The mom says that Autumn has never dyed her hair; the color of her braids best matches her natural color.

Naturally lighter hair while black: a fireable offense

  • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    40
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Yeah at ex model c all girls high schools in South Africa there were major issues around black girls hair. Even led to full on protests because of how racist these schools were. I remember meeting someone at university detail how they were forced to put chemicals in their hair to straighten it while at one of these schools. But I think the protests led to a change in hair and uniform policy, so at least something happened.

    • Othello [comrade/them, love/loves]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      34
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      so nice that the girls changed things. sadly hair is extremely politicized everywhere. and just 15 year ago relaxed hair (chemically straighten) was the norm. but than the natural hair movement happened and now its a huge generational divide. I will always be against relaxers because they double your risk of certain types of cancer. My first major act of teen rebellion was cutting off my relaxed hair with kitchen scissors when i was 15. I used to have constant oozing sores on my head from the relaxer. my mother was so pissed she called every family member to tell them i looked homeless. I told her I “was no longer conforming to the eurocentric patriarchy beauty standards” and she said “I dont know what that means, you look ridiculous”. I have a 10000 hair stories, people coming up to me and petting me without saying a word, a BLACK boss making me cover my natural hair because i was trying to start locs, so much so that some of my Muslim customers assumed I was Muslim but I never denied it because that was too awkward, like 5 diffrent white toddlers have pointed to my hair and asked “whats that” back in my babysitting for rich people days.

        • Othello [comrade/them, love/loves]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          17
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          i mean in in America so ya know… but yeah I love my natural hair, it took many years to learn how to take care of especially when I had no money and no coping mechanisms for burnout. but its now down to my collar bone! and best of all I have a partner how has learned to do my hair so im always looking cute! and i now wear lots of mens styles which are way cheaper to get done professionally. life is good. also natural hair is weirdly common with black professors ive had. so thats nice whenever go to grad school. Ive heard south africa is having its own natural hair movement. I wish I lived somewhere like cuba where the government was invested in promoting black natural hair.

          • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            also natural hair is weirdly common with black professors ive had

            The three most legit genuine comrade professors I’ve ever known in college were all black and they all had natural hair (to be fair one had quite a receded hairline). One marched with MLK. One even rocked an Angela Davis style afro.

            I will never forget when I first learned about what the Protestant Work Ethic was and its ties to American Civic Religion and Calvinism for that matter. It took that long to teach me what I should had known in my teens.

            • Othello [comrade/them, love/loves]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              yeah I think natural hair (whether people like it or not) says a lot about you. it usually says your cool! so cool to meet the one who marched with mlk!! angela davis was my nickname in college for a bit, due to my large afro and you know being a communist lol.