Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 29 replies, 30 voices, and was last updated 20 years, 10 months ago by
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I would be interested to hear exactly what type of ‘black’ person you are and I do not mean that in an offensive way – but you say your hair is slightly above your waist, which leaves me thinking that you are not a full black Afrikan American as our hair grows upwards. Black people with natural hair as in ‘afro hair’ could not possibly wash their hair everyday. My hair takes a whole day and night to dry and I cannot comb through it simultaneously using a hair dryer it is very thick – thick enough to break combs! The whole process of making our hair manageable takes a couple of days at least! It takes five hours to wash and plait both my daughter’s hair, are you suggesting I do this every day – in addition to my own? p.s. – My natural hair reaches my shoulders when I’ve twisted it.
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Name : N. Gordon, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 29, City : London, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : Employment Law Advisor, Education level : 2 Years of College,Okay, I’ll bite: Shaving (or not) is a personal preference and is not exclusively a black women situation. I’ve never viewed not shaving as a hygiene problem. Not brushing teeth is. Most black women I know, including myself, do shave, so I question your comment. I also have hair past the shoulders, and I live a very active lifestyle, so I frequently wash my hair. My hair is typically drier because of that. So yes, I do believe that washing strips natural oils. I don’t believe our hair requires daily washing; and as far as cleanliness, my hair does not smell if I do not wash it within a couple of days. Again, I wash mine more than my black women friends, but their hair is in overall better condition than mine. P.S.: What’s wrong with short hair?
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Name : Kim26369, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 30, City : Oceanside, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Govt. worker, Education level : 2 Years of College,How many black women have you met who had smelly or diseased scalps? I have yet to meet one. Black women, with all the grease, sprays and relaxing they do to their hair, simply don’t need to wash it every five minutes like other races. For this reason, blacks rarely get head lice, but whites do. Also, black women don’t have wash-and-go hair when it’s permed. It normally takes me three hours to get my hair done after washing it! In contrast, black hair that is in natural styles (such as dreds or braids) can be washed every day. In fact, in this state I probably would recommend it be washed more often because relaxers and blowdrying (which probably kill more germs) are not used. But again, as people have said before, it’s a matter of preference.
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Name : Kristina, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 20, City : Washington, State : DC, Country : United States, Occupation : Transcriber, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I am of African descent and also have very long hair. I wash my hair once a week (but I could go up to two weeks without washing it). My hair never smells bad, and it would only look dirty if I went too long without washing it or dandruff built up. The reason many non-blacks (but mainly white people) wash their hair daily or nearly every day is that they produce a tremendous amount of oil on their scalps, and the oil causes a build-up that, if not cleaned promptly, will produce odor. That is why sometimes when you pass a white person whose hair smells bad, you notice a stench (especially right after it rains). Most black people do not produce a tremendous amount of oil, and therefore we aren’t required to wash our hair as often. Hence the reason we ‘put’ oil (i.e. hair food or ‘grease’) on our scalps. Most white people cannot go a day without washing their hair (not because they have better hygiene than we do but because they don’t really have a choice). I have lived in white neighborhoods for most of my life… I know this. Be glad that you are black; your hair stays cleaner longer!
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Name : Lana, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : no religion, Age : 28, City : Forest Hills, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Executive Assistant, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,To G.W. Pettiford: While the way the question was phrased is offensive, the discussion that ensued taught me some things I didn’t know, and may have turned on some lights for Kimberly. I’m glad Y? Forum dares to post what may seem B.S. or fluff, because understanding little things about each other helps erode the misconceptions we might have. As long as those misconceptions are out there, it’s a good thing Y? Forum is here to straighten them out.
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Name : N.J. Smith, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 46, City : Akron, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,I am ‘mixed,’ black and white, and my hair is long, curly and healthy. I do not wash my hair every day. Black hair is more fragile and more dry than white hair. It’s also more coarse and tightly woven into curls. The actual hair strand is coiled around itself, making it rather difficult for the body’s natural scalp oils to reach the ends. By washing your hair less, you allow for the oils to have more time to reach the bottom of your hair through proper combing and brushing from the roots to the ends. Washing your hair has nothing to do with growing hair. Keeping your hair free of split ends by getting regular trimmings, eating the proper foods and using good hair products allows your hair to remain healthy to grow.
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Name : Nicole20048, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black and White, Religion : Christian, Age : 24, City : Portsmouth, State : VA, Country : United States, Occupation : Internet Product Developer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,We’ve been through this countless times on this site. Not everyone, regardless of race, washes their hair every day. It is a matter of need and personal hygiene, not race. If you need to wash your hair, wash it. If you have poor hygiene, you don’t wash it. Race is not an issue. And you do know genetics are a huge factor in hair growth, don’t you? I, too, have longer hair, and I wash it once a week. If I were to wash my hair more than once a week, it would be completely dried out and damaged. Not only that, but I would be dog sick and always running late because my hair is very thick and takes forever to wash and air dry, so not only is washing it once a week the best for my hair, it is also convenient. Any hairstylist will tell you hair only needs to be washed when it is dirty. Excessive hair washing leads to damage, breakage and oil buildup. I don’t know if you get out much, but you will see many women of different races with short hair. My black grandmother used to sit on her hair and chooses to keep it cut short, as does my mother. As far as shaving goes, I shave. I don’t pay attention to who shaves and who doesn’t and what race they are, but again, it’s a matter of choice and personal hygiene. Julia Roberts and Paula Cole have been known to sport underarm hair, and they’re certainly not black. So, to get to the point, it is a matter of choice, personal hygiene and need–not race. What works for you may not work for others.
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Name : Lisa22790, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, City : Gaithersburg, State : MD, Country : United States,Some blacks have a finer texture of hair that will allow them to wash their hair every day without drying it out. As for myself, I have a coarse, ziz-zag pattern of hair. I can only wash it once a week. I also have chemicals in my hair. If my hair comes in contact with heat and shampoo more than once a week, I experience brittleness and breakage.
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Name : Marron-B22129, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 24, City : Anniston, State : AL, Country : United States, Occupation : clerical, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class,All hair should be washed more frequently than once every two weeks. Hair needs moisture, and the belief that black hair is a different entity requiring less cleansing is part cultural conditioning and part myth. We are raised to ‘keep our hairdo,’ – hairdos that are often directly opposite our hair’s natural state. Relaxers are extremely harsh and really shouldn’t be used on anyone’s head, but we use them, and our use causes us to have to be more vigilant about wetting our hair (lest it return to its natural state) and determining when to wash it. Because of these drawbacks to relaxed hair, we African-American women have learned to deal with not-so-fresh hair, itchy scalps and even breakage and other hair and scalp conditions. It’s not black hair that can’t be washed frequently or that’s so fragile, it’s relaxed hair that is all these things. When you go against nature, you have to pay some type of price.
All hair needs moisture, and the purest moisture is water; it rejuvenates natural hair regardless of the textures and can be a powerful maintenance tool for those who still want to relax their hair. I have learned to do the scalp swipe test rather then relying on whether my hair strands look or feel too oily (something hard to guess, considering the coiled nature of African hair). I part my hair, take my finger and rub my scalp. If there is any odor other than that which can be attributed to hair product (which should smell like the original hair product out of the bottle), then it’s time to wash my scalp. This seems to be a better choice than relying on the number of days between washings. My hair has always grown well and healthfully, and I have a very coiled, kinky hair texture. When I had a relaxer in my hair, this usually translated into a shampoo every three days or so. With non-relaxed hair, sometimes I shampooed every other day. But keep in mind on my unrelaxed hair I am not using heat and nothing but natural oils.
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Name : Olu, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, City : San Diego, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I find it surprising that as a Black woman you don’t seem to realize that Black people don’t all have the same hair type. For those of us that have dry scalps and dry course hair (especially if we relax our hair), washing our hair everyday would strip it of whatever natural oils that are there. I don’t think it’s a matter of poor hygeine. It’s a matter of doing what works best for whatever type of hair we have. Also, it’s not just Black women that don’t wash their hair everyday. Women of all races do what they feel is best for their hair, which doesn’t necessarily include washing it everyday.
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Name : Victoria-Jamil, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Racially mixed Hispanic and Black, Age : 21, City : Washington, State : DC, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I also do not believe that you are a black lady,I am,and I can grow hair,I choose to keep it short because it is easier to manage. No we do not wash our everyday,simply because our scalp is not as oily as a cacusain. we can be very versatile with our hair because of the texture of it.If you don’t wash your hair everyday you will have lice in it.this is the y forum you can be honest with your questions and your ethnicity.
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Name : MS-IMANI, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, City : Paterson, State : NJ, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,…a liar. There is nothing remotely African American about you, trick. See, you gave your stupid self away with the ‘…maybe if they wash it…’ comment. Specifically the THEY comment. African American people do not speak of other African American people in the context of ‘they’, but rather, ‘we’. Silly wench.
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Name : RhondaOutlaw, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 41, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Account Representative, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Well this is not the first time i have heard this question, and i totally agree with Jenifer. I am a black woma and i don’t wash my hair every day. In fact most specialist will tell you that no should wash their hair everyday unless they have really thin or oily hair. Because the oils working it way down the hair is actually healthy. And as far as shaving goes there are a lot of people that believe in being natural, not to mention the subject of shaving is a doble standard. Men don’t have to shave but women do, and if we don’t we’re considered to be nasty. while other women just don’t believe they ave to be hairless just to be beautiful.
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Name : Nicole, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, City : Santa Monica, State : CA, Country : United States, Social class : Lower class,‘Hair is hair and requires daily washing’ – I see that you live in the steam-bath of central texas, so I understand your compulsion to wash your hair every day. I’m pretty close, geographically, and I, too, have to wash my hair daily because of sweat. ‘I’ve heard from other women that daily hair washing strips the scalp of natural oils, but that is untrue’ – actually, it IS true, and it is the reason that there are so many oils, conditioners, and conditioning shampoos on the market. ‘maybe if they wash it it will grow’ – this is just showcasing ignorance. Washing your hair will not make it grow any faster, not washing it will not stop it from growing. About the shaving – time lived in Europe can broaden your horizons.
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Name : JKH, Gender : F, Age : 30, City : San Antonio, State : TX, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,I am assuming that since you are muslim, from Texas and have what is obviously ‘straight’ hair that you are either Somali, Ethiopian or possibly Kenyan. I say this because I know there is a high concentration of those communities in Texas. Therefore your ethnic background is more Arabic than it is what people think of when they say ‘african.’ Here I am also assuming that when people say african/african-american they are thinking of people of West African descent with the following features, full lips, wide nose, kinky hair, little to no body hair anywhere other than the head, underarms and genital areas. You on the other hand probably have thinner lips,a straight nose and most important to this discussion hair which is ‘straight’ and relative abundance of fine straight body hair. Your racial heritage and therefore your hygenie habits would be closer to that of the white, asian/indo-asian peoples of the world. The practices which constitute good hygenie for you, i.e daily hair washing and shaving do not constitute good hygenie for someone like me who has a west african racial heritage. My hair is very very kinky and would suffer from over washing. I do not have much body hair and so I do not need to shave my body very often. As a matter of fact, my mother has even less body hair than I and has never shaved her legs, you would not know that by looking at her since her legs are practically hairless. Your question bespeaks a poor understanding of the fact that not all so called black people have the heritage and what may be right for you with your heritage may not be right for someone else with another.
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Name : Rany, Gender : F, Religion : Pagan, Age : 25, City : Boston, State : MA, Country : United States, Occupation : software developer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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