of prominent otherness!

Hairscendence?
:silly:

[animetor7]

I'm Jewish, but don't have any curl whatsoever to my hair. It's also not coarse. It is straight with very slight wave, and silky. Compounded by the fact that my brother DOES have traditional "Jew hair".

[Shibe]

One of my friends is Jewish and he does have the very curly hair. I've always admired it!

[animetor7]

One of my friends is Jewish and he does have the very curly hair. I've always admired it!

I think it's a beautiful hair type to have, and I love my brother's hair. I should have elaborated, when I tell people I'm Jewish, they'll say things like "You don't look it." And cite my hair as one reason why I can't be of Jewish descent...:rolleyes:

[Shibe]

Well thats just stupid o.o

[chen bao jun]

I think I've met more Jewish people who didn't have curly hair than did, especially Ashkenazic
I agree its beautiful when it IS curly, but its definitely a stereotype that's not true
One couple I knew was mixed, he was Jewish and she wasn't and she could never convince anyone she wasn't because she happened to have very spirally thick curls, a little frizzy. He didn't, he was maybe a 1c or something, but everyone believed he was Jewish because he had jet black hair and dark skin (another stereotype, but I won't go there)

[chen bao jun]

I know a lot of black women who think that most other African Americans can't grow hair past shoulder length. I mean, honestly believe that it's genetically impossible unless that person is mixed race or something. How dumb is that? Like, really??

That's from the prevalence of damaging hair styles in the black community worldwide which make even shoulder length hair really uncommon. 99.9% of black women have unbelievably damaged hair, even after years of 'natural ' hair and no perms being promoted. a lot of the styles that supposedly let black hair grow are actually really damaging.

You take care of yours, that's the best thing to do to show the naysayers how wrong they are.

[MINAKO]

I think it's a beautiful hair type to have, and I love my brother's hair. I should have elaborated, when I tell people I'm Jewish, they'll say things like "You don't look it." And cite my hair as one reason why I can't be of Jewish descent...:rolleyes:

Well, show them a picture of Bar Refaeli the next times this clichee comes up.
I actually have been hearing this too, not much but one of my former room mates was asking me if i am (half) jewish and to this day my very best friend is convinced that the german part of my family must be jewish survivors. But that also has to do with my lastname, which may or may not be. However it's actually not the case.

About black women not being able to grow long hair... ZZZZZzzzzzzzz! I wish people would stop making up BS just because they did not make the effort to learn how to take care of their hair or just believe those rumors. Weave and extensions are so cheap these days that some people are simply more satisfied finding excuses to go along with them. I am not excluding other races here.

[Auburngirl]

I'm Jewish, but don't have any curl whatsoever to my hair. It's also not coarse. It is straight with very slight wave, and silky. Compounded by the fact that my brother DOES have traditional "Jew hair".

LOL! They have no idea how many girls with straight hair there are! And with all types of hair, and all colors, actually. I know two Jewish girls, they are twins (not identical twins, ofc), one has dark brown eyes and jet black hair, the other, steel blue eyes and blonde hair. Amazing! Ah, and both have smooth straight hair. Very beautiful girls.

I've also been told that my hair is to thin too and fine to grow, but I think it grows too fast. I don't like to trim it, I think it's a hassle, but it always grows so fast, and I'm constantly reminded I have to trim the ends, to keep it looking healthy. And I don't care, I like to be wild. :P
So first they say it's too thin to grow, and then when they see it's already grown, they say I have to trim it, cause it's too long... :))
So sad people think i you don't keep your hair strictly in a certain way, you're: childish/boring/unkempt/ill etc. I just like my hair to express my personality and my mood. I keep it natural, and I only trim it when I feel like it.

[Auburngirl]

And another thing they say, that having thin hair, as well as a very light complexion that they call pale, means I must be ill, or anemic, and that I need to take more vitamins. Especially when I was a child they said that: girls, you are so pale, are you sick? No matter how many vitamin supplements I take, or how many orange juice I drink and how many carrots I crunch, I will never get ticker hair, because it's genetic! And my complexion will not get darker, and in the sun it just gets red, and then my skin peels off. So that's how it is, but what can you do when people think that white skin is pale and looks sickly. In the end they must realize by themselves that I'm too jumpy for a sickly person. :P
No, I'm not really bothered, maybe when I was a kid, but now it actually it kind of amuses me.

[Auburngirl]

And another thing they say, that having thin hair, as well as a very light complexion that they call pale, means I must be ill, or anemic, and that I need to take more vitamins. Especially when I was a child they said that: girls, you are so pale, are you sick? No matter how many vitamin supplements I take, or how many orange juice I drink and how many carrots I crunch, I will never get ticker hair, because it's genetic! And my complexion will not get darker, and in the sun it just gets red, and then my skin peels off. So that's how it is, but what can you do when people think that white skin is pale and looks sickly. In the end they must realize by themselves that I'm too jumpy for a sickly person. :P
No, I'm not really bothered, maybe when I was a kid, but now it actually it kind of amuses me.

[Auburngirl]

Oops! Posted twice by mistake. Wish I could delete, but I can't edit yet.


Wonder what they'd make of the fact that I never brush my hair ;) I just comb, and that's all my fine straight hair needs.

Rosetta, that's how I do it. I like to keep it simple, and it's so fast and practical! :)

I so, so love your hair! I also get mostly straight hair, after washing and air drying, ever so slight loose waves. But inside I twist it in a quick bun, and pin it down, to deal with my house chores, or read, especially if it's hot outside, in summer, and when I release it to let it breathe, it gets twists and curls, anyway. Or after it rains, or if I spritz my hair with some water, whenever it gets wet, it instantly gets smaller "ripples" and ringlets. I always thought this is the best styling method ever! Free, natural, doesn't damage your hair, just improves it, with zero effort, and you can tend to your daily business. And they look just as good or even better than many styles I see others obtain with so much money and effort. I guess I'm lucky, but also not fussy, where others criticize every ring or strand of hair that doesn't stay in a certain way, I love the "perfect imperfections". And I like wavy hair just as much as i like it straight. I think all styles have their charms and it's good that they don't all look the same.

[lapushka]

When i say that i comb my hair only at wash day, people say:"What?? don't you brush your hair everyday??" like if i was a dirty person who doesn't take care of herself :rolleyes:
People with not curly/wurly hair don't know that us 2C/3x/4x hairtypes can't brush our hair everyday or we'd become a ball of frizz (and we'd broke our hair :().

Oooh, I don't even go there. I don't tell people I only wash my hair once a week, and I don't tell them I only comb/brush on wash day either. Nooo way!

[meteor]

Oooh, I don't even go there. I don't tell people I only wash my hair once a week, and I don't tell them I only comb/brush on wash day either. Nooo way!

LOL! Exactly! :agree: And if they ask us why you don't share your routine, we can always say: "You can't handle the truth!" (http://d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net/wp/wblob/54592E651337D2/821/BFEAB/ySZ1C5toaryMgkylI_8I-Q/you-cant-handle-the-truth.png) :lol:

[Auburngirl]

Well, if I had to wash my hair more often than twice a week, it would start to fall off. I used to wash it every two days, years ago, and it still became extremely greasy, and it sill looked like it was dirty. Daily wash is out of the question, especially when hair is longer than shoulder. now I wash it weekly and looks much cleaner and happier. I'm thinking of using dry shampoo in between washes, though. What would they say if particles left in my hair would fall out of it, then? :P There will always be something to comment, but who cares. *Shruggs*

[Tussi]

LOL! Exactly! :agree: And if they ask us why you don't share your routine, we can always say: "You can't handle the truth!" (http://d1zlh37f1ep3tj.cloudfront.net/wp/wblob/54592E651337D2/821/BFEAB/ySZ1C5toaryMgkylI_8I-Q/you-cant-handle-the-truth.png) :lol:

Hahaha, so true :lol:

[AutobotsAttack]

Ohhh believe me. I have heard a TON of sterotypical things about Afro textured hair. From it being "nappy" to "black hair can't grow long. I think with any hair type, knowing your hair, and what it does and doesn't like, protecting it, and being diligent and committed to growing it out... Hair can reach any length you want it to. It is frustrating and annoying, and a lot of people seem to think black hair is like a Brillo pad and it's coarse and brittle (which is true if it has been neglected), but with the proper care and enough time, black hair is actually very delicate but can be very silky and bouncy, and elastic and super easy to brush or comb through when properly cared for. And I always say hair is hair. Good hair is healthy hair. Regardless of ethnicity.

[luxurioushair]

Ohhh believe me. I have heard a TON of sterotypical things about Afro textured hair. From it being "nappy" to "black hair can't grow long. I think with any hair type, knowing your hair, and what it does and doesn't like, protecting it, and being diligent and committed to growing it out... Hair can reach any length you want it to. It is frustrating and annoying, and a lot of people seem to think black hair is like a Brillo pad and it's coarse and brittle (which is true if it has been neglected), but with the proper care and enough time, black hair is actually very delicate but can be very silky and bouncy, and elastic and super easy to brush or comb through when properly cared for. And I always say hair is hair. Good hair is healthy hair. Regardless of ethnicity.I'm just asking: with all of these opinions, why do you still straighten your hair? I'm just curious about the reason.

[AutobotsAttack]

^^ I have gone back and forth between being natural (no chemical processes) and I liked it, but I prefer my hair relaxed (chemically straightened) because of the manageability. The longest my hair was when it was natural was BSL. When I was natural I was able to comb it and what not, and I deep conditioned and took care of it and all that good stuff but with being relaxed I just prefer the softness and sleeker texture and how easy it is to rock a curly hairstyle one day, but rock a sleek straight texture the next. And detangling is a breeze too. I may decide to transition back to natural but for now I enjoy being relaxed. I enjoy feeling and playing with my new growth when it comes in. I enjoy having two textures when I stretch my relaxers. It's Really just a personal preference.

[meteor]

^ AutobotsAttack, that's very interesting! :) So there is a bit of a trade-off between the mechanical damage from detangling natural vs. the chemical damage from relaxing? Is the potential mechanical damage more substantial than the chemical in that scenario, in your opinion? :)
(By the way, I also remember MINAKO mentioned how the damage from keratin straightening was less than the damage from detangling/handling curly/wavy texture... :hmm:)

[luxurioushair]

^^ I have gone back and forth between being natural (no chemical processes) and I liked it, but I prefer my hair relaxed (chemically straightened) because of the manageability. The longest my hair was when it was natural was BSL. When I was natural I was able to comb it and what not, and I deep conditioned and took care of it and all that good stuff but with being relaxed I just prefer the softness and sleeker texture and how easy it is to rock a curly hairstyle one day, but rock a sleek straight texture the next. And detangling is a breeze too. I may decide to transition back to natural but for now I enjoy being relaxed. I enjoy feeling and playing with my new growth when it comes in. I enjoy having two textures when I stretch my relaxers. It's Really just a personal preference.I suppose I wouldn't understand the fascination with relaxed hair, since I have never done it...

[luxurioushair]

^ AutobotsAttack, that's very interesting! :) So there is a bit of a trade-off between the mechanical damage from detangling natural vs. the chemical damage from relaxing? Is the potential mechanical damage more substantial than the chemical in that scenario, in your opinion? :)
(By the way, I also remember MINAKO mentioned how the damage from keratin straightening was less than the damage from detangling/handling curly/wavy texture... :hmm:)
Let me say what I have observed, please take it as my opinion. At least 90% of women with relaxed hair have very damaged hair that never goes very far past shoulder-length. The hair is stiff and does not move naturally, but is always flat - it is definitely damaged in some way from the very first application. The hair keeps thinning and breaking off over time, until it is a shadow of its former self. I am just telling you what I see every single day. These victims tie their sparse relaxed hair into a tiny "ponytail", until that hair is also gone. The next stage is just shaving the hair or resorting to weaves/wigs. I see a lot of women doing this by age 30 because the hair is gone after years of relaxing. Because of the resurgence of the "natural hair" movement, nowadays some girls will go natural either temporarily or permanently to get their hair back. For most girls there is no other way to get the hair back.

Some people will jump to say that you can have "healthy" relaxed hair. It is true that there is a tiny percentage of African women who manage to have long relaxed hair, but because it doesn't move or bounce normally, I do not consider that to be truly healthy hair, it is just my opinion. I personally know only 1 friend whose hair has not all fallen out by this age, despite relaxing her hair since junior high school - she still has shoulder-length hair. The rest are already on the weave or have "gone natural" and saved their hair from disaster. I am not from a country where Africans are a "minority group" so I have known a ton of people since childhood who have been relaxing their hair. None of them escaped the consequences.

People might say I am being harsh but this is what I see. I can't say anything besides what I've observed. I think if your hair doesn't bounce, doesn't move in the wind, it's probably damaged. I prefer my Afro over unmoving relaxed hair in a ponytail, my hair moves, goes crazy in the breeze and it's full of life. There is no way that normal mechanical wear and tear, can be worse than relaxing, in my opinion.

[AutobotsAttack]

^ AutobotsAttack, that's very interesting! :) So there is a bit of a trade-off between the mechanical damage from detangling natural vs. the chemical damage from relaxing? Is the potential mechanical damage more substantial than the chemical in that scenario, in your opinion? :)
(By the way, I also remember MINAKO mentioned how the damage from keratin straightening was less than the damage from detangling/handling curly/wavy texture... :hmm:)

Hmm well it really depends. I can't speak for everyone. But for me I don't really experience that much mechanical damage being relaxed as I did when I was natural. So I can guess I could say yes to your hypothesis :) never paid that close attention until you mentioned it. Interesting :)

[AutobotsAttack]

Let me say what I have observed, please take it as my opinion. At least 90% of women with relaxed hair have very damaged hair that never goes very far past shoulder-length. The hair is stiff and does not move naturally, but is always flat - it is definitely damaged in some way from the very first application. The hair keeps thinning and breaking off over time, until it is a shadow of its former self. I am just telling you what I see every single day. These victims tie their sparse relaxed hair into a tiny "ponytail", until that hair is also gone. The next stage is just shaving the hair or resorting to weaves/wigs. I see a lot of women doing this by age 30 because the hair is gone after years of relaxing. Because of the resurgence of the "natural hair" movement, nowadays some girls will go natural either temporarily or permanently to get their hair back. For most girls there is no other way to get the hair back.

Some people will jump to say that you can have "healthy" relaxed hair. It is true that there is a tiny percentage of African women who manage to have long relaxed hair, but because it doesn't move or bounce normally, I do not consider that to be truly healthy hair, it is just my opinion. I personally know only 1 friend whose hair has not all fallen out by this age, despite relaxing her hair since junior high school - she still has shoulder-length hair. The rest are already on the weave or have "gone natural" and saved their hair from disaster. I am not from a country where Africans are a "minority group" so I have known a ton of people since childhood who have been relaxing their hair. None of them escaped the consequences.

People might say I am being harsh but this is what I see. I can't say anything besides what I've observed. I think if your hair doesn't bounce, doesn't move in the wind, it's probably damaged. I prefer my Afro over unmoving relaxed hair in a ponytail, my hair moves, goes crazy in the breeze and it's full of life. There is no way that normal mechanical wear and tear, can be worse than relaxing, in my opinion.

Well I suggest you do some research, or watch YouTube videos, or come to the realization that the world is HUGE. There's an ABUNDANCE of healthy haired relaxed chicks. You can do some research or not. I could care less. Just because you don't see any healthy, flowing, bouncy, long haired relaxed ladies doesn't mean they don't exist. I Live in America and I've seen relaxed ladies rocking hair down to their butts. Just as bouncy and flowing and wind swept as ever. Gotta broaden your perspective. Seriously. This entire thread is dedicated to how people overcome the typical stereotypes they come across. Including the one you have just made. Such irony. Lol

[AutobotsAttack]

Seriously I'm not gonna be apart of this whole relaxed hair vs. Natural hair BS. It's pointless and irrelevant. Just because someone is natural or relaxed doesn't make them ANY better than someone else. And yes mechanical wear and rear can be just as detrimental to hair growth as chemically processing hair can be. You should join Hairlista.com or LCHF. Because that biased tone you have going on in your opinion will change quickly once you see that healthy hair can be achieved whether relaxed or natural. There's a lady on YouTube and she goes by "TheTabbi1", she's in her late forties and has relaxed hair down to her butt. You were saying?

As for me I co-wash every other day, DC every two days, shampoo wash every weekend, moisturize and seal my hair every day, and my hair bounces and flows just like an Afro would. I don't Weigh my hair down with products, I detangle with a wide tooth comb, I oil my scalp nightly to prevent dandruff, And I only relax my hair twice a year to prevent overlapping. I'm 2 inches from Bra Strap length, I have no breakage, normal seasonal shedding, etc. I haven't used heat on my hair in two and half years, and I put my hair in a loose bun everyday as a protective style for my ends. So like I said before just because all the girls YOU see have damaged relaxed hair doesn't mean everyone in the world does. How can you even say relaxed hair is just plain damaged no matter what if you haven't even experienced relaxed hair for yourself? Or have even looked up how to care for relaxed hair? That's like saying you think a certain brand of tennis shoes are bad because you've heard other people say they are but haven't even tried them. Those could be the most comfortable pair of shoes ever. I've seen extremely damaged natural hair as well as extremely
Damaged relaxed hair. Soooo? Healthy hair is hair that is constantly being cared for diligently. Same goes for the other ladies who have long hair and like to bleach their hair. You can have bleached hair or chemically altered hair an it still be long and healthy.

Sorry but I have no sympathy for people who can't respect the fact that the world is full of people who are different and do things differently than others.

You LITERALLY just stereotyped relaxed hair in a nutshell.

[Miss P]

I've always been told that my hair is too thin to grow long, but I still got it to mid back before I decided to chop

[luxurioushair]

Well I suggest you do some research, or watch YouTube videos, or come to the realization that the world is HUGE. There's an ABUNDANCE of healthy haired relaxed chicks. You can do some research or not. I could care less. Just because you don't see any healthy, flowing, bouncy, long haired relaxed ladies doesn't mean they don't exist. I Live in America and I've seen relaxed ladies rocking hair down to their butts. Just as bouncy and flowing and wind swept as ever. Gotta broaden your perspective. Seriously. This entire thread is dedicated to how people overcome the typical stereotypes they come across. Including the one you have just made. Such irony. Lol
Chillax, I was replying to the other person.

[luxurioushair]

I've always been told that my hair is too thin to grow long, but I still got it to mid back before I decided to chop
No such thing! Check out this interesting video, by a girl with very pretty but also very fragile, baby soft hair. Well hopefully you haven't seen it already...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERi2D1GfBEQ

[Ashflower89]

I was never told this myself, but I've often heard/seen the stereotype that wild and unnatural colors automatically mean the person is making up for a boring personality, crying out for attention, or going through some scary phase and should be avoided entirely. The same has been said about girls with abnormally short hair.

Man I hate stereotypes -_-

[AutobotsAttack]

Chillax, I was replying to the other person.

Even if you were, you still pretty much generalized and stereotyped relaxed hair which upset me a great deal.

[luxurioushair]

I was never told this myself, but I've often heard/seen the stereotype that wild and unnatural colors automatically mean the person is making up for a boring personality, crying out for attention, or going through some scary phase and should be avoided entirely. The same has been said about girls with abnormally short hair.

Man I hate stereotypes -_-

Like with Britney Spears or Emma Watson... I remember people said they'd lost their minds. I thought Emma Watson looked rather good in a pixie haircut.

[DollyDagger]

Like with Britney Spears or Emma Watson... I remember people said they'd lost their minds. I thought Emma Watson looked rather good in a pixie haircut.
i think Brit was a bit unstable at the time..remember the umbrella incident..? emma watsons so cute..she probably did just want a change. Then there was the felicity girl..i never watched that show but it made a big splash when she chopped her gorgeous long curly locks..

[luxurioushair]

i think Brit was a bit unstable at the time..remember the umbrella incident..? emma watsons so cute..she probably did just want a change. Then there was the felicity girl..i never watched that show but it made a big splash when she chopped her gorgeous long curly locks..
Yeah Britney was going through some things but I noticed too that whenever girls with long hair chop it, people really overreact!

[Azy]

Silky hair

One thing that gets on my nerves is the confusion between shiny and silky, when we talk about hair. I may be a fussy aesthete, but I don't like when people use this very specific adjective on anything that looks like "shiny hair", however beautiful and thudworthy it can be.

By definition, silky hair IS shiny. But shiny hair is NOT NECESSARILY silky, because to be silky, hair must not only be shiny, but it must also have the characteristics of the silk : silk is famous because of the extreme finesse of the threads, its slippery fluidity, its specific way of reflecting the light (satin sheen), and its amazing softness. All this is only achievable by fine straight (or slightly wavy) hair ! Coarse hair can be deadly shiny/glossy/sleeky, etc. but it cannot be truly silky. (It already has a lot of other advantages, so let's keep this one for fine hair^^).

However, a "silky effect" can be obtained even by non-fine haired people by thorough bb-brushing. That's what I do when I want to get the "satin sheen" and soft texture that I so much love, despite the fact that my hair is medium^^ with quite a lot of body. (What ?? I haven't said that it was not allowed to cheat a little, if it's LHC politically correctly done ! :p)

Fine haired ladies, be proud of your hair main wonderful characteristic : your unmatched and mesmerizing silkiness !!!!

I know this is really late BUT I'd like to break your stereotype. I personally have really silky CURLY hair. My strands are a mix of medium to fine and my hair is really thick as well. It's also really shiny not sheeny. When I run my fingers through it it feels very smooth as well. Maybe I'm an exception but tha'ts just the way my hair is. :P

[MINAKO]

Girls who never let their hair doen and all of a sudden they wear it loose must be "asking for it" on that particular day. -____-'

[Swan Maiden]

Girls who never let their hair doen and all of a sudden they wear it loose must be "asking for it" on that particular day. -____-'

In the same way that wearing twin braids is an invitation to pull them. It makes me want to say ecto gammat!

[cheeky]

I have dreadlocks that are natural (not maintained). My hair is very thick so my locs are quite full. They are also small in size so, my locs are numerous. People often say I have cool hair or they love my hair. I receive hair compliments daily and enjoy it.

Stereotypes:
- Do people (you) wash your hair? (Sometimes I'm asked this *while* it's still wet).
- Do you have any weed, smoke, know where I can get something to smoke?
- Who "does" your locs, where do you get your locs done, what do you use in your locs? (Natural locs can't possibly be beautiful on their own, you obviously pay someone to maintain them and use special products to make them look nice).

[Johannah]

Girls who never let their hair doen and all of a sudden they wear it loose must be "asking for it" on that particular day. -____-'

Okay that's insane. :crazyq: