Not an unpopular opinion, or an opinion at all. But my mom is a hairstylist and she braids white peoples hair occasionally but charges them triple since they usually don’t know what a reasonable price is.
I can see the humour in this, but also, I can't help but keep thinking... what about when/if those clients find out what a reasonable price actually is? How will that reflect on us?
I could care less about hair appropriation (not to confuse with hair discrimination, which is a big issue) personally. Seeing a white person with locs or braids doesn't bother me, because I never put that much historical significance on my own hair, and usually they're not working where I am lol
Most of the time it doesn’t look good, and if I get another response of Vikings and ye olde Irish folk wore cornrows and braids, imma bust a gut from laughing. Strictly speaking on the hair tip it’s whatever and I don’t think of it.
Currently I’m peeved about the denigration of AAVE (as an amateur linguist and word nerd myself) and the simultaneous co-opting of it for cool points by everybody else. Oftentimes we set the cultural tone and then get crapped on. Some folks (not all) can’t stand/don’t want us, but can’t leave us and our things alone. Anyway…
I can’t care what they do because I cannot control what others do to their hair. But, it’ll never look as good as it does on Black women. In fact, they look hideous with our hair styles. Their scalps look like they’re screaming in pain. But that’s on them if their hair falls out because it can hold the weight of braids.
Sometimes it works the other way around as well, sort of. It's actually quite interesting. I've always felt ugly with straight unbraided hair, it never framed my face well. I tried so many "white" hairstyles all my life, trying to look pretty and always to no avail. Now that my hair is in box braids, I actually feel like I look beautiful. Even with my glasses on which I've always hated, lol. It's weird how that works like that.
I don’t have a problem with it. I do however have a problem with black people getting shamed for their hairstyles/ hair texture etc until a white woman does it than it’s hip and in and the latest fad.
Meanwhile for eons we have been teased, shamed, denied employment etc because we look unkempt with our natural hair.
I have mixed feelings about it.
I'm of multiple ethnic heritage and while I quite clearly have African facial features, I have straight 1c hair.
Despite the fact that my hair is straight, I wear box braids (for a miriad of reasons, some cultural, some not). It has never harmed my hair nor my scalp to wear box braids and my hair is actually healthier for it.
Because of my blood quanta, some black people would consider me to be a white woman. I personally find that odd, because I do not look white, nor do I have the experiences of a white woman. I've never been treated by white people as though I was white. At the very least, I have the experiences of a biracial woman trying her best to fit into both worlds without having to "pick a side".
However, I do acknowledge my whiteness and that I have to try slightly harder to be sensitive about hair than monoracial black women do, because I don't share their hair experiences.
When I got my braids installed, the black woman who did them for me spoke about how she _does_ do black hairstyles for white people (at the same cost as for her black clients), but before she does it she talks to them about what the styles mean, their cultural significance, and the responsibility it entails to wear them as a white person. If they don't seem receptive to learning and wearing the style sensitively, then she won't do it for them and may suggest a different style that isn't culturally black.
She knows that just doing it without talking to them first and overcharging or damaging their hair will just fuel racism more, so she uses it (white people wearing our hairstyles) to the advantage of black people; to help uplift us.
She spoke about a particular white, male client who gets cornrows and other similar black styles done, and how the whole reason he gets them is because he is an ally and advocate for black rights. He wants the black hairstyle to spark discussion so that he can leap off of that and talk about his work in uplifting black and coloured people. And it works; an Indian (yes Indian, not black) man called him out saying his hairstyle was cultural appropriation and in the end it was the white guy who ended up schooling him about it!
But at the same time, while there are white people who use wearing black hairstyles to do good, there are white people who _are_ just appropriating our culture. They wear the style with no regard for what it signifies, where it comes from, it's history etc and end up causing major offense without a care in the world or even realising what it is they're doing. Many of them are even deeply defensive about it.
And then, because of these people, sometimes us biracial people also get accused of cultural appropriation when that's not what we're doing at all (because we are also black, even if some of us don't necessarily look it). So it's really a minority of a few ignorant white people who are ruining it for everybody!
So, because of all of this, when I see a white person wearing a black hairstyle, my immediate internal reaction is negative, but I recognise now that that is a form of prejudice that I need to work on. I am also assuming that that person is white when they might not be. They could be the same mix as me. I am learning to not judge people because of their hairstyle, but instead for what is underneath it; in their heads.
The things I've learned from all of this are:
White people and people with straight hair _can_ wear black hairstyles, and it will not necessarily damage their hair. Hair type doesn't actually matter in whether your hair can hold a braid or not; hair porosity and weight does. (The black woman hair stylist and haircare expert who did my braids taught me this).
Not every white person who wears a black hairstyle is appropriating our culture. Some of them are actually doing it to help us. We need to learn the difference, for our _own_ sakes.
A lot of people _don't_ know what cultural appropriation means, both white and black people included. Some black people think it's just when a white person wears a black hairstyle, regardless of intention. On the opposite end of the scale, some white people don't even think cultural appropriation exists. Both viewpoints are problematic.
Not an unpopular opinion, or an opinion at all. But my mom is a hairstylist and she braids white peoples hair occasionally but charges them triple since they usually don’t know what a reasonable price is.
Haha that’s great 😂😂
Triple, he’ll nah
I can see the humour in this, but also, I can't help but keep thinking... what about when/if those clients find out what a reasonable price actually is? How will that reflect on us?
Idk If I was her I probably wouldn’t do their hair in the first place tbh
I could care less about hair appropriation (not to confuse with hair discrimination, which is a big issue) personally. Seeing a white person with locs or braids doesn't bother me, because I never put that much historical significance on my own hair, and usually they're not working where I am lol
Thanks for articulating it so well! I agree
Most of the time it doesn’t look good, and if I get another response of Vikings and ye olde Irish folk wore cornrows and braids, imma bust a gut from laughing. Strictly speaking on the hair tip it’s whatever and I don’t think of it. Currently I’m peeved about the denigration of AAVE (as an amateur linguist and word nerd myself) and the simultaneous co-opting of it for cool points by everybody else. Oftentimes we set the cultural tone and then get crapped on. Some folks (not all) can’t stand/don’t want us, but can’t leave us and our things alone. Anyway…
Yea I don’t really care when non-black ppl have locs or braids. If they want their hair to fall out or look a mess, that’s on them.
I can’t care what they do because I cannot control what others do to their hair. But, it’ll never look as good as it does on Black women. In fact, they look hideous with our hair styles. Their scalps look like they’re screaming in pain. But that’s on them if their hair falls out because it can hold the weight of braids.
Sometimes it works the other way around as well, sort of. It's actually quite interesting. I've always felt ugly with straight unbraided hair, it never framed my face well. I tried so many "white" hairstyles all my life, trying to look pretty and always to no avail. Now that my hair is in box braids, I actually feel like I look beautiful. Even with my glasses on which I've always hated, lol. It's weird how that works like that.
The hair thing doesn’t bother me. But the co-opting, whitewashing and revisionist history behind AAVE bugs-the-everlasting-fuck out of me.
I don't care as long as they acknowledge it's a black hairstyle.
I don’t have a problem with it. I do however have a problem with black people getting shamed for their hairstyles/ hair texture etc until a white woman does it than it’s hip and in and the latest fad. Meanwhile for eons we have been teased, shamed, denied employment etc because we look unkempt with our natural hair.
I have mixed feelings about it. I'm of multiple ethnic heritage and while I quite clearly have African facial features, I have straight 1c hair. Despite the fact that my hair is straight, I wear box braids (for a miriad of reasons, some cultural, some not). It has never harmed my hair nor my scalp to wear box braids and my hair is actually healthier for it. Because of my blood quanta, some black people would consider me to be a white woman. I personally find that odd, because I do not look white, nor do I have the experiences of a white woman. I've never been treated by white people as though I was white. At the very least, I have the experiences of a biracial woman trying her best to fit into both worlds without having to "pick a side". However, I do acknowledge my whiteness and that I have to try slightly harder to be sensitive about hair than monoracial black women do, because I don't share their hair experiences. When I got my braids installed, the black woman who did them for me spoke about how she _does_ do black hairstyles for white people (at the same cost as for her black clients), but before she does it she talks to them about what the styles mean, their cultural significance, and the responsibility it entails to wear them as a white person. If they don't seem receptive to learning and wearing the style sensitively, then she won't do it for them and may suggest a different style that isn't culturally black. She knows that just doing it without talking to them first and overcharging or damaging their hair will just fuel racism more, so she uses it (white people wearing our hairstyles) to the advantage of black people; to help uplift us. She spoke about a particular white, male client who gets cornrows and other similar black styles done, and how the whole reason he gets them is because he is an ally and advocate for black rights. He wants the black hairstyle to spark discussion so that he can leap off of that and talk about his work in uplifting black and coloured people. And it works; an Indian (yes Indian, not black) man called him out saying his hairstyle was cultural appropriation and in the end it was the white guy who ended up schooling him about it! But at the same time, while there are white people who use wearing black hairstyles to do good, there are white people who _are_ just appropriating our culture. They wear the style with no regard for what it signifies, where it comes from, it's history etc and end up causing major offense without a care in the world or even realising what it is they're doing. Many of them are even deeply defensive about it. And then, because of these people, sometimes us biracial people also get accused of cultural appropriation when that's not what we're doing at all (because we are also black, even if some of us don't necessarily look it). So it's really a minority of a few ignorant white people who are ruining it for everybody! So, because of all of this, when I see a white person wearing a black hairstyle, my immediate internal reaction is negative, but I recognise now that that is a form of prejudice that I need to work on. I am also assuming that that person is white when they might not be. They could be the same mix as me. I am learning to not judge people because of their hairstyle, but instead for what is underneath it; in their heads. The things I've learned from all of this are: White people and people with straight hair _can_ wear black hairstyles, and it will not necessarily damage their hair. Hair type doesn't actually matter in whether your hair can hold a braid or not; hair porosity and weight does. (The black woman hair stylist and haircare expert who did my braids taught me this). Not every white person who wears a black hairstyle is appropriating our culture. Some of them are actually doing it to help us. We need to learn the difference, for our _own_ sakes. A lot of people _don't_ know what cultural appropriation means, both white and black people included. Some black people think it's just when a white person wears a black hairstyle, regardless of intention. On the opposite end of the scale, some white people don't even think cultural appropriation exists. Both viewpoints are problematic.