Native American hair

[SwordWomanRiona]

While browsing through my old books today, I found a couple of pictures depicting Native American women with gorgeous long, thick hair, so I had to scan them and post them here :).
I've always loved how very black and thick Native American hair usually is, and I also like the fact that men usually wear their hair long too.

These are the pics:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6075/6155381844_19954e5d7f.jpg

Look at that long, thick raven hair! Isn't it absolutely gorgeous? :crush:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6185/6154838603_84967e8acf.jpg

And these braids are SO thick!

Do you like Native American hair too? Any other pics you'd like to share? And, of course, Native American LHC fellows - you are very welcome to talk about your hair and hair-routine here, if you wish! I'm in a 'hair-envy' mood :D .

[cheetahfast]

I love Native American hair! My friend's daughter is half-Swedish and half Native-American. She has jet-black thick hair, and she's a long hair! Right now, it's at classic (on a 7 year old). She's very lucky to have inherited such gorgeous hair. She's also super pale like her father so it is a striking combination.

Whenever my friends and I go out to the reservations, I'm always so jealous of the hair I see. Even older men have thick long braids. It's beautiful.

[lady_hero]

I'm Native American. I've always liked the thickness of my hair. Somehow it works well in buns and updo's. But the *straightness* can be really hard to deal with. It's so smooth and sleek that it just slips out of braids, clips, buns, etc. Lot's of products and the hair dryer are my very best friends :-)

[QueenJoey]

I'm 1/4 Native American, of the Black Foot tribe. Alas, I've never really been in touch with that part of me because I don't really know the grandpa that gave me those genes. He is my dad's dad, and my dad was raised by his French mother and didn't meet my grandpa till he was 18, so we don't really know much about our tribe.

I'm feeling pretty good about my hair, now that I see it's part THAT.

[Lostsoule77]

My great-grandmother on my mom's side was Lenape Indian. I inherited her high cheek bones, but not her gorgeous hair. In fact my dad was the one who had thick black hair and my mom's was thin and brown. I have always admired many things about Native Americans and their hair is definately one of them. :)

[adiapalic]

American Indian and Asian hair are similar-- I love the way their hair looks. Jet black, and typically sleek and thick with a coarse texture. Lovely.

[Cainwen]

My great-grandmother on my mom's side was Lenape Indian. I inherited her high cheek bones, but not her gorgeous hair. In fact my dad was the one who had thick black hair and my mom's was thin and brown. I have always admired many things about Native Americans and their hair is definately one of them. :)

Similar story for my family, but add another great and flip family sides. At this point there's not a whole lot of evidence of it except slightly high cheekbones, though in pictures of my grandfather its more obvious. I've always vaguely wonder if my grandfather's hair never going grey is related. I had lots of books about Native Americans when I was growing up and I always envied their hair.

[Ishje]

such pretty pictures! I could not say I like one type of hair more then another.
but it certainly looks gorgeous!
I wonder what type of hairtoy's they used to have :)

(besides the feathers and headbands I see in the pictures of course)

[rowie]

One of my guy friends is full Cherokee. I love how his thick long wavy hair is thigh length. He is actually my inspiration for me to grow my hair really long like his. After doing research on my family tree for both sides, I'm happy to confirm I'll be able to reach his lengths even though I'm not Native American. Yay for family genes!

[Madora]

Thanks for the beautiful art, SwordWomanRiona.

Here's a link to a wonderful picture by George Catlin of a Crow Indian Chief on horseback:

http://www.chinafineart.com/oilpainting/image/41436-George_Catlin-Crow_Chief.html

Always loved this one!

[gthlvrmx]

My mother has the stereotypical (sort of) native american hair (as do the majority of her family), straight, super sleek, almost black hair. Very shiny too, and very coarse, my mom has wires sometimes popping out of her scalp :p And also, it just slips right out of any updo, it just never stays up. It's funny. It used to be so thick, probably between 5-6 inch diameter? It was really thick.

I used to have hair close to that but my Italian genes kicked in and I got curly hair. It's thick, but I'm still waiting for my hair to grow back after the shed. It's fairly coarse on some hairs, but then I have the few rare finer hairs because of the European genes. I was born like how my dads side is usually born, light skinned, light hair, even some freckles on some family members. But iIdidnt get those. I had straight hair like my mother until the 3rd grade.

[arielágua]

Oh I so love it too.
And I love their culture and tribes in general, they have an amazing sensibility for Nature. :)

[SwordWomanRiona]

I love Native American hair! My friend's daughter is half-Swedish and half Native-American. She has jet-black thick hair, and she's a long hair! Right now, it's at classic (on a 7 year old). She's very lucky to have inherited such gorgeous hair. She's also super pale like her father so it is a striking combination.

That sounds gorgeous! I've always loved the pale complexion + raven hair look. Really, really striking.

[SwordWomanRiona]

I'm Native American. I've always liked the thickness of my hair. Somehow it works well in buns and updo's. But the *straightness* can be really hard to deal with. It's so smooth and sleek that it just slips out of braids, clips, buns, etc. Lot's of products and the hair dryer are my very best friends :-)

I already have the slipping-out-of updos problem with my own smooth and sleek hair - I wouldn't mind about having the added thickness in the deal! :D

[rowie]

Thanks for the beautiful art, SwordWomanRiona.

Here's a link to a wonderful picture by George Catlin of a Crow Indian Chief on horseback:

http://www.chinafineart.com/oilpainting/image/41436-George_Catlin-Crow_Chief.html

Always loved this one!

Thanks for sharing this picture! It is very inspiring. :)

[SwordWomanRiona]

My great-grandmother on my mom's side was Lenape Indian. I inherited her high cheek bones, but not her gorgeous hair. In fact my dad was the one who had thick black hair and my mom's was thin and brown. I have always admired many things about Native Americans and their hair is definately one of them. :)

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention I love their high cheekbones as well! That and the long raven hair makes me think of Tolkien's Elves a lot of times.

[SwordWomanRiona]

Thanks for the beautiful art, SwordWomanRiona.

Here's a link to a wonderful picture by George Catlin of a Crow Indian Chief on horseback:

http://www.chinafineart.com/oilpainting/image/41436-George_Catlin-Crow_Chief.html

Always loved this one!


You're welcome, Madora! Thank you too for that link. That chief's long hair's just awesome!! :thud:

[AcornMystic]

Thanks for the beautiful art, SwordWomanRiona.

Here's a link to a wonderful picture by George Catlin of a Crow Indian Chief on horseback:

http://www.chinafineart.com/oilpainting/image/41436-George_Catlin-Crow_Chief.html

Always loved this one!


Wow, that picture gave me goosebumps! Very awe-inspiring.

You know... The Native's here are the only ones I ever see with hair long enough to really give a second glance at. I don't know if I have any Native in my heritage, but my husband is 60% Irish and 40% Native. He is part Sioux and Lakota (of the Oglala tribe). He has fairly course hair but it's dark brown with red flicks (most likely from the Irish in him) and he was born dishwater blonde. Even his beard has a lot of red and blonde in it. He also has the very bold high cheek bones that he prides himself with possessing. If you look closely and from different angles you can def. see the Native in him. Now if only he would grow out his hair.:D (Which I actually asked him and he thought he wouldn't look good, but has dared me, after I offered, to get him a wig to prove otherwise. Muahaha:eyebrows:)

[HappyHair87]

Both of my dad's grandmother's were of Native American descent, one for sure was Cherokee.

I inherited one of my great grandmother's hair. Most of my hair...although very super curly....is coarse. The strands are very thick and when I straighten my hair, they almost stab me in the neck lol. No one else alive in my family has hair like mine.

[Rapunzel_to_be]

Oh I so love it too.
And I love their culture and tribes in general, they have an amazing sensibility for Nature. :)

Everything you just said!!! :D <3

[sally_neuf]

Ohh! I have.. some fraction of Native (south) american as well. (my greatgrandma') I definitely got the hair just not the thickness (and stress doesn't help) but agree, sometimes it's just too much. I don't know what the work "tight braid" means.
But yes, gorgeous hair ! This is a women from the Wayuu tribe, (http://manaure-laguajira.gov.co/apc-aa-files/61636461373836313964323631636265/img002_1.jpg) and my hair is pretty similar, just not soo much :p
And this guy's hair... wow! (http://www.mueveteporcolombia.com/imagenes/familias%20linguisticas/arawak%20a.gif)

[Sharysa]

American Indian and Asian hair are similar-- I love the way their hair looks. Jet black, and typically sleek and thick with a coarse texture. Lovely.

Gorgeous pictures, but hair color aside, Native Americans and Asians can have wavy/curly hair. I have wavy hair and I'm Filipino on both sides.

[yahirwaO.o]

Well not fully native american...... half mexican (father) and half arabian (my moms Libanese father)... But the indiginous gens are prevalent here!!! Typical straight hair but Im on the finer side. I think finer textures are more common here (Nahua people mostly) but other tribes tend to have coarse and wavy hair (aka most of my father's family).

Ive been all over my country to get to know more about the multi cultural sides around and I always get impressed with women' s hair. They are mostly poor and used nothing but shampoo and plants, sometimes just local plants. In Oaxaca-Chiapas I was given a holy head and body therapy-massage based on Cacao and god knows what else... my hair, skin and soul felt so much better afterwards. There are some cultural differences among indiginous people (Maya people are a whole discrepant thing to Raramuris in terms of customs and traditions) but like other comments have said we all share a great respect for Mother Gaia and Nature as a whole thing! :o

[Fericera]

What book is the first picture from, if you don't mind me asking? I think I may have had that book when I was a child.

Yes, I love Native American hair. I mean, I love all hair, but I appreciate how they keep it long even in modern times and generally take such good care of it.

[Swan Maiden]

My favorite is the Hopi Squash Blossom hairstyle worn by Hopi maidens.

[meteor]

My favorite is the Hopi Squash Blossom hairstyle worn by Hopi maidens.

That's such a gorgeous and unique style! :thumbsup: I wonder how it's done... :hmm:

Does anybody know any hair care tips / hair products from Native cultures? Also, any updos / braids / styles and tutorials? :flower: Google doesn't seem to be helping me there beyond the basic 3-strand or caterpillar braids...

[Swan Maiden]

Meteor, isnt it beautiful? In some old photographs of Squash Blossom hairstyle, there is shown some type of tool to aid in shaping the hair.

[Dragon Faery]

My husband's Crow, so I'm going to have to ask him a lot of questions and come back to this thread after. I especially want to ask him about that painting of the "Crow Chief", as it doesn't look very much at all like the photographs I've seen of Crow elders and warriors.

My husband has thick, black, coarse hair with a bit of a wave to it. He was probably 1c when longer, possibly 2a. Before I knew him he'd grown it to somewhere between TBL and Classic, but he'd cut it off by the time I met him. :( All his girl cousins were jealous of his hair.

I can't say much about other tribes, but in Crow culture only your parents and immediate siblings and spouse are allowed to touch your hair. If anyone else does it's considered a sexual advance. I think this idea is slowly fading away, but in my husband's generation it's still quite prominent.

In the Crow tradition, boys and men wore 3 braids and girls and women wore 2. Boys and men had the crown hair sectioned off into one braid, and then the hair beneath that is divided in half and braided into two more braids. Women parted their hair down the middle and braided each half. They still follow this when they dress in traditional regalia at powwows. (If you want to see pictures of powwows, Google "Crow Fair" and you should get some good ones. Crow Fair is a huge powwow that happens practically in our backyard every August.) Hair was (and sometimes still is) cut as a sign of mourning. My husband cut his long hair off when his grandmother died.

Nowadays, and especially in the current generations younger than the age of 30, the old traditions are falling away or nearly lost. There are a few families that still follow more traditional ways as best they can, and there are others who reject the old traditions completely. And then there are some who do a little bit of both. The language is dying, and with it a lot of the other things, like hair practices. The only thing my husband knows about pre-conquest haircare is that the women used to boil some part of the Yucca plant and wash their hair with it. It lathered up just like shampoo.

The most persistent hair traditions that I see, at least with the Crow who live on the reservation, is that hair is still important, though the care of it has changed. Little girls are used to having their hair yanked into super tight braids for most of their younger years. Some little boys still are given the traditional 3 braids, but they're getting fewer and fewer, and unless they're dressed in superhero clothes or camouflage or something else "manly", outsiders mistake them for girls. I see more and more young girls with their hair loose. Some of them still have it quite long, but it's often unkempt. The older girls have switched from super long lengths to hopelessly fried and flatironed shorter styles. It's not universal, but it's the most common. My husband's older sisters grow their hair out long (classic-ish) and then cut back to shoulder/APL-ish. Two of them have very curly hair, and they don't really know what to do with it, so it just hangs there. There seems to be one sort of universal bun the longer-haired women do that involves scrunchies or claw clips, and that's it. The only "growing out" method they use when growing hair is to take prenatal vitamins, which usually they can get from a relative who is or was recently pregnant and who got them for free from the IHS (Indian Health Service). When I first moved here and wanted to grow my hair, my husband asked a couple of his pregnant cousins to get prenatals for me that way. And they did. I honestly don't know if it's helped or not, but I've taken them on and off ever since, as I tend to be slightly low on iron anyway.

One nice thing is that, even though a lot of ladies here don't grow their hair to extreme lengths anymore, they still admire very long hair and think of it as a cool accessory rather than some weird crazy hippie thing or something. It probably also doesn't hurt that we have a Hutterite community living nearby (on the reservation since no one bothers them here) and also a lot of Pentecostals just off-Rez, some of whom have fairly extreme lengths. I know of one Crow woman who has hair at about Knee length, but she's in some sort of feud with one of my sister-in-laws, so I doubt I could get any friendly tips from her. Around here, if someone doesn't like you, then by extension their whole family hates your whole family. And families are big.

I feel like I'm rambling. Been up a bit too long. This is a cool thread, though. I wish I had something more useful to contribute. :)

[browneyedsusan]

Cool thread.

I was raised in Michigan, and am familiar with Potawatomi and Chippewa Indians. DH graduated from Central Michigan University, and I remember when they removed the Native American symbols--tomahawks, arrows, feathers--from their logo (Chippewas). He still has a few things with feathers and arrows, but you can't get them anymore.

Also, there are no reservations in Indiana that I know of. I never realized that my children had a little gap in their diversity training! (They are familiar with many different sorts of people, and have good social skills because of it, but Native Americans are rare here.) So a few years ago, when we visited our northern family, we drove an hour to the reservation to shore up DD's skills. (DS was running loose with his cousins and didn't come with.) She liked the totem poles in their yards. We stopped by the gas station, saw some Indians getting gas, and sent DD in to pay so she could talk with the clerk. Many of the Native American ladies up there still wear their hair long and straight. Most of the men have short hair. Some little boys have theirs long. :)

[Noortje]

I have a picture which shows how they make the squash blossom buns! It seems to be a round framework where they knot the hair around and fan it open...
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt150/marijkeve/th_orchid%20blossom_zpsausqltwn.jpg (http://s606.photobucket.com/user/marijkeve/media/orchid%20blossom_zpsausqltwn.jpg.html)

[nakima]

My ex was Alaska native and his hair was tbl thick and black like a ravens wing. Gorgeous hair! Gorgeous man! LOl! My grandmother on my fathers side had indian blood feather not dot :) but I did not inherit her hair mine is blonde and thin.

[Betazed]

I'm 100% Native American (I even grew up on a reserve!). Unfortunately, my hair is more caucasion than native. While it's pretty dark, it's still a lot lighter than my mom's jet black hair. My hubs has the classic native hair and he hates it. It's super black, super thick, and super unruly. He's been WO since infancy because conventional products just turn his head into a massive frizzball. He keeps it above the ears but when we first got together, he let it grew to chin length (this was after his mom stopped cutting it and before he convinced me to cut it) and it grew pin straight. My hair has a slight wave to it.

Despite being 100%, I was made fun of in high school for not being "Native enough". I think it's mostly because my hair is more auburn than "raven's wing" and I'm heterochromatic and have 1 brown eye and 1 green. (I was the only person in my class as a kid who had anything but brown eyes).

Anyway, I just wanted to share. I'd rather have my own hair than my hubs "more Native" hair because I know how difficult it is to manage. I remember my gramma having difficulty finding elastics that wouldn't snap and complaining about the weight/thickness of her hair in the summer. She used to say I had the best if both worlds because I look classically Native but I don't have the hardships that come with Native hair.

ETA: My gram also couldn't use conventional products and used to get a neighbor to make some kind of natural shampoo. I never did ask what was in it but I used to love the smell of it. When she got older, she cut off all her pretty silver and black hair in the usual old-lady cut you see on seniors everywhere (although, I have convinced her to grow it back out and she's now at a length that can be put into a ponytail!). That happened right around the same time we moved off-reserve and she stopped getting the shampoo from our neighbor. Now she uses all-natural products she gets from our local farmers market. It still smells nice but it's not the same scent that I remember from my childhood.

whew! Long post. Sorry. :p

[gthlvrmx]

That's such a gorgeous and unique style! :thumbsup: I wonder how it's done... :hmm:

Does anybody know any hair care tips / hair products from Native cultures? Also, any updos / braids / styles and tutorials? :flower: Google doesn't seem to be helping me there beyond the basic 3-strand or caterpillar braids...

Go to 1:36 if you don't want to watch the fry bread part. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB-t0eChjoc&index=2&list=WL
I tried making this bun before when I was younger but I just could not do it! Maybe I can figure it out now. Now that I look at it, it's actually very simple! I will see if I can try it on my mom or on my friend.

Edit: I tried it on my mom, it didn't turn out well. It was a bun of course but it was way too saggy.

[Betazed]

Go to 1:36 if you don't want to watch the fry bread part. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB-t0eChjoc&index=2&list=WL
I tried making this bun before when I was younger but I just could not do it! Maybe I can figure it out now. Now that I look at it, it's actually very simple! I will see if I can try it on my mom.

Your post made me hungry for an indian taco (which is made on fry bread) :p

[AmberJewel]

I recognize those pictures! I saw them years ago in a storybook... I think it was a Native American version of Cinderella. Cue nostalgia. :)

[Bill D.]

I wonder what type of hairtoy's they used to have :)

(besides the feathers and headbands I see in the pictures of course)

Well, that would depend on the particular culture. Long ago Hollywood seized on the cultures of the Plains Indians, and made some sort of deformed pastiche of these various cultures into the non-Indian concept of what all Native Americans are like. Along the way they threw in totem poles which are from an entirely different set of native cultures, plus words from certain native ethnic groups in the eastern U.S. (tomahawk, wigwam, etc) which are now widely and erroneously regarded as universal Native American words.

That would be like lumping together all Germanic peoples in Europe, caricaturing their cultures into one big agglomeration, tossing in a few things and words from elsewhere in Europe, then representing this as *the* European culture. Wooden shoes... yodeling... beer gardens... Venetian gondolas... that's what every European has as their culture!

Thus most non-Indians have no idea of the diversity of native cultures in North America north of Mexico, let alone farther south in the Americas. Yet because of these longstanding stereotypes, the images we are presented with continue to reinforce a very narrow and often inaccurate view of these very diverse peoples.

So if you delve into the subject a bit you'll find a huge variety of traditional hairstyles in these different cultures, which probably involve(d) a variety of what we call hair toys. I use semi-past-tense because some of these traditions are still around and others are gone, in some cases along with the entire people.

Bill D.

[gthlvrmx]

Your post made me hungry for an indian taco (which is made on fry bread) :p

That sounds good! I have never had an indian taco!

[Dragon Faery]

Your post made me hungry for an indian taco (which is made on fry bread) :p

Oh gosh, now I want one, too! Indian tacos are the best!!!


Well, that would depend on the particular culture. Long ago Hollywood seized on the cultures of the Plains Indians, and made some sort of deformed pastiche of these various cultures into the non-Indian concept of what all Native Americans are like. Along the way they threw in totem poles which are from an entirely different set of native cultures, plus words from certain native ethnic groups in the eastern U.S. (tomahawk, wigwam, etc) which are now widely and erroneously regarded as universal Native American words.

That would be like lumping together all Germanic peoples in Europe, caricaturing their cultures into one big agglomeration, tossing in a few things and words from elsewhere in Europe, then representing this as *the* European culture. Wooden shoes... yodeling... beer gardens... Venetian gondolas... that's what every European has as their culture!

Thus most non-Indians have no idea of the diversity of native cultures in North America north of Mexico, let alone farther south in the Americas. Yet because of these longstanding stereotypes, the images we are presented with continue to reinforce a very narrow and often inaccurate view of these very diverse peoples.

So if you delve into the subject a bit you'll find a huge variety of traditional hairstyles in these different cultures, which probably involve(d) a variety of what we call hair toys. I use semi-past-tense because some of these traditions are still around and others are gone, in some cases along with the entire people.

Bill D.

This. So much this.

[Betazed]

Oh gosh, now I want one, too! Indian tacos are the best!!!

I think yours are probably better than ours. I went on a trip to BC/Washington state when I was a teen and I found indian tacos are better the farther wast you go. Although the best was the ones we had on a rez in S. Dakota. I wanted to bring the whole restaurant home with me :p

[aspartame gram]

This thread is great! Please, keep sharing your stories. :) I've only had Central American tacos, I'm wondering what the tacos you're describing taste like!

[Dragon Faery]

I think yours are probably better than ours. I went on a trip to BC/Washington state when I was a teen and I found indian tacos are better the farther wast you go. Although the best was the ones we had on a rez in S. Dakota. I wanted to bring the whole restaurant home with me :p

Haha, maybe so! I've only had them here. The trading post restaurant next to the Battlefield makes decent ones, but it depends on the cook. My husband's sister makes the best ones: her frybread is AMAZING. It'll kill you, but at least you'll die happy. ;)


This thread is great! Please, keep sharing your stories. :) I've only had Central American tacos, I'm wondering what the tacos you're describing taste like!

The Indian tacos I'm familiar with are frybread (fried dough, Navajo-style) topped with ground beef, chopped tomatoes, lettuce, and shredded cheese. Salsa and/or sour cream optional but often included.

Crow traditional bread is actually pan bread, and it isn't nearly as good as frybread. Pan bread is flatter, heavier, and WAY less greasy. And therefore, way less taste. ;)

My understanding is that frybread traveled up to the northwestern reservations when the government began issuing commodity foods (commods or commodities) and everyone got free Crisco to fry their bread in. I could be wrong about that, though. All the Natives I know rave about commodity cheese, which is basically big blocks of Velveeta but slightly different somehow. I'm not as fond of that, but then again I didn't grow up eating it. :shrug:

[M.McDonough]

Totally I love the fact that they have beautiful long thick hair!!

[aspartame gram]

Haha, maybe so! I've only had them here. The trading post restaurant next to the Battlefield makes decent ones, but it depends on the cook. My husband's sister makes the best ones: her frybread is AMAZING. It'll kill you, but at least you'll die happy. ;)



The Indian tacos I'm familiar with are frybread (fried dough, Navajo-style) topped with ground beef, chopped tomatoes, lettuce, and shredded cheese. Salsa and/or sour cream optional but often included.

Crow traditional bread is actually pan bread, and it isn't nearly as good as frybread. Pan bread is flatter, heavier, and WAY less greasy. And therefore, way less taste. ;)

My understanding is that frybread traveled up to the northwestern reservations when the government began issuing commodity foods (commods or commodities) and everyone got free Crisco to fry their bread in. I could be wrong about that, though. All the Natives I know rave about commodity cheese, which is basically big blocks of Velveeta but slightly different somehow. I'm not as fond of that, but then again I didn't grow up eating it. :shrug:

Oh, interesting! Knowing the history behind the practice is quite fascinating, and I'm not surprised to hear it. It makes sense. I wonder if there are any restaurants that serve this dish, like specialty places in certain regions.

[DeadlyUnicorn]

My ex bf was native, he had his hair long (longer than mine at the time, mine was very short lol) and I had never felt thick, coarse hair before. It was just amazing and shocking how different it was compared to mine lol. I really love native American hair :) If I could choose a hair besides what I already have, it would probably be that.

[Dragon Faery]

Oh, interesting! Knowing the history behind the practice is quite fascinating, and I'm not surprised to hear it. It makes sense. I wonder if there are any restaurants that serve this dish, like specialty places in certain regions.

I'm not sure. :) My reservation (Crow, southeast Montana, on I-90 about halfway between Sheridan, WY and Billings, MT) has a "trading post" gift shop with a restaurant attached, and they definitely serve Indian Tacos there. And I think every Crow family (they're HUGE extended families) has at least one woman who can make "the best" frybread in the world. The hard part is getting the bread right; the rest is just taco toppings. :)

I Googled Indian Tacos while in the Denver, CO area once, and found a restaurant somewhere in Denver that claimed to serve them but I have no idea if they were the real thing or not. I would guess the only places that would serve them and get them right would be on or near the larger reservations. But that's just a guess.

[neko_kawaii]

Oh man, now you lot have me wanting totoi dough god (local? name for fry bread). I just suggested to my husband that we should drive to the Rez tomorrow for Indian tacos and to buy ripe peaches at their farm. He grinned, so that is a good sign.

There is a restaurant in town that serves totoi but for the huge variety of toppings you have to wait for street events with lots of food vendors or drive to the Rez.

[aspartame gram]

I'm not sure. :) My reservation (Crow, southeast Montana, on I-90 about halfway between Sheridan, WY and Billings, MT) has a "trading post" gift shop with a restaurant attached, and they definitely serve Indian Tacos there. And I think every Crow family (they're HUGE extended families) has at least one woman who can make "the best" frybread in the world. The hard part is getting the bread right; the rest is just taco toppings. :)

I Googled Indian Tacos while in the Denver, CO area once, and found a restaurant somewhere in Denver that claimed to serve them but I have no idea if they were the real thing or not. I would guess the only places that would serve them and get them right would be on or near the larger reservations. But that's just a guess.

Well, hrm. I am in Denver, so perhaps this is something to investigate... To delicious tacos!

And I totally wish I had the thick, coarse hair. I got all the recessive genes in a family of Latinos and I'm more than a little bitter. So I look like the orphan child except if you look at my face.

[Larki]

I'm part Native American (great-grandparents on both sides, Blackfoot and Cherokee) but also mostly Danish and I got all the Danish hair genes and none of the Native American. :p I do have high cheekbones, though, so I guess I can thank the Native American side for that.

[neko_kawaii]

Fry bread in the comments! (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/entry.php?b=122011&bt=670550)

[browneyedsusan]

I've never heard of Indian tacos. Maybe Michigan Indians don't make them--now that I live in Indiana, I'm aware of how much the great lakes keep people from "passing through" Michigan. Both peninsulas bottleneck at the Machinac bridge-- or I have a hole in my diversity training! lol!

Pass some of those tacos over, eh? :yumm:

[vpatt]

I love the Native American hair, also. I didn't realize that it could be wavy, too.

[JadedByEntropy]

I only knew about the existence of 3 grandparents, but i'm supposed to be Cherokee (and Viking) on the shady half of my tree. I definitely have the thick dark hair, but that is also from the Swiss side. I've got good hair genes all around! my poor brother though...wasn't so lucky. Though, he actually got ringlet curls out of nowhere. -.-

[Dragon Faery]

Fry bread in the comments! (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/entry.php?b=122011&bt=670550)

YES!!! From the pictures, that looks even more authentic than what we get here. But that makes sense, as these pictures happened much further south. :) I hope someday I get that chance to try a real southwest Indian Taco. Though until then my sister-in-law's are awesome. ;)


I love the Native American hair, also. I didn't realize that it could be wavy, too.

Yeah, I was surprised about that too, but my husband had amazing curls (I think they were really wurls) when he wore his long, and all his female family members were jealous. And I think all 3 of his sisters have curly hair too, actually. *thinks* ... Yeah, they wear it tightly up most of the time so it's hard to tell. But it's definitely curly.

[Thoughtcriminal]

One of my best friends is half-Native half-Latina. She keeps it short, but it's *super* thick and strong yet soft. Definitely my idea of perfect hair!

[ladonna]

I'm mostly Native American. My hair is thick and curly/wavy and mostly coarse strands and dark brown with a lot of red. It's very very common for natives to have curly hair, when the Spainish invaded the Americas the natives were mostly draw with wavy hair. Then of course the former African slaves intermarried with the native peoples and add a lot more curl.

[MINAKO]

I'm mostly Native American. My hair is thick and curly/wavy and mostly coarse strands and dark brown with a lot of red. It's very very common for natives to have curly hair, when the Spainish invaded the Americas the natives were mostly draw with wavy hair. Then of course the former African slaves intermarried with the native peoples and add a lot more curl.

Im not native american at the least but very mixed nonetheless and it shows alot in my hairtype. I wonder what the hair of the so called future race will look like when everything is so blended together, that all human beings are pretty much looking the same. Like there is mext to no variation in the type of fur of certain animal species. Ah well, the more people look the same, the more they try to be different i guess, so the haircare industry will profit even more with selling colors and textures and cuts.
But back to native american hair, i absolutely love it, pretty much the same as asian hair in its color, thickness and shine <3

[Dragon Faery]

Just for fun, I did a bit of Googling. I can't necessarily sanction any specific advice given, and I haven't necessarily read each page thoroughly, but here are some links I found that may be of interest and may be good for discussion should anyone feel so inclined. :)

http://www.powwows.com/2013/01/28/native-american-hair-braid-care/ (There are links to pictures and videos of powwow events at the top of the page.)
http://www.native-languages.org/hair.htm (This one is good for general interest on the subject and covers some of the things we've talked about in this thread.)
http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/601 (This one is of a more sociopolitical/historical nature, but no pictures.)
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/19/anicent-indigenous-hair-remedies-5-reasons-natives-have-healthy-lustrous-locks-155379 (This one is interesting and informative but seems short. The comments look informative as well.)
http://multiculturalbeauty.about.com/od/Natural/tp/Native-American-Beauty-Secrets.htm (This one looks short and interesting. It's all about traditional methods used for hair and skin care.)
Sometimes it bothers me how all the tribes get lumped into one massive culture. It's comparable to saying "Europeans do A, B, and C", whereas someone in Finland might do A, someone in Germany might do A and C, and someone in Spain might do B. These articles listed can have a tendency to do the same thing, so just keep that in mind while perusing. :)

[Betazed]

I made a trip to my Rez today and got tacos for dinner because of this thread! Dragon Faery, your tacos are the same as ours. I don't get anything on them but lettuce and cheese and definitely NO sour cream. My hubs gets sour cream on his, though. We have frybread and what we call scones (pronounced "sk-awn" so it rhymes with dawn, not clone), which I think is probably similar to your pan bread.

Weird fact: instead of saying Native American or indian, a lot of people my age and younger call other Natives "skawns". Scone is also used as another word for your head. I.e., "Don't punch me in the scone!" I have no idea why or how this happened.

My taco was delicious, by the way! There used to be only 1 place on my Rez that sold them but when I went today I saw a new restaurant/kiosk type thing had opened in our village. I'm quite excited to see how their tacos compare to others I've tried. As delicious as our tacos are, they don't hold a candle to those out west.

I'm so happy this thread has been hijacked by indian tacos!! :yumm:

[Dragon Faery]

I made a trip to my Rez today and got tacos for dinner because of this thread! Dragon Faery, your tacos are the same as ours. I don't get anything on them but lettuce and cheese and definitely NO sour cream. My hubs gets sour cream on his, though. We have frybread and what we call scones (pronounced "sk-awn" so it rhymes with dawn, not clone), which I think is probably similar to your pan bread.

Weird fact: instead of saying Native American or indian, a lot of people my age and younger call other Natives "skawns". Scone is also used as another word for your head. I.e., "Don't punch me in the scone!" I have no idea why or how this happened.

My taco was delicious, by the way! There used to be only 1 place on my Rez that sold them but when I went today I saw a new restaurant/kiosk type thing had opened in our village. I'm quite excited to see how their tacos compare to others I've tried. As delicious as our tacos are, they don't hold a candle to those out west.

I'm so happy this thread has been hijacked by indian tacos!! :yumm:

Indian Tacos for the win!!! :) :happydance:

That's interesting about "skawns". I don't think it's traveled up to the northern plains tribes, but I'm pretty sure the slang up here includes calling each other "n*gga", and as far as I can tell that likely comes from the fact that basketball is HUGE here, and so are rap and hip hop. In Facebook posts from Crows and related tribes, I often see ndn and n8v (or n8ve) instead of "Indian" or "Native".

I don't think our trading post gives us the option for what goes on our frybread in an ndn taco. That would be kinda cool. The old cook used the Cysco shredded lettuce and put it on, fresh(ish), after everything else was cooked. The new(ish) cook, unless he's been replaced, used a different lettuce in larger pieces, and let it get cooked and soaked by the other ingredients.

[Betazed]

I enjoyed reading the articles you posted ^. The first one regarding powwows is coincidental for me. Our annual powwow is coming up and I've agreed to dance this year. I haven't danced since I was a kid but my SIL is having a difficult time finding people who know how to dance traditionally. So, I was talked into it. I mentioned this to my gramma, giving her a heads up that I'll need my hair braided early the morning of (I always get my gram to do my hair whenever I need it to stay in all day). She asked if I'm okay with using regular hairspray since I recently went all-natural with my products. I'm going to have to google natural hairsprays to see if I have any other options before reaching for the giant can of Rave hairspray.

[Dragon Faery]

I enjoyed reading the articles you posted ^. The first one regarding powwows is coincidental for me. Our annual powwow is coming up and I've agreed to dance this year. I haven't danced since I was a kid but my SIL is having a difficult time finding people who know how to dance traditionally. So, I was talked into it. I mentioned this to my gramma, giving her a heads up that I'll need my hair braided early the morning of (I always get my gram to do my hair whenever I need it to stay in all day). She asked if I'm okay with using regular hairspray since I recently went all-natural with my products. I'm going to have to google natural hairsprays to see if I have any other options before reaching for the giant can of Rave hairspray.

Haha! I hope you can find something! But if not, hopefully a couple deep treatments will balance it out? If you're blessed with indestructible hair maybe it won't matter. ;)

[Sharysa]

Well, that would depend on the particular culture. Long ago Hollywood seized on the cultures of the Plains Indians, and made some sort of deformed pastiche of these various cultures into the non-Indian concept of what all Native Americans are like. Along the way they threw in totem poles which are from an entirely different set of native cultures, plus words from certain native ethnic groups in the eastern U.S. (tomahawk, wigwam, etc) which are now widely and erroneously regarded as universal Native American words.

That would be like lumping together all Germanic peoples in Europe, caricaturing their cultures into one big agglomeration, tossing in a few things and words from elsewhere in Europe, then representing this as *the* European culture. Wooden shoes... yodeling... beer gardens... Venetian gondolas... that's what every European has as their culture!

Thus most non-Indians have no idea of the diversity of native cultures in North America north of Mexico, let alone farther south in the Americas. Yet because of these longstanding stereotypes, the images we are presented with continue to reinforce a very narrow and often inaccurate view of these very diverse peoples.

So if you delve into the subject a bit you'll find a huge variety of traditional hairstyles in these different cultures, which probably involve(d) a variety of what we call hair toys. I use semi-past-tense because some of these traditions are still around and others are gone, in some cases along with the entire people.

Bill D.

We need a Like button for this.


But back to native american hair, i absolutely love it, pretty much the same as asian hair in its color, thickness and shine <3

I'm sorry to constantly bring this up, but it just bugs me how so many people just mindlessly gush about "Native" hair and "Asian" hair and "omg it's so straight and shiny!" Not all Natives or Asians have shiny, thick, straight hair. Some Natives right on this thread ended up with recessive genes, or if they're mixed they ended up inheriting mostly Caucasian genes. My Filipino hair is borderline wavy, so it's hard to manage if it's humid or windy or if I look at it wrong. It's also not shiny, so it's hard to photograph unless it's in REALLY good light.

People just THINK Asians always have straight hair because we hold to the "Straight Hair Is Beautiful" ideal even more than some Westerners do.

And that means a lot of us who DON'T have pin-straight hair straightened the crap out of it to try and fit in with that ideal. I spent high school straightening my hair ALL THE TIME, and it took me until college to ditch it. Then I had to look at African-American haircare and then this website to learn how to manage wavy hair, because I couldn't find any Asian haircare that dealt with natural waves or curls.

[Dragon Faery]

I'm sorry to constantly bring this up, but it just bugs me how so many people just mindlessly gush about "Native" hair and "Asian" hair and "omg it's so straight and shiny!" Not all Natives or Asians have shiny, thick, straight hair. Some Natives right on this thread ended up with recessive genes. My Filipino hair is borderline wavy, so it's hard to manage if it's humid or windy or if I look at it wrong. It's also not shiny, so it's hard to photograph unless it's in REALLY good light.

I blame Hollywood for that, mostly. :/

[EdG]

Well, that would depend on the particular culture. Long ago Hollywood seized on the cultures of the Plains Indians, and made some sort of deformed pastiche of these various cultures into the non-Indian concept of what all Native Americans are like. Along the way they threw in totem poles which are from an entirely different set of native cultures, plus words from certain native ethnic groups in the eastern U.S. (tomahawk, wigwam, etc) which are now widely and erroneously regarded as universal Native American words.

That would be like lumping together all Germanic peoples in Europe, caricaturing their cultures into one big agglomeration, tossing in a few things and words from elsewhere in Europe, then representing this as *the* European culture. Wooden shoes... yodeling... beer gardens... Venetian gondolas... that's what every European has as their culture!

Thus most non-Indians have no idea of the diversity of native cultures in North America north of Mexico, let alone farther south in the Americas. Yet because of these longstanding stereotypes, the images we are presented with continue to reinforce a very narrow and often inaccurate view of these very diverse peoples.

So if you delve into the subject a bit you'll find a huge variety of traditional hairstyles in these different cultures, which probably involve(d) a variety of what we call hair toys. I use semi-past-tense because some of these traditions are still around and others are gone, in some cases along with the entire people.

Bill D.


We need a Like button for this.A+ post, Bill D! :thumbsup:
Ed

[MINAKO]

I'm sorry to constantly bring this up, but it just bugs me how so many people just mindlessly gush about "Native" hair and "Asian" hair and "omg it's so straight and shiny!" Not all Natives or Asians have shiny, thick, straight hair. Some Natives right on this thread ended up with recessive genes, or if they're mixed they ended up inheriting mostly Caucasian genes. My Filipino hair is borderline wavy, so it's hard to manage if it's humid or windy or if I look at it wrong. It's also not shiny, so it's hard to photograph unless it's in REALLY good light.

People just THINK Asians always have straight hair because we hold to the "Straight Hair Is Beautiful" ideal even more than some Westerners do.

And that means a lot of us who DON'T have pin-straight hair straightened the crap out of it to try and fit in with that ideal. I spent high school straightening my hair ALL THE TIME, and it took me until college to ditch it. Then I had to look at African-American haircare and then this website to learn how to manage wavy hair, because I couldn't find any Asian haircare that dealt with natural waves or curls.

I dont know if this was solely referring to my post or a general statement, but since i was quoted, let me point out that i never said anything about straightness to begin with, neither native american nor asian. We all know that its impossible to make a connection for one particular ethnic group to one and the same hairtype category. Of course there are people of asian descent with curly hair and\or fine, thin, non-shiny hair. But looking at an average number individual cases are not really representative. As much as there are more blonde people all over scandinavia and more people with curly or kinky hair with african background, there are on a larger scale more people with thick shiny black hair in asia, nobody said it apllies to each and every single person.
Also i dont really see a preference for poker straight hair looking at beauty standards in most asian countries these days. Most of the asian firls i know use straighteners to curl their hair or wear topknots all the time to have so e texture when they take it down. There are very controlled and smooth 2a waves all over the place amongst celebrities I wouldnt think that those things would be considered less beautiful when they are used as an example.

[Sharysa]

Not replying to your post specifically, just noticing a trend that when "Native/Asian hair" comes up, people start gushing about Native/Asian hair or "Native/Asian haircare" like actual people of those ethnicities aren't on the forums.

Maybe it's a regional thing--I'm in California, so we have a lot of older Asian immigrants who want their kids to retain some traditional culture. Hence, straighteners are very common here.

[Bill D.]

Thanks, Dragon Faery, Sharysa, and EdG!

In one of the times I fell into the stereotyping trap, I was believing that if someone of East Asian ancestry had hair that was anything but straight then they must be perming it or something. That's what's known as a self-reinforcing fallacy, because it automatically disqualifies any contrary evidence as not counting. Big oops... and sigh :shake: . Once I realized this, I started realizing I was seeing at least occasional East Asian hair that was naturally curly. One of the secretaries at work, my massage therapist, etc.

Another lesson learned...

Bill D.

[yahirwaO.o]

Based on my experience here in rural Mexico. Straight, soft Wavy and very Wavy are the common hair types with people who are have fully indiginous ancestry. Sure curly ringlet hair is not uncommon, but Id say they are mixed based on what I see here. And it ranges from very fine thin hair to supper coarse thick hair.

Im contantly told I have the typical native shaman ¨greñudo¨ look, which I do take as a complement but like I mentioned before, sometimes based on my oufit I can go from Native Indian to Armenian and even East indian! LOL

And the equivalent of parandas (either leather or endemic fabrics) are very common here with braids.

[Dragon Faery]

Based on my experience here in rural Mexico. Straight, soft Wavy and very Wavy are the common hair types with people who are have fully indiginous ancestry. Sure curly ringlet hair is not uncommon, but Id say they are mixed based on what I see here. And it ranges from very fine thin hair to supper coarse thick hair.

Im contantly told I have the typical native shaman ¨greñudo¨ look, which I do take as a complement but like I mentioned before, sometimes based on my oufit I can go from Native Indian to Armenian and even East indian! LOL

And the equivalent of parandas (either leather or endemic fabrics) are very common here with braids.

Very cool! And interesting about the wavy hair being a common hair type. Now I'm mentally trying to picture the people I know on the reservations where I live ... a lot of the younger ones straighten their hair, so it's really hard to say what their hair types are, though I guess they must have some wave or they wouldn't need to straighten it. But my husband's full-blooded Crow and he's a mixture of 1c to 2c in texture, so it probably shouldn't be all that surprising to me. I haven't spent much time in Mexico.

[BrunetteMermaid]

Quick question to any members who do have native ancestry, is coarse texture a common thing? My hair is medium fine and rather coarse.. thanks in advance! :)

[Betazed]

BrunetteMermaid:


Well, that would depend on the particular culture. Long ago Hollywood seized on the cultures of the Plains Indians, and made some sort of deformed pastiche of these various cultures into the non-Indian concept of what all Native Americans are like. Along the way they threw in totem poles which are from an entirely different set of native cultures, plus words from certain native ethnic groups in the eastern U.S. (tomahawk, wigwam, etc) which are now widely and erroneously regarded as universal Native American words.

That would be like lumping together all Germanic peoples in Europe, caricaturing their cultures into one big agglomeration, tossing in a few things and words from elsewhere in Europe, then representing this as *the* European culture. Wooden shoes... yodeling... beer gardens... Venetian gondolas... that's what every European has as their culture!

Thus most non-Indians have no idea of the diversity of native cultures in North America north of Mexico, let alone farther south in the Americas. Yet because of these longstanding stereotypes, the images we are presented with continue to reinforce a very narrow and often inaccurate view of these very diverse peoples.

So if you delve into the subject a bit you'll find a huge variety of traditional hairstyles in these different cultures, which probably involve(d) a variety of what we call hair toys. I use semi-past-tense because some of these traditions are still around and others are gone, in some cases along with the entire people.

Bill D.

[Betazed]

Also to BrunetteMermaid :

As I've said before, my hubs has thick, coarse, black hair. I have thinner, auburn hair. We're both 100% Native American (Mohawks from Six Nations). That being said, and as I've posted before, I was teased a lot as a child for not looking "Native enough". This had nothing to do with skin color. Instead, I think it was more because I'm heterochromatic so only 1 of my eyes is the typical brown and because my hair color/texture isn't seen as "typical Native hair". But like Bill D. so aptly said, Indigenous people are very diverse. As is, I assume, the texture of our hair.

[betterhairday]

I'm Native American. I've always liked the thickness of my hair. Somehow it works well in buns and updo's. But the *straightness* can be really hard to deal with. It's so smooth and sleek that it just slips out of braids, clips, buns, etc. Lot's of products and the hair dryer are my very best friends :-)

Chinese hair is very similar. When I was little I used to sit with my grandma whilst she braided her hair and I remember she used to thread a gold string through her braids and they did not slip or come undone.

[neko_kawaii]

This just showed up on my Facebook feed and I had to take a look. I like that many of the entries identify specific groups and how they used the items.

Ancient Native American Beauty Secrets (http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/02/ancient-native-american-beauty-secrets.html)

[Dragon Faery]

This just showed up on my Facebook feed and I had to take a look. I like that many of the entries identify specific groups and how they used the items.

Ancient Native American Beauty Secrets (http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/02/ancient-native-american-beauty-secrets.html)

Ooh that's a nice article :)

[meteor]

In the Crow tradition, boys and men wore 3 braids and girls and women wore 2. Boys and men had the crown hair sectioned off into one braid, and then the hair beneath that is divided in half and braided into two more braids. Women parted their hair down the middle and braided each half. They still follow this when they dress in traditional regalia at powwows. (If you want to see pictures of powwows, Google "Crow Fair" and you should get some good ones. Crow Fair is a huge powwow that happens practically in our backyard every August.)

Thank you so much for that awesome and informative post, Dragon Faery! Those 2 Crow hairstyles sound awesome! So that male hairstyle was done with 3 English braids? Is the first braid with hair sectioned from top to ears? Are the braids left to hang loose or are they braided or banded together?
Sorry for so many questions, I just can't find any pictures of this style on Google, but it sounds really cool! :thumbsup:

[Dragon Faery]

Thank you so much for that awesome and informative post, Dragon Faery! Those 2 Crow hairstyles sound awesome! So that male hairstyle was done with 3 English braids? Is the first braid with hair sectioned from top to ears? Are the braids left to hang loose or are they braided or banded together?
Sorry for so many questions, I just can't find any pictures of this style on Google, but it sounds really cool! :thumbsup:

The top braid for the males is taken from the sort of oval-ish section on top of the head that would surround a center part if there were one. And then the back hair is parted from the center back of that section down to the nape. The braids are sometimes all braided together and sometimes left loose. I asked my husband about that, and he said he always braided his 3 braids together. He also informs me, as I type, that an earlier tradition was for the top section to be cut short. He showed me a picture on Pinterest. I'll see if I can link to it. He says they got that from another tribe a long time ago.

http://imageenvision.com/photos/braids
In this gallery, there are 7 very old photographs of Crow men. Five are labeled as Crow, and two are labeled as Absaroke, which is one English butchering of the spelling of the Crow name for themselves, Apsaaloke. The Mandan man in the top row is from a neighboring tribe in what is now North Dakota.

Most modern Crow men that I've seen either have short hair or wear it in one long braid down the back.

http://hearingvoices.com/2011/08/hv096-crow-fair-i/crowfair-mt_tourism-men_dancers/
This is a picture from a modern dance competition during Crow Fair, which is a huge powwow that takes place every August 7 miles from our house. These men are in the Grass Dancing competition. (I'm not sure what exactly that is, but my husband says it's more traditional than Fancy Dance.)
DH also informs me that the men in this picture have their hair done in the three braids, but the headdresses hide it. They use the top braid to keep the headdress in place. He says they take a small section of hair from the top of the head, pull it through the headdress, and then braid the top section of the hair.
The next picture in the gallery is a little girl in Traditional dress getting her hair braided before the powwow.
And the picture immediately following that is what the traditional morning parade is evolving into during Crow Fair: It used to be entirely horses, but now a lot of people decorate trucks and cars with blankets and ride on those instead. There are still slightly more horses than cars at this point.

The best picture I can find of what a lot of modern Crow men do now (those who don't cut their hair off short or follow current American trends) is the top one in this link I shared in an earlier post: http://www.powwows.com/2013/01/28/native-american-hair-braid-care/

I have DH sitting here next to me searching for pictures of the three braids, as well, and he can't find any either, except covered by headdresses. He says he didn't even take any pictures of himself when his hair was long. It was before camera phones, and he just didn't think to, not even when he cut his hair off after his grandmother died.

In this blog post http://mysantafe-kate.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html the man with the fuzzy braid over the jacket is from some northwestern tribe. I don't know which, but definitely not a Plains tribe. The picture right below that one has a man with a ponytail braided in two braids. DH says that's a Salish style. The Salish are from the general northwestern area, as well, as far as we know.

I'm still looking, but I can't find any pictures of the 3-braid style where all the braids are visible.

[meteor]

The top braid for the males is taken from the sort of oval-ish section on top of the head that would surround a center part if there were one. And then the back hair is parted from the center back of that section down to the nape. The braids are sometimes all braided together and sometimes left loose. I asked my husband about that, and he said he always braided his 3 braids together. He also informs me, as I type, that an earlier tradition was for the top section to be cut short. He showed me a picture on Pinterest. I'll see if I can link to it. He says they got that from another tribe a long time ago.

http://imageenvision.com/photos/braids
In this gallery, there are 7 very old photographs of Crow men. Five are labeled as Crow, and two are labeled as Absaroke, which is one English butchering of the spelling of the Crow name for themselves, Apsaaloke. The Mandan man in the top row is from a neighboring tribe in what is now North Dakota.

Most modern Crow men that I've seen either have short hair or wear it in one long braid down the back.

http://hearingvoices.com/2011/08/hv096-crow-fair-i/crowfair-mt_tourism-men_dancers/
This is a picture from a modern dance competition during Crow Fair, which is a huge powwow that takes place every August 7 miles from our house. These men are in the Grass Dancing competition. (I'm not sure what exactly that is, but my husband says it's more traditional than Fancy Dance.)
DH also informs me that the men in this picture have their hair done in the three braids, but the headdresses hide it. They use the top braid to keep the headdress in place. He says they take a small section of hair from the top of the head, pull it through the headdress, and then braid the top section of the hair.
The next picture in the gallery is a little girl in Traditional dress getting her hair braided before the powwow.
And the picture immediately following that is what the traditional morning parade is evolving into during Crow Fair: It used to be entirely horses, but now a lot of people decorate trucks and cars with blankets and ride on those instead. There are still slightly more horses than cars at this point.

The best picture I can find of what a lot of modern Crow men do now (those who don't cut their hair off short or follow current American trends) is the top one in this link I shared in an earlier post: http://www.powwows.com/2013/01/28/native-american-hair-braid-care/

I have DH sitting here next to me searching for pictures of the three braids, as well, and he can't find any either, except covered by headdresses. He says he didn't even take any pictures of himself when his hair was long. It was before camera phones, and he just didn't think to, not even when he cut his hair off after his grandmother died.

In this blog post http://mysantafe-kate.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html the man with the fuzzy braid over the jacket is from some northwestern tribe. I don't know which, but definitely not a Plains tribe. The picture right below that one has a man with a ponytail braided in two braids. DH says that's a Salish style. The Salish are from the general northwestern area, as well, as far as we know.

I'm still looking, but I can't find any pictures of the 3-braid style where all the braids are visible.

^ Wow! Thank you so very much, Dragon Faery! :flowers:

That's super-informative! :D Your first link shows those styles very, very well. I must have seen the 3-braided style on pictures without even realizing it, either because of the headdress or because it's hard to see from the front.

I think it's genius to use the top braid to hold a big headdress in place! I often wondered how on earth does one keep that thing from falling without hairpins and while moving around and even dancing? So they'd wrap the front/top hair above the headdress' base, then continue wrapping and then braid or just grab some hair below the headdress' base and braid that hair together, without pinning or sewing hair together? Pretty cool! :)


This just showed up on my Facebook feed and I had to take a look. I like that many of the entries identify specific groups and how they used the items.

Ancient Native American Beauty Secrets (http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/02/ancient-native-american-beauty-secrets.html)

This is such a cool article! :D
Those who can easily access these plants all year round are lucky! But I love it that I've seen many of these ingredients as star ingredients in some "natural" hair products these days. :D

[lacefrost]

We need a Like button for this.



I'm sorry to constantly bring this up, but it just bugs me how so many people just mindlessly gush about "Native" hair and "Asian" hair and "omg it's so straight and shiny!" Not all Natives or Asians have shiny, thick, straight hair. Some Natives right on this thread ended up with recessive genes, or if they're mixed they ended up inheriting mostly Caucasian genes. My Filipino hair is borderline wavy, so it's hard to manage if it's humid or windy or if I look at it wrong. It's also not shiny, so it's hard to photograph unless it's in REALLY good light.

People just THINK Asians always have straight hair because we hold to the "Straight Hair Is Beautiful" ideal even more than some Westerners do.

And that means a lot of us who DON'T have pin-straight hair straightened the crap out of it to try and fit in with that ideal. I spent high school straightening my hair ALL THE TIME, and it took me until college to ditch it. Then I had to look at African-American haircare and then this website to learn how to manage wavy hair, because I couldn't find any Asian haircare that dealt with natural waves or curls.

This.

It's also thought that Black hair is all very dark brown, tightly curly, and fine. When there are lots of Black people with no White ancestry that have blonde hair, wavy hair, and coarse hair. Or naturally red hair. (Or blue/gray/green eyes)My hair, for example, is very very coarse, which means that despite being 3c/4a, my hair behaves more like 4z.

[Dragon Faery]

^ Wow! Thank you so very much, Dragon Faery! :flowers:

That's super-informative! :D Your first link shows those styles very, very well. I must have seen the 3-braided style on pictures without even realizing it, either because of the headdress or because it's hard to see from the front.

I think it's genius to use the top braid to hold a big headdress in place! I often wondered how on earth does one keep that thing from falling without hairpins and while moving around and even dancing? So they'd wrap the front/top hair above the headdress' base, then continue wrapping and then braid or just grab some hair below the headdress' base and braid that hair together, without pinning or sewing hair together? Pretty cool! :)



You're welcome! :) I was afraid it got too long.

[Fira]

I am also an admirer of all dark long (strong) hair... Probably partly because I have light brown/dark blonde fine thin hair. So I enjoyed reading everything here. Especially everything Dragon Faery wrote.

I read about this just a few week ago:
http://www.sott.net/article/234783-The-Truth-About-Hair-and-Why-Indians-Would-Keep-Their-Hair-Long
(I hope you can see the link and that it works.)

The same thing is written here:
http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2012/05/truth-about-hair-and-why-indians-would.html

I haven't managed to read all the comments/responses there yet.

But I wonder, does anyone here know or had heard anything about it?

I myself know only what I read. I have light hair and pale complexion and am from Europe. But I have (like many people) always been fascinated by things I hear/see/read about Native American culture. When I was a child I was obviously influenced by films and books (I read Karl May - Winnetou!!!). As I got older I have been influenced by the stories of suffering (the history, the "European colonization"). My English is not so great so I have a hard time explaining, but I cry over any sad story I read, injustice and inequality (that I hear/read of) hurts me like a stab of a knife...

Well, lately I have come across this information (link above) because I read anything and everything I can find about long hair. :)

[irishlady]

My husband's Crow, so I'm going to have to ask him a lot of questions and come back to this thread after. I especially want to ask him about that painting of the "Crow Chief", as it doesn't look very much at all like the photographs I've seen of Crow elders and warriors.

My husband has thick, black, coarse hair with a bit of a wave to it. He was probably 1c when longer, possibly 2a. Before I knew him he'd grown it to somewhere between TBL and Classic, but he'd cut it off by the time I met him. :( All his girl cousins were jealous of his hair.

I can't say much about other tribes, but in Crow culture only your parents and immediate siblings and spouse are allowed to touch your hair. If anyone else does it's considered a sexual advance. I think this idea is slowly fading away, but in my husband's generation it's still quite prominent.

In the Crow tradition, boys and men wore 3 braids and girls and women wore 2. Boys and men had the crown hair sectioned off into one braid, and then the hair beneath that is divided in half and braided into two more braids. Women parted their hair down the middle and braided each half. They still follow this when they dress in traditional regalia at powwows. (If you want to see pictures of powwows, Google "Crow Fair" and you should get some good ones. Crow Fair is a huge powwow that happens practically in our backyard every August.) Hair was (and sometimes still is) cut as a sign of mourning. My husband cut his long hair off when his grandmother died.

Nowadays, and especially in the current generations younger than the age of 30, the old traditions are falling away or nearly lost. There are a few families that still follow more traditional ways as best they can, and there are others who reject the old traditions completely. And then there are some who do a little bit of both. The language is dying, and with it a lot of the other things, like hair practices. The only thing my husband knows about pre-conquest haircare is that the women used to boil some part of the Yucca plant and wash their hair with it. It lathered up just like shampoo.

The most persistent hair traditions that I see, at least with the Crow who live on the reservation, is that hair is still important, though the care of it has changed. Little girls are used to having their hair yanked into super tight braids for most of their younger years. Some little boys still are given the traditional 3 braids, but they're getting fewer and fewer, and unless they're dressed in superhero clothes or camouflage or something else "manly", outsiders mistake them for girls. I see more and more young girls with their hair loose. Some of them still have it quite long, but it's often unkempt. The older girls have switched from super long lengths to hopelessly fried and flatironed shorter styles. It's not universal, but it's the most common. My husband's older sisters grow their hair out long (classic-ish) and then cut back to shoulder/APL-ish. Two of them have very curly hair, and they don't really know what to do with it, so it just hangs there. There seems to be one sort of universal bun the longer-haired women do that involves scrunchies or claw clips, and that's it. The only "growing out" method they use when growing hair is to take prenatal vitamins, which usually they can get from a relative who is or was recently pregnant and who got them for free from the IHS (Indian Health Service). When I first moved here and wanted to grow my hair, my husband asked a couple of his pregnant cousins to get prenatals for me that way. And they did. I honestly don't know if it's helped or not, but I've taken them on and off ever since, as I tend to be slightly low on iron anyway.

One nice thing is that, even though a lot of ladies here don't grow their hair to extreme lengths anymore, they still admire very long hair and think of it as a cool accessory rather than some weird crazy hippie thing or something. It probably also doesn't hurt that we have a Hutterite community living nearby (on the reservation since no one bothers them here) and also a lot of Pentecostals just off-Rez, some of whom have fairly extreme lengths. I know of one Crow woman who has hair at about Knee length, but she's in some sort of feud with one of my sister-in-laws, so I doubt I could get any friendly tips from her. Around here, if someone doesn't like you, then by extension their whole family hates your whole family. And families are big.

I feel like I'm rambling. Been up a bit too long. This is a cool thread, though. I wish I had something more useful to contribute. :)

Fascinating :) Thank you for sharing. I have been interested in Native American culture for years, and it's always nice to learn from someone who is Native or lives amongst them. It's sad though that the languages and some customs are dying out :(

[Dragon Faery]

I am also an admirer of all dark long (strong) hair... Probably partly because I have light brown/dark blonde fine thin hair. So I enjoyed reading everything here. Especially everything Dragon Faery wrote.

I read about this just a few week ago:
http://www.sott.net/article/234783-The-Truth-About-Hair-and-Why-Indians-Would-Keep-Their-Hair-Long
(I hope you can see the link and that it works.)

The same thing is written here:
http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2012/05/truth-about-hair-and-why-indians-would.html

I haven't managed to read all the comments/responses there yet.

But I wonder, does anyone here know or had heard anything about it?



Aww, thank you! I try to be as informative as possible, since I often notice how big the knowledge gap is between white people and Natives in the USA. I kind of live in that middle ground, since I used to be one of the white people who didn't know anything but the stereotypes. :)

The article you've linked to is interesting. I've seen it floating around a lot lately in various forms. I don't know for sure if that particular story is true, but I do know that my husband has told me about something similar to this. His story is that during the Vietnam war, the military hired Native American trackers who had amazing skills in that regard. But when they cut their hair for boot camp they lost the finesse that they had possessed before. Eventually they were given special permission from the top brass to grow their hair out long again, and after that they had no further trouble. I don't know if all the details of his story are the same as the details in these articles or not, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised if they were different versions of the same story. A lot of Natives tend to join the military at some point in their lives, so my husband has a lot of relatives and friends who have been in various branches at various times. :) ...Hmm. I'm not sure if any of this is helpful or not! Lol!


Fascinating :) Thank you for sharing. I have been interested in Native American culture for years, and it's always nice to learn from someone who is Native or lives amongst them. It's sad though that the languages and some customs are dying out :(
Thank you! It's been interesting to learn about these things. I never thought this would be where my life took me, but here I am. I figure I should make the most of it in whatever way I can. :)

[Fira]

I wonder, can one have long hair in the military these days? Can you choose? (In the US.)

I've read that people are often told what they can and cannot do - for example, that boys were required to cut their hair to go to kindergarten or school. I am having a hard time understanding this... These attempts of (mind) control... I can not imagine something like this today in my country, although it is also messed up in a big way (politicians are the worst and our national character is also unbelievable - in a bad way). I mean people are very judgmental and everyone thinks they know better and they think they can tell you what to do - as far as hair goes it is always too short for one, too long for another and the wrong color etc... But if you skin is thick (and you are brave and smart) you can do what you want. :)

And as far as Native Americans go, is their life in general any better now? Do more people understand that we are all equal? Although this is a difficult subject, right?

I wonder if there are any chances that old Native American plants and herbs, used for hair care are going to get popular?
Because in my country (and in Europe???) there is more and more interest in Indian (from India, ayurvedic etc.) plants and herbs and mixes... And from other parts of the world (Africa, Tahiti etc.).

[silvurgrin]

A while back on this thread, someone mentioned the squash blossom bun, and was referencing an old photograph. I was at the de Young museum in San Francisco the other day, and saw a bust of a Hopi woman with her hair done up in this style. I snapped a few photos, but unfortunately I have no idea how to share them here. :(

[Dragon Faery]

I just stopped in to leave this here ... I just saw it and thought it was cool. It doesn't have much to do with hair, but it's one of the Crow traditions that's alive and well: relay horse racing. This was filmed at the racetrack a few miles away from my home. I thought people like SwordWomanRiona would appreciate it ... if she ever checks this thread anymore. :)

http://www.horsecollaborative.com/indian-relay-horse-racing-will-blow-your-mind/

[Dragon Faery]

I wonder, can one have long hair in the military these days? Can you choose? (In the US.)

I've read that people are often told what they can and cannot do - for example, that boys were required to cut their hair to go to kindergarten or school. I am having a hard time understanding this... These attempts of (mind) control... I can not imagine something like this today in my country, although it is also messed up in a big way (politicians are the worst and our national character is also unbelievable - in a bad way). I mean people are very judgmental and everyone thinks they know better and they think they can tell you what to do - as far as hair goes it is always too short for one, too long for another and the wrong color etc... But if you skin is thick (and you are brave and smart) you can do what you want. :)

And as far as Native Americans go, is their life in general any better now? Do more people understand that we are all equal? Although this is a difficult subject, right?

I wonder if there are any chances that old Native American plants and herbs, used for hair care are going to get popular?
Because in my country (and in Europe???) there is more and more interest in Indian (from India, ayurvedic etc.) plants and herbs and mixes... And from other parts of the world (Africa, Tahiti etc.).


I'm not sure about the military, so I'd better not try to answer that one.

Life in general for Native Americans is only sort of better. It depends greatly on what tribe you are from. I would say it's "better" in the sense that, for those who are willing to leave their own cultures and homes behind, they have equal or nearly equal opportunities to be successful in whatever field they chose in modern American life. However, that's a big sacrifice, and most people who leave the reservations to pursue education and careers are seen as abandoning their families and culture. I don't know if it's the same on every reservation, but on the ones I'm familiar with, there is a heavy cultural pressure to NOT succeed in life.

There is a lot of bitterness, especially on reservations, against white people. And I understand where that bitterness comes from. White people treated Natives terribly and took everything from them. But what makes me sad is the communal decision that the only acceptable response is to continue to wallow in this bitterness rather than to rise above it and make a better life for oneself. There is an unusually high percentage of above-average intelligence in children where I live, but they grow up believing the cultural lie that they are dumber and "less" than the white kids they share schools with, and as they grow older lack of success becomes a sort of badge of perverse honor. I have never met anyone more intelligent than my husband (his IQ was once measured in college as being 188 ... which I believe, after seeing his mind in action: the man is brilliant), but he has spent his whole life thinking he's dumber than average.

As far as conditions on reservations go, the worst that I know of is the Navajo reservation. There may be others just as bad, but I know for certain that at least in parts of the Navajo res they are not allowed to own their own land, and therefore cannot build on it, meaning they all live in trailer homes and have to go to local water pumps for their daily water. That's essentially third-world conditions in the middle of the United States. They are allowed to leave the reservation and get education and jobs elsewhere, but cultural pressure is strong to stay. It's sad. It seems like if you grow up on a reservation, your choices are to stay and perpetuate the pattern of your parents and grandparents (which usually means having many children from multiple partners at a very young age and letting your parents or grandparents raise the older ones for you, and often means getting addicted to alcohol or drugs or patterns of domestic abuse) ... or to leave, leaving your family and your culture behind.

I don't think the majority of humans will ever be able to grasp our own equalness. It makes me sad. I wish the first thing people saw in each other was hearts and minds, not races and cultures. We would all be a lot happier.



With the current trend towards more herbal and natural products, especially in the United States, I'm guessing we'll see more uses (or attempts to use) Native forms of hair and skin care.

[Betazed]

I just thought I'd revive this thread for this:
INDIAN TACOS!!!
http://s6.postimg.org/4kk6n803l/image.jpg

And another so you can see the frybread and all the tastey layers:
http://s6.postimg.org/fvmubl6yp/image.jpg

Hey Dragon Faery, do these look similar to those made on your Rez? Most people eat them with a lot more stuff on top (like sour cream) but we like 'em simple in my house (just cheese and lettuce). There's also some kind of beans mixed in the meat (the same beans we use for our bean soup, which is another "traditional" food) but it's difficult to make those out in the pics.

Yummers! :yumm:

[neko_kawaii]

Here is a nice reflection on some Navajo hair traditions: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/09/04/why-navajo-hair-matters-its-our-culture-our-memory-and-our-choice-156728?page=0%2C1

[Wolfie]

What an interesting thread. I am Native American (Lakota and possibly Omaha) and Indigenous Guatemalan on my father's size. And I'm Mestizo and European Spanish on my mom side. So I'm about 75%+ Native. When I was younger I had very curly hair that was jet black. As it grew longer it became straighter until it has become 1c (especially when I was tailbone and BCL length), possibly 2a. My hair is ii/iii, with medium and corse strands with fine ones near the front. My hair has also become less black as well and turned very dark brown (due to my mom probably). I wished for the longest time that I had the pin straight and thick black hair. My brother though does have the thick black hair, but its wavy like mine. (Gosh so lucky). But yeah not all Natives have black, thick , pin straight hair. I have many friends who are Native like me and they have various thickness, from pencil thin to fist sized ponytails. And different hair colors. I have a friend who has golden brown hair and another with hair so black it glows purple in the sunlight. But its flattering to hear how people find Native hair beautiful (I know its not directed at me lol)