by
Black Girl With Long Hair
by Nicole Pennant
What do we mean when we assert that we are 100% Black? I have been natural since 2004. I became a follower of natural hair blogs/vlogs over the last couple of years because I started caring for my own hair at home. The information that I have learned from these sources has been invaluable. However, I have also observed the often heated debates that occur about natural hair. One that stands out in particular has been about individuals that have grown long natural hair. Questions or statements about an individual’s background always seem to arise. The following statements/questions come from the comment sections of a selection of bloggers/vloggers: “Are you mixed?” ‘You’re mixed with something right?”
These questions/responses are then followed by either the individual or others asserting the Blackness of the individual: “Why do people think black people need to be mixed to have great healthy long hair?!!!” “No. No she’s not mixed with something.”
And in some cases people make the claim that they or the person is 100% Black: “Yes, I’m 100% Black.” “[insert vlogger name] is 100% black…” “I am 100% Black and my hair has always been lengthy.”
I find assertions like “100% Black” or those alluding to someone being “all black” to be puzzling since it is just not true.
When I was in college I took a cultural anthropology class while pursuing my degree in African American Studies. It was first time I was introduced to how DNA was being used to trace a person’s genealogy and ancestry. We watched a documentary in the class called “Motherland: A Genetic Journey”. In the film, we observed three British African Caribbeans trace their ancestry using DNA. Since this film then there have been many more programs focusing on the science of ancestry. Some of the most prominent programs have been Henry Louis Gates’ “Finding Our Roots” and “African American Lives.” I find these shows fascinating because of the history that is often hidden underneath phenotypic characteristics like race. For instance, on “Finding Our Roots” actor Don Cheadle found out that he was 19% White and that he also had Native American in his family lineage. In “African American Lives” Chris Rock found out he was 30% White. Samuel L. Jackson found he could potentially apply to be a member of the Sons of the American Revolution because of a White ancestor on “Finding Our Roots.”
Recently Gates wrote an article in The Root entitled “Exactly How ‘Black’ Is Black America” discussing the ancestry of Black Americans. In the article he indicated that most Black Americans have mixed race heritage when DNA testing is conducted.
* According to Ancestry.com, the average African American is 65 percent sub-Saharan African, 29 percent European and 2 percent Native American.
* According to Family Tree DNA.com, the average African American is 72.95 percent sub-Saharan African, 22.83 percent European and 1.7 percent Native American.
* According to National Geographic’s Genographic Project, the average African American is 80 percent sub-Saharan African, 19 percent European and 1 percent Native American.
These findings indicate that the majority of Black Americans ARE NOT 100% Black. Making this claim to percentage of Blackness is simply inaccurate. Who we are today is significantly shaped by our past. From my perspective acknowledging this racial mixing does not diminish our history because it is a part of the history. Nor does it downplay the Black experience and what it means to be Black in America. The creation of racial groups in American society was a social construction that had a lot less to do with genetics and more to do with physical appearance.
In the area of hair care I think awareness of this history is also important. Trying to make claims about Black authenticity or 100% Blackness with regards to something that is actually shaped to some degree by genetics like hair seems odd. But, we also know that good hair care practices have a significant influence on hair growth and that many of us were unaware of that until recently. A lot of the information that we were lacking was due the uplifting of European standards of beauty and the stigmatization of curlier and textured hair commonly found in the Black community. Consequently, many of us never learned the proper care for our hair.
So when we observe someone with hair that would be considered exceptionally long or a looser curl pattern we shouldn’t immediately run to determine their racial/ethnic make-up in order to explain the ease of their hair care routine or growth. For one thing, those same individuals proposing the question are more than likely some sort of racial mix as well. Additionally, being aware of the racial mixing in the past does not minimize the new history being created by Blacks who wear natural hair.
The Black community is diverse and the differences we observe should be accepted as part of the Black experience instead of being used as a litmus test for Blackness.
Nicole Pennant is a guest contributor. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Political Science with a focus on Black Politics. You can reach her at ni************@***il.com.
204 Responses
I think being black is beyond skin/hair type, it is also a function of the society you live in…In my country any half white half black person is regarded as white. Beyonce/Rihanna would not be regarded as black.
Same with my country!!
Not feeling this post. At all.
Thank you for this article! So appreciative!
This is a good article but an incomplete article. The genetic issue was not fully fleshed out. For instance there are a large number of black people in this country who are also of Chinese descent. Like Oprah and Mae Jamison. But that is irrelevant. The bottom line is that we know more now about hair care and how to grow our hair to great lengths and this is a positive thing. Now we have to work against Societies ignorance that thinks its impossible. I find it empowering to have the information on how to cultivate a healthy head of hair with out the restrictions of my own former ignorance and limitations. I have been natural for over 25 years and for the first time I believe my hair will grow because I take care of it rather than leaving it up to genetic mystery.
I’m black. Period. But if people want specifics(seldom happens), then I tell them that I’m black of African, Native American, and European ancestry. I’m getting my DNA done to find out what country in Africa my ancesters come from. Some people ask why would I care. And I tell them that I know what country my dog originates from. Seems like I have the right to find out about me.
U tell em girl!!!!
I follow the frame of thought, Lizzy.
Going further, I think that the black people who get upset if you simply “mention” the breakdown of your ethnicity are those that have the problem. I can say, that “Yes, I am genetically mixed with Native American, black, hispanic and European” just as a statement of fact, just as if I say I am a mail carrier or cop. If this then annoys a black person, then that’s your issue not mine. Every person that has ever asked me if I was mixed has been black. I have often heard that some get asked that question by white people, but for me, it was always a black person. I remember Paula Patton said she hates saying that she is biracial because that’s like saying “I’m better than just black” or something to that effect. Why? And by whose standard? Who said white or biracial was better than black? She must think that if that is how she views being half-white. To me, she just happens to be half-white like she happens to be half-black.
I had a black guy come into the salon while I was getting my hair done to talk to me and he asked me what I was mixed with, I asked him why he asked me that and then said, “Black women don’t have long hair unless they are mixed.” So as it pertains to hair, to think that a black person cannot grow long hair is just plain ignorant. All hair grows. So anyone who makes a statement like that is showing their ignorance. Some people may find it easier to grow their hair than others, but it has little to do with race. Like many here have mentioned, it’s how the hair is being care for.
I will also say that the lack of representation of naturals in the mainstream perpetuates this ignorance the same way it perpetuates other forms.
How are you mixed with Hispanic when Hispanic is not a race.You sound as if you think you’re just so much better and above everybody but you really just sound conceited.Like most mixed people.
This stereotype is just plain stupid and ignorant.I don’t need to be mixed to have long hair. Black hair doesn’t grow is just a myth if black hair didn’t grow then why are African American boys going to the barber often?Hair growth is all depended on how you treat your hair. Hair grows half an inch per month (six inches a year) so if you are straightening it everyday and pulling clumps of it out and your not seeing difference in length that doesn’t mean black hair doesn’t grow.you have to take really good care of your hair like moisturizing deep conditioning and co washing etc. But remember regardless of religion race etc all hair grows
I believe a lot of angry or seemly angry comments under this post are due to a lack of understanding the point that the writer was trying to get across. As an African American woman, raised in an African American family in Detroit, I have seen and heard things come out of A-A women’s mouths that truly saddens and surprises me. I have see women of all shades of brown that have been questioned on youtube and other social media sites as well as in public about what race that were due to the fact that they had longer, well managed hair. I have gotten the question recently myself. Oddly enough, since I have cut down on manipulation, my hair has reached my collar bone and the statement made from one of my A-A associates was, ‘Girl, I didnt know you were mixed. ShXt, I didnt know your hair grew!’ As if to say that because I am majority A-A with 4b/c hair, my hair follicles were handicapped!
The biggest point made, that I have to completely agree with is the point that as a people, if we do not have proper knowledge to take care of our hair, we begin to assume that our hair wont do what the hair of people of other ethnic backgrounds will! Its not only a discussion of DENYING our blackness, even though some do; i.e. ‘I have ‘good hair’ because I have [insert random ethnic group] in my family. It is also a discussion of believing that if you are majority A-A your hair just wont or moreso CANT compete with the girl next door who happens to be [insert random ethnic group here]. Lets stop thinking that it doesnt happen, just because its never happened to YOU.
-peace
This is interesting but at the same time a pointless article. Let me start of by saying there is no such things as race. (If you’ve taken an anthropology of race and ethnicity class, you know what I mean.) society uses it today to classify people based on conceived notions (i.e. skin tone, hair, eye color). Now with that being said, what is determined as “black” or “white” might not fall under the same group if one was to move elsewhere in the world so why are we arguing about this? What is considered “black” in the United States won’t be the same as let’s say Brazil. Being “African American” on the other hand is a better indicator of ethnicity and genetic ancestry than saying “we aren’t 100% black” because what really constitutes as being “black”? Also, even people living in Africa can be technically “mixed” too. For example, my grandfather is part Benin but the majority of my family line is Yoruba. Does that make me more or less “Black” than African Americans?
Race is a social construction, it is as you have said, utilized by society in order to classify people mostly on physical characteristics. Biologically/genetically there is “no such thing” as race, as there aren’t any genetic markers for it, but to suggest that it doesn’t exist is very misleading. You can’t utilize something that doesn’t exist, and race is still used to categorize and classify people. Anthropologically you’re right, sociologically you’re wrong.
I know that but for the sake of this article there is no such thing is race. The writer is speaking form a genetic standpoint which is incorrect. How can she say someone is not “100% black” when being “black” is a social construct? If she had formed her argument around being African American than eh heh it’s a different story and it would be valid.
Oh, this one has got the blood boiling with a few people. 🙂
Well, I agree with Glenny and Porter-50+ makes an interesting point about Africans too. At the end of the day, Africans (indigious) range from the Abrabian types (north) to those with very dark skin and kinky hair. I like how South Africans these days have embrassed the ‘rainbow nation’ notion and just go with it. I feel that those – no matter where in the world they may be who jump to their ‘mixed’ heritage to explain why their hair or whatever it is about their appearance is ‘good’ and point to the non-black side, need to work on their self image and how they view other people too. What are you saying to the person you are communicating with if you associate the ‘good’ (in my opinion – mainstream) ideas of beauty to peoples non-black heritage? That black is somehow faulty or not quite as good as white, Indian, etc??
I am a mixture of Black southern African heritages and I love that I am secure in my Africaness. I have never worn a headscalf or anythg overtly ‘African’ but I can tell you even some ‘100%’ black people struggle with their IDs as being black so it’s not just an African American thing. Connie will see this firsthand in whatever part of Africa she goes.
However, hair; just know yours and celebrate it no matter it’s texture, volume or length. As long as you are doing your best to keep it and you healthy – don’t worry be happy 🙂
We are constantly under a microscope. Constantly having to prove ourselves and ‘fit in’. sigh
Why people are so adamant about claiming race isn’t real when it infiltrates almost every aspect of our lives is beyond me… This website in itself is product of being racially aware because black women with natural/afro/’ethnic’ hair need a space of our own since we’re barely represented on ‘mainstream’ (ie white) forums and when they do cater to us, they spread misinformation (have you ever seen those horrid ehow videos on youtube, tho). Yea, race is a social construct, yet that doesn’t negate fact that racism still exists. Bye.
So fine most of us are not “100 percent” black BUT 65-90 percent African descent does not equal “mixed”. It just means somewhere allllllllllllllllllll the way down the family line there was “mixing” by force or otherwise.
I’ve never had a non black person show up at a family reunion–ever! I am NOT mixed. IDK why some black Americans are so quick to gleefuLly announced “but we all mixed anyway” SMH
Growing up in the 60’s & 70’s, we were “Black.” In school (really progressive at that time), we were challenged with this concept: if a “white” person who was born in Africa is considered an “African” were they to move to the U.S., are they now legally an African American?
It is well know that every “Black” person has a mixed heritage, otherwise we would all be African. The terminology of Black speaks for itself. I don’t believe that people think ONLY mixed races (either by choice or force) can have only long hair. But, if they are interested in duplicating their hair regime, it does make a difference. A person who is the direct descendant of a African and European mixture most certainly may have a hair regime that does not work for someone whose grand or great grandparents were the products of a mixed heritage.
I believe the goals are the same for everyone who views & participates on this website: “don’t hate, duplicate.” But you do need to know the ingredients (DNA) before you can make an informed decision of which person’s regime to follow….
I disagree. See above, two people can have same mom and dad and totally different hair.
I agree, the AA terms annoys me to no end. Just like all of the other “Ethnic-American” terms, either you are American or you’re not.
When some people say “Africans” are just…(Insert whatever stereotype), I cringe. Africa is not a country – made up of 54 countries and Africans do not all look alike! North Africans do not look like each other in terms of (hair texture, skin color, eye color, bone structure, etc) and definitely do not look like their East, West or South Africans who also look different from each other. Regarding hair texture, you should be aware (if not, please go visit some countries in the different parts of Africa and see for yourself or do some legit research) that Africans hair come in all the stereotypes (appearance) that is out there. Stop such lucrid generalizations as it only just fuels ignorance on how vast the genetic make up of Africans are.
agree!
Whoaaaa I sooooo agree! We have 54 different countries and I wonder why people insist on making it seem like we all come from one little village #smh
The article is contradictory..if race is a social construct (true) then you can definitely be 100% “black” if that is your lived experience. What the author should have said is that African Americans are not 100% African…which everyone already knows. But they can still claim to be 100% black.
And she seems to want to debunk the myth that only mixed people can grow long hair but then she also asserts that all African Americans in the US are mixed so that point seems lost as well…Well, I’m Nigerian so this doesn’t apply to me anyway lol
Exactly race is a social construct, so all race talk as a whole is ‘wrong.’
Everything you said… included the Nigerian part.
What was the point of this exactly?
Agree with most of what you said but many Africans are also “mixed”.
They sure are. Blue black ppl with straight ass hair naturally!!
Which Africans are you referring to? Africans that are mixed is directly from their parents. Not great, great, great grandpas and grandmas who were Blackfoot, Cherokee, whatever native tribe. American black history and how a lot of blacks feel about themselves doesn’t affect me as I am African and know my roots. Please stop.
This was a great read. I studied American History in college and have found the Skip Gates’ show to be very fun to watch. People are always surprised by what turns up in their genetic profile. Living abroad has really drive home the idea that I am American, full stop.
I didn’t mean to use the word “idea,” what I should have said was, living abroad has drive home the point that I am American period, without qualification.
I love this article, My thoughts exactly. Great article, she is not saying we are less black. She is just speaking from a genetic, scientific and cultural stand point.
Great Read!
HORRIBLE ARTICLE! THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I AM LEAVING THE UNITED STATES AND MOVING TO AFRICA. YES AFRICA IS A CONTINENT HOWEVER, I AM WILLING TO GO TO ANY PART BECAUSE THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE OVER THERE WHO ARE PROUD TO BE PURE 110% BLACK AND THEY NEVER QUESTION IT. THIS WRITER JUST WANTS TO MAKE US BELIEVE THAT WE ALL HAVE TO BE MIXED TO HAVE A CERTAIN TYPE OF LOOK. GO TO AFRICA, AND YOU WILL SEE THAT, THAT IS NOT TRUE. EVEN IN AFRICA, DEPENDING ON WHAT PART YOU GO TO, THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES/TRIBES ETC… THAT HAVE LONG BLACK KINKY HAIR. ALSO, WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT FOR BLACKS TO CLAIM BEING MIXED WITH OTHER RACES DO NOT. SERIOUSLY THINK ABOUT THAT. DON’T YOU WANT ALL YOUR BEAUTIFUL FEATURES TO GO TO YOUR AFRICAN RACE INSTEAD OF TRYING TO PIN IT ON THE INDIANS (NATIVE AMERICANS) OR WHITES? EUROPEANS AND NATIVE AMERICANS DONT EVEN CLAIM US AND THEY DONT WANT TO CLAIM US. SO WHY ARE SOME OF YOU TRYING TO HOLD ON TO THIS FALSE SENSE OF RACE FROM THEM? MOST OF YOU ALL ARE BLACK. PURE BLACK. NOT MIXED. WHEN THE AFRICANS WERE BROUGHT OVER ON THE BOAT, ARE HISTORY TELLS US THAT NOT ALL OF THEM WERE RAPED. NOT ALL OF THEM MIXED. SO YOU ARE MOST LIKELY NOT MIXED. WHICH IS A GOOD THING IN MY EYES.
You don’t know anything about Africa. Please stop embarrassing yourself.
Good luck Connie. You are in for a big awakening. Wish I could witness the look on your face
But most of them were and speak for yourself because I have Native American great grandma and she loves us now white no some if them are mean but so wat. I love my African heritage too n Hispanic I love all my ethnic backgrounds!!!!!
I agree Elizabeth, and who’s to say how much black is enough or just right? And who gets to decide? I don’t have these answers and I don’t know if anyone does.
This is a waste of a post. Seriously who is the writer to convince? I’m wondering if she think we are just a bunch of idiots. I am very sure most black people that say they are black and not mixed are just saying that the majority of their ancestors are black and proud of it. I am aware that I may be some minuscule drop of white or whatever but I’m not going to go into race details (which I don’t really even know) when someone ask me what my darn race is. Majority rules in this case! This post is ridiculous! Both of my parents are black!So I am black. Now if a person can say my mom or dad is white or whatever non black person, then yes you are mixed but somebody talking about my grandfathers, father, father, father etc (you get my point) was some type of non black person then get a grip! You are black!
I completely agree.
You still seem to miss the point. The claim to 100% blackness is still false and ignorance spreading. Yes, you don’t have to explain all of that. But the concept is still flawed as a whole.
It is an ingrained one that needs to be looked at and flushed out with more people being aware and yes, getting a little bit more detailed about their ancestry.
I don’t know if I really hear too many people (anyone really) saying that they are 100% black , but I do hear alot of people saying simply : “I’m black” , or “I’m just black, not mixed”. Saying that one is 100% black is a major issue somewhere though? That doesn’t seem to have the same effect as a black person saying I’m not black but (insert nationality instead of race here). That to me seems to be a more common “ignorance spreading” than someone asserting their blackness for sake of argument. What’s the agenda in arguing this point?
As I said before, TALKING ABOUT RACE IS INHERENTLY FLAWED! The vsat majority of racial statements are based on the idea that ‘race’ exists which it doesn’t. I’m with April. I don’t understand the point of this article at all. Saying you are 100% black is no different to describing yourself as a black person or a white person. Both are equally false since race does not exist.
AS you said, it’s ‘THEIR ANCESTRY’ and they will call it what they wish.
Race is a social construct, tho. Technically it does exist…
Shouldn’t you call it what it is instead of what you wish though?
I DONT KNOW WHO THE WRITER IS BUT GUESS WHAT, SOME PEOPLE ARE TRULY BLACK! NOT ALL OF OUR ANCESTORS WERE RAPED. SOME OF US HAD GREAT GRANDPARENTS, GREAT-GREAT, AND GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDPARENTS THAT ARE BLACK (AFRICAN OR AFRICAN AMERICAN). SOME OF US ARE NOT MIXED AT ALL. SOME OF US HAVE LONG HAIR BECAUSE WE COME FROM AFRICA. THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE IN AFRICA WITH LONG HAIR. SO THE REASON WHY IT BOTHERS PEOPLE TO HAVE TO CLAIM BEING MIXED IS BECAUSE THEY WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT BLACKS CAN HAVE LONG HAIR, GORGEOUS SKIN, BEAUTIFUL FEATURES WITHOUT BEING MIXED. ARE WHITE PEOPLE ALL MIXED? IF YOU ASKED THE AVERAGE WHITE PERSON WHAT THEY ARE, THEY WILL MOST LIKELY SAY GERMAN, FRENCH ETC.. THEY WOULD NEVER SAY BLACK! SO WHY SHOULD WE CLAIM THEM WHEN SOME OF US HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO EUROPEAN BLOODLINES. I AM BLACK, NOT MIXED, AND I HAVE NATURAL WAIST LENGTH HAIR. DEAL WITH IT!
This article was to address the individuals who go on the videos of vloggers that give tutorials on their long hair and ask about that the person’s ethnicity because intrinsically they believe in the perpetual stereotype that “black people” can not grow long hair, I dont even understand how you came to formulate this argument you have, you can go to Chime edwards, youtube channel and see in the comment section how many people ask about her ethnicity and whether she’s mixed because somehoow that would be the only way her hair could be that long, you should reread the article, maybe you might come away with something else.
It’s not just about black n white. I am mixed and my family is period. I don’t have to have a white parent and a African American one. I am creole(which contains black)
Touching upon the fact that you said “don’t really even know.” I think it behooves us all to find out and be more open-minded about it. Look, it is what it is, I think we would be better off knowing that we are more blood-related than we think. Maybe then, we would make greater strides toward becoming a more united nation.
I would love for Dr.Gates to give a white supremacist a DNA test and let him or her find out his or her great great grandmother was a slave. Could you imagine?
And yes, in case they didn’t know, white, Latin, Asian, American Indians…we are all genetically mixed with a something. Obviously, some more than others, but it’s a scientific fact. And so what? It’s not a big deal unless we make it one.
This reminds me of the controversy that was stirred up when Melanie Fiona said she has a good mix for growth. SMH. Yes we all can grow long hair, but the techniques that a 4C hair chick would use to reach waist length as opposed to maybe a 3A or even 2C chick would use, is a lot different. Yes, I understand we need to stop this thing, assuming that it is because 1 is mixed why their hair is so long, and accept out hair, and use techniques to minimize breakage. But being mixed can influence the type of hair you have. you just need to know how to care it.
This is a pic of me n my bro, we hv same parents, but the gene that determined his hair type was wayy different than mine.
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Fotor0117125228.jpg[/img]
There is no such thing as 100% Black. Being 100% sub-Saharan in ancestry does not equate to be 100% Black in race or identity as the concept of black race is not indigenous to sub-Saharan Africans. Europeans invented that -ish.
Reference the Youtube video – Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story
She did not know of black identity until she moved outside of Nigeria. She was born in the late 1970s.
It is only recently that the majority of Africans of sub-Saharan African descent consider themselves as black. Rewind 60 plus years ago, few did as much the continent was still rather sheltered from contemporary life in the West.
I recently decided to stop using chemicals to relax my hair for several reasons. So glad that I did. One of the reasons I decided to become natural is because most of the African American community still do not accept “nappy hair” as beautiful. It became disappointing when I started researching on various blog and it became evident that all “naturals” have not totally accepted the ideal that “nappy hair” has its own beauty and personality. Whatever your ancestry maybe and your hair type maybe it is yours; accept it, embrace it and love it.
THERE IS A SUCH THING AS BEING 100% BLACK. SOME OF OUR ANCESTORS WERE NOT RAPED AND DID NOT MIX WITH OTHER PEOPLE FROM OTHER RACES. CERTAIN PARTS OF AFRICA WAS INVADED HOWEVER, THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT EUROPEANS STARTED MAKING MIXED BABIES ALL OVER THE PLACE. NO! THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF AFRICANS WHO ARE PURE SUB-SAHARAN AND THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO ARE 100% AFRICAN! SOME OF OUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT GRANDPARENTS ON BOTH SIDES ARE BLACK (AFRICAN OR AFRICAN AMERICAN).
Hi ladies,
I just wanted to hop in to explain why we wanted to post this article.
The objective of BGLH has always been to take the mythology out of black hair care. As we all know, there is a LOT of mythology/false information associated with black hair care. One of the main ones being that you have to have some kind of mix in you to have long hair. Or some special genes.
What we want to communicate (with this website and with this article) is that long hair doesn’t need to be associated with ANY particular ethnic group because ALL ethnic groups are MORE than capable of having healthy, non-breaking, long heads of hair.
So when we discuss hair care, ethnicity shouldn’t be an explanation of why hair grows or doesn’t grow.
We need to progress as a culture, and — instead of staying stuck on this “are you mixed” question — start focusing on what techniques we are teaching ourselves and our children. We need to normalize the idea that our natural hair texture isn’t “problem hair”. And we need to continue to focus on techniques and mindsets that help our hair to flourish.
This article wasn’t meant to start any kind of race/ethnicity comment box war. It was suggesting that we move on from linking mixed-ethnicity to long hair altogether, because nobody on this earth has an ethnicity that would bar them from long (non-breaking), healthy hair.
lol this paragraph would of made a perfect article lol
Perhaps this article could have been written to dispel that myth by addressing the inclusiveness that we all can grow long hair. Focusing on information about length based on beneficial hair practices could be an effective way to educate people that any healthy hair retains length. Instead, the article delves into percentages of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (versus other ancestry) as its basis of attainable length. I understand the intent, but it seems contradictary to say “everyone” but then focus on “mixed” heritage as the counter point. It also perpetuates a negative connotation of being “mixed” with some distant ancestor who was an evil, white rapist. Some of us have loving and kind parents and/or grandparents who are “white” and sit across the table from us at every family meal.
I think people are getting riled because the article doesn’t give examples of black women growing healthy hair and leaving it at that. It seems to say that most black American people are not “really” black, so we are kind of like other races more than we think, so that’s why it’s not true that we can’t grow long hair. The x% of all these other race thing didn’t seem to go along with the message that we should feel able to care for our hair no matter what race we are.
Hi Sophie,
That is why we have the style icon features.
I think this is part of a much larger issue–the problem is that “black” is not a term that has an objective meaning. It’s meaning shifts depending on the intention of the user, as does “mixed” as do most racial terms used in the United States–“100% black” is just a nonsense term. I was recently in the Dominican Republic for a couple of weeks and noted that there was no one there who would be out of place in one of my family’s photo albums. I could blend in with a crowd of Dominicans, but stood out from a crowd of Haitians, yet the latter were considered “black” like me while the former were not.
I thought a lot about this while I was there, and what that word meant and then remembered all the times that someone told me I wasn’t “really” black because of some aspect of the stereotype I didn’t live up to–anything from listening to Aerosmith to using proper English to having a passport–and I realized that for a lot of people “black” was just this basket into which they threw a list of negative traits. It had nothing to do with me or people who looked like me, it was about this idea of a “problem people” and, unfortunately, that’s not just how we’re viewed by others, but often how we view ourselves.
I know a lot of us have embraced “black is beautiful” and filled that basket with positive traits (including the full range of textures and types of hair we have) but I’m beginning to feel even that is too limiting, because it takes this unbelievably diverse and varied set of human experiences and tries to distill it down to one thing.
I don’t have an answer, other than just taking individuals as I find them and expecting others to do the same.
I’ve known since I was little that my family is pretty much America’s melting pot. We have so many enthicities in our DNA its like whooo! So I know I’m mixed and until I joined the Navy I always had long THICK KINKY hair, but after the Navy I have had such a hard time growing it back and keeping it long. The longest that I have been able to get it was to the top of my shoulder blades.But it wasn’t the fact that I’m mixed that I had long hair. It pretty much came down to maintenance and products that I was using. I mean I’m still mixed right now and having such strife but I’ve been switching up my products to see wha tis working well with my hair and plus I’m transitioning because I was a recipiant of a “bad relaxer”. It just was not compatible with my hair type. So hopefully I’ll find my groove and be able to grow it out more.
Also a lot of people who are not black ( and I’m not mad at them) assume that when black women have long hair its automatically a weave. In high school a alot oof people thought I had a weave and I didn’t it was my own hair. Why is it that these people don’t think that black people can grow their hair out?! Its hilarious to me and I don’t take offense to it, but its just a thing that will always follow us. Black lady with long hair, “You know its a weave”!
Im just going to take the wild card and say what most people wont: because to be “black” or “black enough” or “fully black” to most, especially non “blacks” or those that may not look “black”, being black is inferior. So anything beautiful or positive or good strikes them as odd and therefore they look for an odd loop out that explains the positive phenomenon. “oh you have long/nice hair?” “youre not black”. “oh you have a pretty skin complexion?” “you must be mixed with something”. “youre fit and take of yourself and youre not even in a sport?” “where are you from? you look so exotic”. Sorry if I’m ranting but I ve about had eneough of people saying BS like to this to me.
Y’all got time to waste or what? I am so tired of that topic, of being black, blacker, african, 100% this and that. I am 100% black, since I am african from west africa. I was born and raised in Africa, and I know my heritage, my langage, my tribe etc… And y’all guess what? I am 100% sure that if Africa was the leading continent in the world right now, african american people or black people of the caribbean wouldn’t be that eager to claim their other ancestors…That being said we should all move on from those topics. because when a white person sees you and your dark skin, they don’t care if you are 12,3456% white or else. To them you are black, flat out!!
I think instead of worrying about the association of long hair with mixed heritage, we should end the obsession and glorification of long hair in the black community. From the looks and texture (eg. shrinking tendencies) of black hair (not just in the US, but all over the world), I suspect this is a European beauty standard that we took on. and need to let off, pronto.
Once long hair is not considered the standard of beauty, the questions of mixed heritage b/c of long hair won’t be so offensive.
I saw on the Andrew Zimmerman show on the travel channel. That there is a trib eini Namibia that puts a mixture of red clay and lard through their hair to keep it noce and I guess put together in their standards and their hair is LONG! I mean the majority of the time its all slicked back because of the mub, but their hair is as long as to their waste and this tribe is untouched by outsiders (normally). I just noticed that having long hair is not that important when it comes to beauty because there are some SERIOUS BEAUTIES out there that are pixie cut or shorter like my girls Amber Rose, Halle Berry, felix Cane, Kelly Pickler (just to name a few). So I guess its slowly (at a turtles pace)coming down to rocking what you got.
Exactly!! If it werent put on such a high pedestal it wouldnt be uch a high concern. you dont see people trying to figure out of someones mixed based when theyve just B.C’d or have clearly damaged, breaking and therefore short hair. Samne for facial characteristics too. No one goes around asking what someone is when they have certain kinds of nose, lips, curves. Smh.
No questions when someone has damaged horrible hair because the associate that type of hair with being black. Like its just a matter of fact and life that if you are black your hair should be short, damaged, dry, brittle, ugly. That is the reason why suddenly when a black person has decent healthy hair in both a appearance and length the question of being mixed comes up, because healthy hair was and is still associated with other races. As far as people not making these association with nose, hips, etc. they do! People of various races have questioned why my sisters or I are not fat or don’t have big butts. Someone white said to my sister, this isnt fair you have a white girl body, we need to switch. Like seriously? I have friends of mixed black and other race who think the only reason why a room full of black about 75 black people most did not have broad flat wide noses was because of admixture. Like not all africans have broad flat noses, so its not necessarily because of admixture. European met africans already having variety of noses, body types, skin complexions. This is not all due to just being of admixture, but people think that is the only way. One friend said “honestly, the black people in jamaica who look good are the ones who are mixed” Im like do you hear yourself. So she is associating being ugly with being black and that the only way a black person can be pretty is if they are mixed with something else. This is what the problem is and it goes further than just hair. I can testify to that.
You just told it like it is!
stereotypes just kill me! i can’t believe we’re in 2013…
and now, 2014 lol
I don’t think the point of the article was to claim how “black or not” you are or to “claim a percentage of white”. She’s just trying to prove any person no matter what color their skin is can grow any texture of hair out of their scalp and skin color does not predetermine how long your hair can be. By talking about the Percentage stuff she was just proving her point that people who claim to be “all black” have long hair and those who aren’t “all black” but “look like they are” have long hair too and can have the “all black persons” hair texture. Over all don’t predetermne how white or black someone is by their hair length or skin completion because evryone is most likely “mixed”.
I agree, I was about to post the same thing. The people who got offended clearly didn’t get her message.
I think we need to just accept our hair for what it is. My brothers have 3c and 4a hair type and i have 4c maybe even 5a. We have the same parents. So should I say that genes doesn’t play a role? My paternal grandmother’s grandfather is a white man. So is my paternal Grandfather, is grandfather is white. When I look on my mother’s side, her great great grandmother is white woman, her grandmother is dark a midnight with curly soft hair. See where I am going with all the confusion? LOL I’m Jamaican by the way, and we were once an English colony, so lots of mixed race persons are here. Do i consider myself 100% black? Yes I do, even though I know that i may be about 10% percent white. We always say that the white genes has watered down. I must admit that most Jamaicans do not know how to properly care for our hair, not even those that are certified hairdressers. And since embarking on my natural hair journey, talking to other women, it is even more obvious that we need to be more educated about our hair, and proper hair care techniques. Back to my brothers, people always asked them if they were mixed and asked me what happened with my hair? This got me down for the most part of my life, I even said that if I had my brothers hair, my life would be different. As for hair care and mixed genes and hair growth, from what I have observed with someone is say 50% Indian and 50% black, without doing all the things that i would do, without taking so much care for there hair, it still seems to thrive way more than mine would, They can colour it, heat it, process it all in a month, If I try that, I’d be left bald. So i conclude that our genes do play a part in hair growth. That is just too clear. Some Indians, Chinese, Caucasian etc. grow their hair and sell it, which black or mixed person do you see doing that? Retaining length and having healthy hair depends on the person, That is why we have things such as hair typing charts, different categories of hair, different techniques on how to care for our different hair types.
I am mainly black and Native American ( other mixes are far down in the DNA strand) and all that it gave me was really Kinky hair that can handle punishment =) . But it hasn’t really helped me in the length department at least not now. When I was younger it was different situation. That is really interesting that the women on your island don’t know how to take care of their hair. I’m learning knew organic stuff to use to get away from chemicals. My cousin has sold her hair she has really light colored hair and its thick, but not kinky I think she is about a 3A. She sells and donates her hair all the time. She is Black and Native American too, but her skin is really fair, so a lot of people think that one of her parents is white, but that isn’t her parents main ancestory, but it is up in there, just down the DNA line.
Wow, I didn’t even know that was a debate until now, I live in the UK and I’m Jamaican, yes I am mixed, but I know Africans, 100% African, no mixes, with very long thick hair. So I do not believe it has anything to do with being mixed. Sure some Africans have “coarse” hair for want of a better word, but there are all different types of Africans, like Eritreans who have curly wavy hair or Somalians or Ethopians. It depends which African you are as to which hair type you get and even then that’s no guarantee.
I’m mixed with white latina, asian (indian and chinese) and my hairs quite curly aka coolie in Jamaica, but it still is quite “african” in how it looks.
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Its been scientifically proven that African hair grows at a slower rate than other ethnicites. It’s mostly due to the fact that the coarser and weaker the hair, the easier it is to break. I mean lets be real here, its takes a 4c person a lot longer to grow their hair out than a 3c person. I mean 4c hair is so weak and fragile it breaks easily and is hard to grow. This website is proof enough. The 4c section is so limited, and half the articles are people with Multi-Texture hair which is no help for a person with 90% 4C hair. My best friend is a Creole and natural. She does not take care of her hair at all and it grows like wildgrass. While I take the time to do protective styles, deep conditioners, protein treatments, etc in 5 years and my hair is barely shoulder length. Why? Because I’m freaking 4c! I don’t care what people say, genetics makes a HUGE difference in hair growth!
I don’t think our hair grows slower, it may take more maintenance, but it defo doesn’t grow slower. I had no hair last year March I now have a lot of hair, it’s reached my neck already and I believe that is because I stopped using products and went 100% natural from Guinness as shampoo to avocado and olive oil as conditioner and my hair thrives on that
Yeah I’ve been using those natural products as well. Olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, mayo, yogurt, honey, eggs, etc. Still no major hair growth.
Those ingrediants does not “make your hair grow” it aids in hair growth I guess you can say. I use coconut oil in my hair cause my hair needs the fat to keep my hair moistuerized and soft. When its not it snaps like a branch. I would say (and its just a suggestion) instead of smearing it in your hair change what you eat, so your hair is getting the nutriants that it needs from the inside. This was a lesson that I had to learn cause I love foods that just isn’t all that beneficial nutrician wise. You could even look up some hair pills which is just vitamines that your hair needs to grow healthy. It will not make your hair grow over night. And a 10 minute scalp massage every day if you can, but if you can’t then every other day. Move the blood under your scalp. =)
I eat very healthy thank you very much. And I take natural whole food vitamins. Healthy eating and exercise is not the magic key to hair growth. Its genetics. I’m sorry. Say what you want, but genetics make a big difference in hair growth. My great great grandmother was half Indian. Only one of her daugthers got her long curly hair, my aunt. My other aunt and great grandmother did not acheive this long curly hair. Interesting enough my great grandmother’s hair so so soft it never needed a relaxer. But it never grew. And it passed down to my grandmother whose hair never grew. Etc. Now my Aunt with the Native American hair, all of her children have the long curly hair. Again its genetics people! Its simple science. There is no magic formula for hair growth. Either you are meant to have long hair or not.
But thanks for the advice though. I’m sorry, I guess Im just so frustrated with my hair. I wasnt happy when it was relaxed and I’m extremely not happy now that its natural. I just don’t know what to do….
My dear, that had better not be Nigerian Foreign Extra Guinness you’re pouring on your hair? If so, me and you, we go fight o!!!
Lol! Jk! Happy growing! 🙂
I don’t think 4c hair grows any slower than other hair. My youngest (she’s 7) has waist length hair and I just learned in the last year or so how to really take care of it. If I knew then what I know now I’m sure it would have been much longer. It took time to find the right products, etc but it was worth it.
@ace again no two people are exactly the same black or not. i am 4C too and i’ve been natural since two and a half years and i’m past APL in fact my goal is to reach BSL by the end of the year and i am from african descent. genetics might play a role yes but your classification is too narrow as not two people on this earth are exactly the same. you’d be surprised to know that some creole people fight to grow their hair too and somme have very kinky hair too.
You are very lucky to be blessed with hair that grows. But this website speaks clearly on the matter. The 4c section, minus the multi-texture articles, is severely lacking. Why? Because most 4C people are limited to short hairstyles because its takes extremely long to grow. Yet look at the 3 sections and 4a. They are overrun with articles because their hair grows easier and is more manageable and able to achieve more styles than that of a 4c person.
No, I do believe it’s because having absolutely 100% zero curl pattern or the zigzag pattern that 4C hair is supposed to have is actually very rare.
Those that have some have it mixed with other textures, so they join other categories (in your eyes anyway, seemingly). I would say 4A or 4B are the most common even among my fellow direct Nigerians/Africans.
Hi Ace,
I have found that these products work quite well for 4c, including very fine and wiry 4c: Afro Detangler (conditioner) (growafrohairlong.com)official site; Oyin products, but my favs are their moisture sprays; kimmaytube conditioner; Luv Naturals leave-in; Shea Moisture curling custard and curling souffle (for braidouts etc), EVO/coconut oil yada yada. Really consider giving the detangler a try. BTW, all of these products can be layered w/o any residue remaining when fully dry.
Hang in there =) Once you find the combo that works for you, I promise you will be less frustrated and your hair will thrive in turn. Still may have a slower rate of growth that what you’d prefer, or maybe not, but you will have an easier time retaining what you do grow.
What you’re describing is length retention, not growth rate.
But yes, genetics plays a massive part, but it plays that part across all races and even within families. There are PLENTY of 4C ladies here, enough to ease your worries I should think. Most of them are stunners as well. I always enjoy seeing them. In fact, I’d tentatively say there have been more 4B/4C ladies than 3B/3C ladies.
But my advice is not to be length obsessed. Is your hair healthy and can you style it in a way that is pretty? If yes, then please just enjoy your hair and let it do what it do!
@ACE, I AM 4C AS WELL AND MY HAIR IS WAIST LENGTH. I HAVE ALWAYS HAD LONG HAIR EVEN BEFORE I WENT NATURAL. SO YOUR STATEMENT IS UNTRUE AND IGNORANT. YOU ARE YOU. SOME PEOPLE WITH YOUR SAME HAIR TYPE HAVE LONG HAIR AND IT GROWS FAST FOR THEM. SO PLEASE, SPEAK FOR YOURSELF. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE MIXED TO HAVE LONG HAIR THAT GROWS FAST.
Genetics do play a role –its not just those regarding racial ancestry. My cousin is the same admixture (roughly 60 percent African, 30 percent European, 10 Native American) as I am and we follow the same routines, but her hair is bsl 2 years post-BC and I am only collarbone length 3.5 years post-BC. Our grandmother could sit on her hair. Clearly, my hair grows slower and I suspect sheds sooner.
The arguement that no one is 100% black has very little to do with the arguement people are aluding to when they ask what someone is “mixed” with in the context of hair length and texture in my opinion.
I get what the author is trying to say. No one is 100% anything as far as lineage goes. We are all a mixture of races.
However, when said arguement is brought up int he context of black hair, most people posing the question of “what are you mixed with” mean what is your more recent racial makeup. I may be 19% european but that 19% is far removed, so my hair reflect the fact that my parents and their parents and their parents and their parents and on back for maybe at least one more generation were all black american, and it stands to reason that becuase of that my hair will look and act a certain way. where as the black sister to my left my have a white grandmother or an asian father and her hair will look and act an entirely different way. there is nothing wrong with either but i think it’s dismissive to say, “we’re all mixed” when the question is brought up of genetic makeup and hair. hair with more O shaped as opposed to eliptical shaped hair folicals tend to be thicker and stronger, making it easier to grow longer hair. black women who have more of a euro/asian makeup may have more O shaped hair folicles sometimes making it easier for them to attain length.
there is nothing wrong in admitting this and it thing black women with kinkier hair find it dismissive to say, “oh you’re hair will do the same thing; you’re just not taking care of it.” yes, kinkier hair textures CAN reach the lengths of curlier or even straigher hair textures but it’s a much tougher task that usualy require a great deal of skill that may not be so much needed for hair that falls in the 3 ranger or even the 4a range.
Thank you! We not talking about your grandma from 200 years ago we talking about your recent admixture
Very interesting.
Here in France, being mixed is more a cultural thing than a racial one. French white people tend to associate any black people to African people even if a big part of us are from the french Carribean. That being said, I’mixed and it really doesn’t mean a thing, my sisters have 4b/c hair types when my brother is more of a 3b. The only origins I worry about are the ones that have influenced my education, my social back ground, my culture THIS is the heritage that define me, the way I have learned to love and take care of my hair. So yes I’m half black, 25 percent white, 15 percent native american and 10 percent of unknown origins (being from the Caribbean makes it hard to really know) but it’s really not what I think about when I’m combing my hair or looking in the mirror. So I will never say that I’m a 100% black cause I’m not, I’m simply HUMAN. It’s enough to me.
Wow! What an incredible time to be alive. Kudos to you, Nicole, and thanks. No matter what DNA testing may reveal about my ancestory, I LOVE being african-american, black, soul sista, baby girl, etc. Never wanted to be any other, but I understand I represent all who have come before me, and I’m the sum of their genetic contributions. I just hope to make them proud. Fantastic article!:)
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I’m South Africa and the question of how black a person is, is still very relevant to us when it comes to our hair. Unlike the African Americans we follow and learn how to take care of hair from, most of us are not mixed.We have very clear identification categories here. Mix people do not refer to themselves as black but rather colored ,even if the mix is not evident aesthetically. And this has to do with the social conditioning and oppression we experienced, that mixed people here do not want to associate themselves with their blackness but will be quick to tell you their great grandfather was German.Although this is not the case with all colored folks,but the Cape colored is guilty of this.
Now the kind of hair growth wee see from these African American bloggers and vloggers is associated with colored folks, and we know that most African American are mixed.And we can not deny that mix does change your genetic make up which may effect the way your hair grows out or how you look, which in turn would mean our hair grows differently.So when i show friends and family pictures of woman with long hair they always ask their ethnicity or the country their from because we know most African Americans mixed and that there are people from other African countries who generally have longer thicker hair than ours. Another reason we ask is cause we have NEVER seen a black South African with natural hair that long and that’s cause we don’t know how to take care of our hair.
So we ask cause we don’t know that it’s possible for our hair to grow that long and because we know genetics and geographical factors play a part in how our hair grows.
I am of Zulu and Sotho heritage, my mother’s hair is similar to that of the Bushmen of South Africa: very, very, very coarse! However, she grew very long hair. On my father’s side, his family are Ndebele with some very distant Shona, but they also have very thick and even longer hair.
It has just proved that even though, from what I know, I am 100% African and have 4c hair, our hair can grow long and my hair has now reached to below my shoulders in 2 years. I never thought it could happen because I never thought black hair could grow. It really doesn’t matter what mix you have, hair growth is not exclusive to whites, Asians or those of mixed heritage but knowing how to care for your hair is of paramount importance. Many Southern Africans kept their hair short because it was just easier to manage, there is nothing wrong with that. We are just length-obsessed in this society.
And I agree with another poster, I really didn’t get the overall point of this article. It started out one way, ended in another direction.
I think this article is only adding the the problem honestly. I understand what the author is trying to say. However, the article starts out with the appearance of stating that black people can grow long hair just as well as any other race. It seems to want to say that a black person with long hair does not necessarily have long hair only because they are of mixed racial background, but then it goes on to say that “all” or most black people are of mixed heritage.
I can’t with nonsense like this. Cause like someone else stated no white person or asian person is going around tabulating their percentage of admixture. If all black people are mixed than it goes to say that all people of any race in the western hemisphere particularly are mixed with something else.
So what is the point that since we are all mixed then we don’t need to ask the question are you mixed anymore? This still leaves the question of how is it that one person hair looks and grows this way and another persons like that. So it becomes a who is more mixed than who battle? Or whose “lucky” genetic admixture travelled down the timeline into their phenotype? like what is the point really?
Im not claiming any 12% of anything, when my behind walks down the street, or goes into a job interview, or fills out any application, Im black. Not other black plus 12% white, chinese, american indian, etc. Stop this nonsense please.
I learned that having long or growing hair depends on how you take care of your hair and also genetics plays apart. I am Liberian-American and both my mother and father side of the family has long and growing hair. Furthermore I have relatives with type 2 and 3 hair also 4 and we are Liberian. I do have relatives who are Liberian mixed with European and middle eastern. If I am mixed with anything I know that the African will be the highest percentage and the others will be less than 20 or 10 percent.
I think it would help to stop getting upset when people question your lineage. People calling you a liar is annoying, but its really their problem. Another thing is that people talk all the time about “mixing” but a lot of the natural variation in people all over the world came from people becoming suited to different climates which exist on a spectrum. It’s not as if there were “pure” races to begin with which then mixed to give the diversity we see today, so I think different features exist even without people being “mixed”. Also, race is not a really hard biological concept… there are people who blend between the groups we’ve divided ourselves into because the distinctions are not hard and fast.
“But, we also know that good hair care practices have a significant influence on hair growth and that many of us were unaware of that until recently”
“…many of us never learned the proper care for our hair.”
First of all I love the use of the pronoun “we” in the first sentence quoted. Are u seriously making the claim that the slaves in America didn’t know how to take care of their own hair? This is baffling. Where are you getting your facts from woman! Please next time when you want to make such claims think about what you are saying. You have a responsibility to state things like this as you base them on facts rather than ideas conjured in the head.
FYI: I am Asian and you would imagine my tresses to be slick and oh so easy to manage… On the contrary! Dark black coarse curly hair that really should be on the head of a black girl have landed on mine. I don’t really mind. I don’t have a choice! Ha! I am just on a spectrum. Maybe I am –% Black or –%Spanish or –%Middle Eastern… It doesn’t really matter to me. God gave me hair. And I am thankful for it.
if you don’t mind me asking since you say you’re asian how is your hair perceived in your family/community? i might be a bit ignorant but i have never seen an asian person with coarse/curly hair and i’m just curious.
however i don’t know if the slaves in america did know how to take care of their hair or not but good hair care practices have certainly been lost since a long time in the black community that’s why we’re learning to take care of it again.
Well I am Central Asian. Not the typical Chinese/Korean Asian. Some family members like my hair others not so. I also cover my hair in public because of my religion (Islam).
I was watching a FRIENDS episode one day and found this old clip: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=vf9-mxgzWeQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dvf9-mxgzWeQ
The husband tells the wife to chill out and stop playing the opponent. He adds, “your hair is inexplicable” And there is laughter from the audience. Then he says: “let’s go upstairs, order room service, take a shower and shave your head”. Ofcourse laughter follows suit. I found that so shocking! Is her hair really that ugly that its am almost eyesore? I became so conscious of my own hair after watching this and how it will be perceived if I show it without taming it or anything. On most days it looks just like hers!
I want to straighten it permanently sometimes because my curls aren’t as soft as i’d like them to be.
Nonetheless this website is teaching me how to take care of my hair and embrace it. I really need the coconut oil advertised on here. I already have almond so i am using it often. I do agree with someone who mentioned earlier that there isn’t much information for the “mixed” type hair on this website. But I guess that’s why this blog is called “black girl with long hair”. I am not black so I can’t hold the blogger accountable for failing to cater to my needs. I will use the resources and take what I can and leave that which doesn’t concern me.
I still think that African Americans didn’t somehow forget to take care of their hair and now are learning to after freedom from slavery. Thats too far fetched for me. I’d like to see a correlative analysis with Africans in Africa. A 300 year gap, even if there is one will not and cannot have an impact on how long the hair grows. Or how well it grows. That’s a very very short time to make such an absurd claim.
What is interesting is that people here so easily define their hair category 3c 2b… whatever. If the writer is so upset with people defining the percentage of their ancestry equally she should find fault with the assignment of numbers or figures to hair…
And if the writer embraces that definition of hair texture/ type then there is no need to get upset with a percentage of blackness that people might define themselves by. If hair is on a spectrum so too is race.
assalamu alaykum sister 🙂
@ farzana well africans have been submitted to the same conditions as african-americans. they think their hair won’t grow because it is black hair when in reality their apparent inability to grow hair lies in their hair care practices not their genes.
what i want to say is they have been confronted to the european standard of beauty just as much as african-americans. that led them to all the hair practices that stunt their hair growth aka relaxers, bad weaves, not knowing that our hair will be manageable if properly moisturized and all that just to fit the western standard of beauty. i know this sounds amazing to you but it is what it is. and no in 300 or 400 years there was no MAJOR genetic changes between africans and african-american (even if they have on average 20% something else) otherwise they wouldn’t have brown skin anymore, and would not grow afros on their heads (well if someone disagrees please just state your opinion calmly it favors discussion). that’s the precise reason why we are trying to bust some myths to reappropriate ourselves.
anyway i find it amazing that a black hair site can attract other ethnic group lol well enjoy!
“I still think that African Americans didn’t somehow forget to take care of their hair and now are learning to after freedom from slavery.”
you’d be amazed to find what you’d forget if your culture, practices, traditions, etc. have been systematically beaten out of you for generations on top of generations. it’s not that it was forgotten, though. i think that would be a word choice error. it was that hair was not nearly as important as surviving. considering that most black women didnt have time to do anything to their hair, and indeed were encouraged if not commanded to hide their hair under scarves and other cloths, it’s not surprising to me that most black women didn’t know how to maintain their hair properly. it just…wasn’t important.
If your hair looks like hers, then it *is* lovely, especially when she had the cap on. Big volume, thick and dark, it draws attention! (I suppose this might not be what you desire) You can have it straight when you want with a bit of effort, but it will go curly again on its own too. Granted she looked a bit crazy with the cap off and flat, greasy hair at the top, but all hair can look crazy! Lol!
Have you thought of, well, copying practices that Black women (100% or otherwise!) employ? I’m talking keep it in braids all day under your head-covering and it will be wavy/curly the next day or by the evening. I really feel you could use any of the styles, tips and techniques on this blog and others with minor adaptations (after trial and error unfortunately), but if it’s keeping the volume covered that’s giving you the most problems, braid it!
And I encourage you to read the comments in that vid you posted. Some like the look, some don’t. Such is life!
If my hair inexplicably and suddenly turned straight and limp, no one would need to tell me to go upstairs and cut it off to start again… just sayin’…
i agree it wasnt slaves that didnt know how to take care of their hair, it was the lack of resources to do hair that made “us” lose the knowelege of how to care for our hair in the first place.We had it to begin with but slavery and the complexes it ingrained in African americans culture made us forget and also forfeit the knowelege. That is why people gave up twisting and braiding they knew of with shea butter and other natural hair conditioners for relaxers and hair grease to get the “good” hair we were forced to accept/desire.
Also, which slaves would have brought shea nuts with them?
Who grabbed the traditional combs before they were forced on the boat?
How many slave-women had time to sit and braid their sister/daughter/cousin/friend’s in intricate, time-consuming styles?
Is it easy to remain proud of your hair when it is mocked or left unclean/unstyled because of circumstances, when you are instructed that it must be covered when in the presence of your ‘owners’ or when it is even forcibly shaved?
What’s the point in remembering the styles that marked birth, death, coming of age and marriage and passing them and the skills needed to create them on to your children if you’re not allowed or able to wear those remembered styles?
No, of *course* slaves and their descendants ‘forgot’ how to look after their hair; it is 100% understandable. Those now bearing the brunt of that forgetting because of their ancestors should ensure the don’t look for validation from those who’s ancestors were the cause of that forgetting…
Thanks for your responses ladies and walaykum musalaam!
Goyta! my mom used to braid my hair until freshman year of HS. She just stopped one day and said i was old enough to do it myself. I don’t know how to braid it! I can braid other people’s hair with some effort but mine is so crazy I can’t imagine even attempting to bring it to order on my own. It’s thick extremely frizzy and has lotssssss of volume. The easiest thing for me is to put it in a bun and that’s not really fun cuz the weight of the hair pulls on my head and it doesn’t stay in place for long. I refuse to razor it. I want a quick solution. The humid days are coming and I need a good solution. I can only wish for a quick one.
I am shopping for a silk scarf to wear at night.. I Can’t find any that will wrap around my hair/head.
And it’s so surprising nowhere do the resources here mention how important it is to dry your hair with a cotton t-shirt instead of a towel. Doing that reduces a lot of the frizz.
I wish I could braid my hair. Sometimes I ask others to but then I like to wash my hair every other day. I use really nice shampoos and things that are sulfate free. Still learning this pre pooing technique. And thanks for praising a wild sexy head of hair like mine just as seen in that clip i linked above but I am really so tired of it 🙁
I can’t even comb my hair if its not wet!
Jo somebody the comment above is actually meant for you I don’t know where I got goyta from! Lol. But really anyone that can help your suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
chile aint nobody got time to be claiming 19 percent white.i am 100% black i dont care how light i am! do you see white people claiming 19 percent black? why is it such a big discussion for black people to claim some other race? black people just wana be something else other than black. there is a clear obsession with this topic.
tell me why that is EXACTLY WHAT I SAID WHEN I STARTED THIS ARTICLE!!! personally i am Nigerian American and from what i know i am 100% black i do not care what white man might of come to my village and raped one of my ancestors. i will not claim that as part of my heritage/ancestry because 100% of these traces of white is through rape! Also was this study done on only African americans? because i wonder if the results would of been the same had they done it on Africans. intresting article… but totally unecissary i feel this will make ppl think that they were right when they tell ppl “are you mixed”? because at my school i know of many a mixed chick with some busted hair that wont grow due to “complexes” that im not even going to bother divulging into right now.
It was only African Americans. I participated in the one from 23 and me.
I was with you until you brought up white people. Who cares what they do? Why must we as black folk always guide ourselves by what they say and do???
You know, I’m glad to see that we can have this conversation without all the verbal-bloodshed that usually happens (like, say, Youtube…)
But honestly I had long hair when I was relaxed and genetics had very little to do with it. My hair was long because I took CARE of it, and honestly, that’s the only thing people need to know.
There IS NO cheat in growing long hair! Not really. It’s all in the way you take care of your hair (and yourself in general, to a certain extent). Even all the “get long hair quick!” schemes have to do with some change in maintenance or diet. I just don’t understand how people can’t see that.
The one thing I’d like to know is not why people have to assume you’re mixed race to have long hair (because, you know, whatever for that question honestly…) What I’d like to know is why is it mostly other black people who assume that you can’t grow long hair unless you’re “mixed race”?
That’s the especially heartbreaking thing, to me. I’m away a school and I’m transitioning. Most of my friends take one look at the my natural hair that’s starting to come out and they’ve already started asking and saying
“Whose side of the family did you get that hair from?”
“I know both of your parents are black, but are THEY mixed with something?”
“See, this is why YOU can go natural. You have that ‘good hair’!”
Y’all, that last one could cause me to riot. Can someone help me out here?
I AM MIXED WITH BLACK, AFRICAN, AND NEGRO! MY HAIR IS NATURAL AND LONG! GET OVER IT!!!
You missed the entire point, Connie1. Race/ethnicity does NOT matter when it comes to hair.
EVERYONE can grow long hair. They just have to know how to take care of it.
The fact that you have to “assert” what you are and what your hair is only adds to the problem.
I certain don’t give a damn. What you are and how long your hair is is none of MY business.
Please don’t sit there and tell me to “get over” something that you’re trying to shove in MY face. It’s not helping anything here.
all well stated, and we need to remember, genes are an unwieldy lot! You blend them up and sometimes the dominant ones do their job as they should & and sometimes the recessives take over, then in the next generation they might leave or show up again in full force! 18% this, 32% that, 4% the other can come out in ANY way it pleases, so people need to love all their lovely blendings and just be… the little bit of hazel flecks in your eyes doesn’t give you more value than someone with a solid brown… a looser ringlet isn’t better than a z-pattered kink & isn’t better than a straight wiry strand. I’m so glad for it <3
Also when blacks say “100% black”, this is coming from our history of naming the percentage of blackness in our immediate ancestry (e.g., 50%=mulatto; 25%=quadroon; 1.25%=octoroon). There was a percentage of blackness at which you could once again consider yourself legally white. The expression, “a touch of the tarbrush” meant that you couldn’t pass for white even though a person looked predominately white. It seems as if the author of this article has either chosen to disregard this or has just completely missed the point on this.
Although this discussion can become mundane at times to adults please continue to have these conversations with your surrounding youth. As an educator in a predominantly African-American school you would be surprised at the comments our young, black girls make regarding our hair and complexion. In a school of 750 students there may be one or two students and maybe 6 staff members who are natural (most of my middle school students wear weaves or wigs).
The constant “are you mixed” question to my 16 yr old daughter at school is also draining to her. She has a loose 3B curl pattern and stated that girls don’t believe her when she says “I’m Black”. If their environment is filled with misconceptions….no wonder they feel that way.
I understand It is difficult though, I find myself constantly defending natural hair to my husband, mom, friends etc. etc.
Right on! I also encourage the natural students that encounter in the hallways.
I realize that I am taking away such a small part of what you said, but seriously- middle school aged girls wearing wigs and weaves is so sad to me. It starts young- if we don’t enforce the notion of our natural beauty, who will? I am not a teacher (which, by the way, I commend you for) but hope that I can be an example to my sons and nieces of just how beautiful we as Black women are…naturally!
Hi Jessica. I also have sons (4 & 6) and I make it a point to point out various chocolate women/girls and say how beautiful they are. I say “look how beautiful; her tone is so rich; or look how chocolate she is!!” I feel that as a mother of black sons I have to be diligent. I want my boys to never question Black women’s beauty or subscribe to the European standard of beauty……and before anyone says anything…..I don’t point out our lighter skinned beauties because they get enough validation 🙂 :). But seriously, I’m just saying that hardly anything in our society (even the Black community itself) raves about dark skinned beauties. My boys will know better!! In fact, last night we were watching American Idol and my 6 year old points out one the contestants (I think her name was Candace??) and says “look how beautiful her chocolate skin is mom!! She’s more chocolate than you, but don’t worry, you’re still beautiful too!”
I personally am offended when people assume that there is something in my culture makeup other than it appears because they think my hair is nice. I feel that person is basically saying White (or some ethnicity other than black) is making me better and that Black can’t be naturally beautiful. It is not a compliment.
Most Blacks in America are not 100% black, which is why your hair is most completely different from Blacks in Africa. They grow at different rates, they look different, they even react differently to the same set of products. When it comes to length of hair, race will always have something to do with it, though I see no way it should cause a controversy. It is just what it is.
I meant I see no reason why it should cause a controversy
wrong again i don’t know which planet you come from but you find as many different hair types and lenght in african americans as you find in africans. this site shows it just take a second look.
@SJ – What about the presence of the Portuguese and other races in Nigeria before the onset of American slavery? When there was happy free trade going on. I mean the land mass wasn’t always considered “Nigeria”. From my understanding many Nigerians can’t really trace their lineage past great-great-great….let alone saying who was where or “what” (mixed and such) before 1600. One generation is only 30yrs (some say 25yrs) not 100 or 50 years. So to say you can trace your lineage back 6 generations is not that much.
British people have records (not just artifacts and pieces of art here and there) from the 1100s and 1200s not to mention the 1500s and 1600s. Is there anything like that in the average Nigerian person’s family tree? Pictures and writings of people from the 1300, 1400, 1500s…since we’re using what we can see and read as proof? Lastly, where do Igbo people come from really? Heard they weren’t always in the region of Nigeria.
On topic: Hair is like nails, it has no option but to come out of your head or your finger, so it grows. Once it’s out of the head of nail bed and how you care for it is the deciding factor that determines how long it will stay in appearance. No one can concretely say how mixed or unmixed they are because after your great-grand parents the possible genetic variations that could pop up and change any part of your phenotype are just too great. Even the so called ancesty genetic testing is not hard and fast science….most who do it find they are not just from one place in Africa or as the article noted from anywhere. I’ll bet if Africans (West Africans) did the same, it would not come back and 100% say you are from Nigeria. Plus, not every ethnic group on the planet is accounted for in their databases anyways, which leads to more inaccuracy.
“aboriginal” australians can be very dark with almost bone straight hair and some present day African-Americans could have that DNA in them as well. (so some theories go about ancestors of “some” African Americans already being in America before American slavery…)…so Gate’s and other research like that is not hard and fast either.
Humans, we have legs, we migrate. No one really, truly knows the 100% truth.
Good article.
You make good points as there are 250 cultures in Nigeria alone and most of them are misplaced heritages struck by the damages of colonialism. The Yoruba language alone has surprising elements of Arabic and Portuguese and oral tradition will tell you that our people come from the kingdoms of Axum, Songhai, Oyo etc (which are far from being in the same locus of West Africa.
Also they recently discovered the oldest boat was from Nigeria (I think it’s over 3000 years old).
Combine this with the fact that many Olmec and Maya god-like structures have facial features similar to designs carved through West African iron-making…
It is said while we gave Europeans (Portugal) Iron they taught us how to rise bread.
Well, only time will tell us.
interesting i just found a korean site that states the oldest boat was found near seoul 8000 years ago could you give me your sources?
Oh! Actually this boat is 8000 years old too.
https://www.google.com/search?q=oldest+boat+nigeria&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
http://wysinger.homestead.com/canoe.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dufuna_canoe
Apparently there are three similarly antiquated boats haha
I find it questionable on why there is even so much work being done into decoding the black race, and identifying who is or isn’t black (eg. aboriginal peoples of Australia, and paupa new guinea). Africa is the largest continent and it has been established that human migration moved out from the heart of africa. So with that being said how can someone by examining the DNA of peoples who migrated thousands of generation ago and then isolated on islands say that this person is not black, but only looks black. When there are so many tribes and peoples of Africa (black people) how do you figure you are going to have just one distinct DNA marker to say this is black and that is not. I
I think its a bit of shade. I feel like its just another way of devaluing the diversity, history, and prevalence of black african people in this world. I’d caution anyone on buying into any set of data , cause data means nothing if not interpreted, or analyzed correctly. I feel there is a certain margin of bias and agenda going on with some of this.
Hi Maggie,
I do understand what points you’re making, but realize that I said predominantly black, if not 100%. And you bring up a good point: other races may have mixed before the presence of the British. This is all true. But it is important to realize as well that after a certain number of generations, can we even really count it for much? In other words, if I had a Portuguese ancestor from the 1100s, would it count for much more than 10%? 5%? 1%? Think about it: the more recent the miscegenation, the more apparent the legacy of the miscegenation. When a white and black person have a child, the racial makeup will probably be closer to 50/50 than your typical African American with no immediate white family members. The same is true for ethnicities in Africa. If miscegenation phenomenon becomes less and less prevalent, so does its impact in the population’s There is no way of knowing for sure, as you have said yourself. As someone has already mentioned, blackness has always been questioned in ways that many other races have not. We see red hair, blond hair, and brown hair in Europe, or blue eyes, green eyes, hazel, gray, brown, etc. and accept it as European. Yet I have encountered SO many people who question or doubt the diversity of ethnic groups in Africa. The point of my post was to show that while miscegenation has enhanced diversity in the black race, it is not the sole cause of diversity. We were diverse BEFORE and after other races left their influence on the diaspora. People come up to me and tell me(after I share my heritage with them)things like “Oh, you don’t look African at all!” or “Your hair is so long!! I thought African hair couldn’t grow?” This is sad, and we have got to work together to stop the culture of doubting ourselves as a race. That was the point I was trying to make.
Hi Maggie,
I do understand what points you’re making, but realize that I said predominantly black, if not 100%. And you bring up a good point: other races may have mixed before the presence of the British. This is all true. But it is important to realize as well that after a certain number of generations, can we even really count it for much? In other words, if I had a Portuguese ancestor from the 1100s, would it count for much more than 10%? 5%? 1%? Think about it: the more recent the miscegenation, the more apparent the legacy of the miscegenation. When a white and black person have a child, the racial makeup will more likely be closer to 50% white/50% black (or 70% white/ 30% black, etc) than your typical African American with no immediate white family members. The same is true for ethnicities in Africa. If the miscegenation phenomenon becomes less and less prevalent, so does its impact in the population’s genetic makeup. There is no way of knowing for sure, as you have said yourself. As someone has already mentioned, blackness has always been questioned in ways that many other races have not. We see red hair, blond hair, and brown hair in Europe, or blue eyes, green eyes, hazel, gray, brown, or pale skin, olive skin, golden brown, etc. and accept it as European without thinking very deeply about why they are so diverse. Yet I have encountered SO many people who question or doubt the diversity of ethnic groups in Africa. We focus SO MUCH on what impact European culture has played in the way we look; but does that mean we were 100% homogenous prior to their presence? I’ve had this discussion with so many people, and most end up admitting that they think “extremely dark skin, wide noses, full lips, type 4b or 4c hair” is what the “typical African” looks like. Those features are all in Africa, and I am proud that they are. What I am not proud of is the culture of ignoring different ethnic groups and different traits. Light skin, narrow noses, thin lips, type 3 hair was also on the continent, depending on what ethnic group you want to look at. If you know anything about Igbo folklore from early EARLY on, perhaps earlier than the 1100s or whatever, you will know about tales of the typical Adamma maiden, who is known for her “yellow skin”. I take this as proof that light skin was prevalent in my culture even prior to outside influence. I’m proud to have dark skin, but I’m also proud that my cousin has light skin and we can both identify as Igbo women.
The point of my post was to show that while miscegenation has enhanced diversity in the black race, it is not the sole cause of diversity. We were diverse BEFORE and after other races left their influence on the diaspora. People come up to me all the time and tell me(after I share my heritage with them)things like “Oh, you don’t look African at all!” or “Your hair is so long!! I thought African hair couldn’t grow?”. What do statements like these even mean? This is sad, and we have got to work together to stop the culture of doubting ourselves as a race. That was the point I was trying to make. Like I said, I am not denying that racial mixing didn’t happen on the African continent. But I will not claim my possible 2% as the cause of the way I look; I’m paying attention to the other 98%.
“Light skin, narrow noses, thin lips, type 3 hair was also on the continent, depending on what ethnic group you want to look at…”
You can find these traits in Australia, South America, Oceania, India and some parts of Asia as well. Miscegenation has added to diversity of the planet IN GENERAL. Not to mention being able to find Dark skinned, broad nosed, type 4 hair people in all those same regions.
Depending on what “theory” of human evolution and mass migration you believe, we have been mixing since we as humans came into existence (whenever that was). If you believe humans were here before the land masses split into the current continents, there were more opportunities for that to occur. Climate and geography also forced genetic variations so various humans could adapt to wherever they ended up.
As for Igbo culture, I know quite a bit. How can you take the folklore of Adamma as proof when you have no written proof or carbon or other dated art to support it? (or is there??) We all have done the team-building exercise of rumors (you whisper in the first person’s ear, they whisper the same in the 2nd person’s ear and by the time it gets to the 9th person, the story has completely changed). So I don’t think folklore is the best support for your argument as to the idolizing or presence of fair skin or it’s presence not being influenced by non-Igbos (Portu, English, Dutch). I mean even the advent of Igbo people having Eze’s was instituted by Europeans (not native to their culture before the English came) but it is widely esteemed and accepted as “Igbo culture” today.
The Portuguese were in the region of the Igbos in Nigeria as early as the 1400s and besides bronze figurines that show this relationship, Mbari Igbo art also displays and idolizes their light skin, hats and clothing. Though I’m not sure how old or recent Mbari art is or why Igbo people chose to esteem Portuguese clothing and skin complexion so much. Believe me, if the dated relationship between Portuguese and Igbos is as early as 1400 (over 500-600yrs ago), that is a loooooot of generations to go through genetically to try to say concretely that it “does not” influence the presence of fairer skin, freckles, red-hair and even hazels eyes that is present in your cousins Chima and Obinna today. It is quite possibly a reason! Then still, the ancestors of the Portuguese themselves, if you trace it (It’s 1000s of years) also have people of darker skin tones who if they were alive today would no doubt fall into the “Black” category…Berbers, Iberians, etc….I mean they were the Europeans right next to Africa. (Please remember, if you look at pics of these people today, you have to take into account that the ones today have also been mixed with lighter skinned Europeans).
But girl I get what you’re saying. And what I will say to that is this….I have NO CLUE exactly why dark skin bothers people who are not dark. And by dark I mean people who are considered “Black” versus people who are considered (or consider themselves) “White”. I could blame it on racism, colonialism, socio-culture issues but I think it’s more than that. I don’t know where it all started. Was it from White people exploring the world and discovering there were more Brown/Black people on the planet than them and feeling threatened? Is it all just capitalism and American Slavery? Is it some other worldly stuff we don’t know about? I really don’t know. I just know I don’t like racism affecting my pocket book or my right to pursue happiness in our world system today and unfortunately it does. (It doesn’t stop it and it is far from impossible to achieve…but it (racism and it’s daughters) sometimes makes it harder for Black/Brown people to have exactly what is portrayed in the media as the ideal).
Last note: Nigeria needs a mental overhaul in general with bleaching, weaves and corruption taking over and largely accepted as the norm. And I 100% agree with you and can identify with the frustration you must feel when another Nigerian tells you “Oh you don’t look African/Nigerian” as if it’s a compliment. It has sooo many levels of ignorance to get through before you can even begin to talk of the root of the problem it would leave anyone feeling despondent.
AND WHAT ABOUT JUST PURE 100% AFRICANS. AFRICA IS THE BIRTH PLACE. SO WHY ARE YOU ALL SO STUCK ON NOT BELIEVING THAT THERE ARE SOME 100% BLACK AFRICANS OUT THERE WITH NO MIXES. IM SURE YOU WOULDNT DEBATE THAT THERE ARE SOME 100% EUROPEANS OUT THERE. SO PLEASE STOP WITH THE LIES. ALSO MOST OF YOUR HISTORY BOOKS ARE WRONG AND WRITTEN TO MAKE BLACKS FEEL DEGRADED. HALF OF IT IS UNTRUE. I AM BLACK 100% AND I HAVE LONG NATURAL HAIR. NOT BECAUSE OF ANY MIXES IN MY FAMILY. I HAVE NO MIXES. I AM JUST MIXED WITH BLACK, AFRICAN, AND NEGRO! LOL! SO GET OVER IT!
It seems to me that the author had a premise and floated a few sparse facts to support it. In all honesty, for those of us who have regularly researched natural hair care on the popular blogs, how often has any of these arguments surfaced, less than 1% of the time, I’d say. I’ve seen more articles on the controversy of long hair and ethnicity, then any actual controversy.
Hi boazwife,
I am not saying this is the major debate of natural hair. I asserted that I have seen it often enough that it stood out to me which led to writing this article. I have statistical training and I am not trying to assert that the small sample of quotes I took from various websites is indicative of the whole natural population or discourse. They served as inspiration for a broader piece. I would ask though, this is not meant as snark, but if your claim is that this happens less than 1% of the time is this based on some analysis that has been conducted? Is there an article? Do you have data for this? I would be interested in reading it does exist.
Thank you so much for posting this very well written and informative piece.
Thanks Lenya Jones. Glad that you liked it.
Thank you for writing this article, it was very informative. 🙂
Thanks Michelle. Glad you liked it. I love being Black and identify strongly with it but I do find DNA and ancestry to be fascinating.
I have been a conscious natural for a year 1/2. I identify myself as an African American woman with a combination of (what I think is) 3c, 4a & 4b textures on my head. My mother’s racial background is primary Irish & Native American (Lakota). My father is a propionate mix of African (Eastern African) & Native American (Cherokee). I strongly believe that without that African touch my hair WOULD NOT be as dope as it is. 100% or not I got my “good hair” from my African roots!
:o) Excellent. I love my hair texture as well. 4A/4B here. I love that it can be molded, sculpted and shaped to do so many things. I am always getting question and compliments my hair from people of many different backgrounds. Wouldn’t want it any other way.
This was a really great read. Like you I am fascinated by our diverse ancestry and want to do research this year to discover more about my own. I believe that when women refer to being 100% black they are referencing what they know. I am black as far as I know although I have some mixtures like many of us do. The mixtures are beautiful, but also unfortunate. So many of us don’t know our history or where our people come from outside of MS or NC smh.
Thanks Carla. Glad you liked it!
Thoughtful post.
Thanks Cass.
People have been conditioned for years to believe Black hair doesn’t grow, and if it does, it means because you’re “mixed with something”. It’s going to take a while for them to realize that, but in the meantime I find it unecessary to waste much time on them. I think its common knowledge (or should be) that because of the diaspora Black people-all over the world have various aesthetic appearances. There’s way too much info out there for people to still be so ignorant.
Hi J. Nicole of UrbanExpressive,
I think your right that conditioning of one idea over time has had a significant impact. However, I wouldn’t just assume what people know. I have taught undergraduate course in higher education now for many years. I used to always find myself floored by what people do and don’t know. I have undergrads, Black and White, who believe that Black Politics for instance didn’t start until Martin Luther King and that Blacks fighting for rights is a “new” movement. They don’t think of Harriet Tubman, the Slave Trade, Nat Turner, the abolitionist movement, or even the Civil War as Black politics. Students, Black and White, who will argue that slavery ended so what is the big deal because they have no idea about the depth hardship created by systems like Jim Crow, Lynching, Convict Leasing, Black Codes,the exploitative nature of sharecropping, redlining and the deliberate creation of ghettos in urban cities. I don’t assume anything because honestly I have no idea. If people already know about then that is great…if they don’t then here it is.
Right, that’s why I put “or should be” in parentheses. I’m grateful to be around & continue to meet people who know better and all I can do is hope everyone else falls suit, but if they don’t I won’t lose sleep over them.
Thank you for this article. I have always had to deal with other African Americans (AA) question my racial admix because of the length and texture of my hair. For some reason I used to find these questions and comments annoying. The truth is that AA are typically admixed due to our history and often times it shows up esthetically. But should this be a big deal?
Just for my own fact finding about my family I had a DNA test last year which provided me the results of my admix, of course it indicated percentages of Sub-Saharan African and non-Sub-Saharan African admix. But again, most of us here in the States are admixed.
I found that what I really disliked is the huge emphasis we as a people put on a look that can be associated with looking non-Sub-Saharan with the exception of East-Africans from the Horn or West Africans from the Fulani/Fulbe tribe. All African tribes yield beautiful people.
I would like for us to allot work harder at appreciating African beauty.
Hi jjac401,
I completely agree! I am glad that you liked the article.
People will always credit being mixed with having long hair, that’s how it is unfortunately. In reality there tons of biracial or multiracial people with damaged, short, unhealthy hair. While there are black people with healthy heads of hair. It’s about hair practices and regimens, but a lot of black people don’t want to hear that it’s oh you must be mixed with something right?? What American born citizen isn’t mixed (including white people) I will never credit an Indian ancestor from 200 years ago on my hair texture and how it grows, that crazy. Even when I had long relaxed hair people would ask are you mixed or you must be mixed with something, umm no my mom took good care of my hair along with my hair stylist. Now that I am natural I am learning to take care of it all over again. Honestly once many black people step out of that slave mentally many of this ignorant thinking will resolve itself. Mixed race does not equal healthy, long hair instantly.
Hi Cleo,
Hello Cleo,
I understand your point and let me clear I don’t think mixed race equal healthy hair either. I have seen people with all kinds of hair from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds struggle to grow hair because the hair as been treated poorly and is damaged. I have had friends that identify as white discuss their difficulties with growing hair because every White female doesn’t automatically grow long hair. There hair can handle more damage due to the strength of the strands but you still have to treat it properly for it to be healthy. So, I wouldn’t want my focus on mixed race backgrounds to take away from the importance of proper hair care. That plays a huge role. At the same time I also find it ridiculous that someone has to prove their blackness when they grow long hair. To that point I highlight the fact that most of us aren’t 100% black therefore creating a test for it seems moot. More coming together less trying to say who has the harder journey. Everyone’s journey is different.
NICOLE, THE ARTICLE MAKES THE ISSUE WORSE. SOME OF US ARE NOT MIXED. WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO BELIEVE? THERE ARE CERTAIN TRIBES IN AFRICA THAT ARE 100% AFRICAN. NO MIXTURE, NO EUROPEAN BLOOD. BASICALLY WHAT YOUR SAYING IS THAT WE ARE ALL MIXED AND OUR HAIR IS DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF IT. NOT TRUE! AFRICANS HAVE ALWAYS HAD BEAUTIFUL HAIR BEFORE THE EUROPEANS EVEN DISCOVERED THE CONTINENT. SO WHEN PEOPLE SAY I AM 100% BLACK, THEY TRULY MAY BE. THEY ARE TRYING TO TELL YOU THAT NO ONE IN THEIR FAMILY IS EUROPEAN OR NATIVE AMRICAN OR WHATEVER. THEIR HAIR IS BLACK, KINKY, LONG, AND ABLE TO GROW BECAUSE OF THEIR AFRICAN ANCESTORS.
Although I understand the jest of your position, I do believe that when black girls with long hair refer to themselves as 100% black they are not ignorant to the fact that somewhere in their ancestry lies different blood (just like the people with kinky and short hair) I’m constantly accosted by people who insist that I must be mixed!! I tell them no, I’m all BLACK/non-Caribbean!! Of course then they want to know where my parents/grandparents are from. I say Georgia. Then I have to explain that both of my parents are black, both of their parents are black, and also my great-grandparents are all black. My problem with this is that these women are basically telling me that my hair is so “beautiful” that I can’t possibly be allllllll black!! I find that sad. That’s why as an African-American I make the point of saying that I’m all black. I’m tired of so many of us attributing beautiful hair to the possible 20% of DNA!! As for me, I contribute my hair’s beauty to the 80%!!
@Antrelise – Girl Preach! I also contribute my hair’s beauty to the 70 percent! Heeeeeeyyyyyy now!!!!!
Hi Antrelise,
I agree with you. Be loud and proud about your hair and why it is the way it is! I love mine as well! I think the people that this article is directed at are those who are accosting you. You shouldn’t have to explain a lineage to justify your hair because we all have a lot going on in our backgrounds. Therefore, people shouldn’t press to find an explanation just appreciate. I too have been accosted and I have dark skin and on any race measure or categorization I would be seen as Black. You can’t win and you are right it is annoying. My response these days is “I’m Black but aren’t we all mixed? If you are interested in how I have cared for my hair then we can talk about it.” I have used that a couple of times and interestingly enough that has stirred the conversation away from a “blackness test” to more about hair maintenance and care for afro-textured. hair. I have moved away from engaging the lineage debate unless someone wants to talk more about why I assert an argument about everyone being mixed. I refuse to prove how “black” I am.
Thank you Nicole for your thoughtful response. I will make great efforts in the future to answer as you’ve suggested. I hope I live to see the day when black women embrace our hair. Our hair is so unique, versatile…..beautiful. No other “race” has our texture….not even close!! I’m really in awe. Our hair is not the problem, but our historical lack of education about our hair is. Our men already set the standard with their style; now we need to stand proud (with our hair) and show the world a standard of beauty that only “we” we’re given. God never meant it as a curse, but instead, as an honor.
Antrelise…I think you are awesome…that is all
“God never meant it as a curse, but instead, as an honor.”
YES!
I hear you. I get that ALL the time. People tell me I cannot possibly be ALL black and truthfully I’m not– I’m part West Indian but to ignorant people Black is Black if your skin is brown and your hair is somewhat thick and unruly or nappy then YOU ARE BLACK that’s just the way the world works. It bothers me because people often pick me apart from hair to my skin complexion to the sound of my voice telling me because I have the attributes that are considered “beautiful” by the world then I MUST be mixed because (the unsaid message I’m getting is) Black women can’t possess that beauty NATURALLY. It’s VERY SAD and makes me MAD then depressed because it looks like this ignorance and hatred is going to exist until JESUS COMES!
Anne – you said it…It’s so sad..whenever a Black woman has long hair or is attractive, someone ALWAYS asks if they’re mixed. And I look at Black actresses and many of them are always blurting out a list of 6 – 7 things they are…not that there’s anything wrong with being mixed at all, but most of these folks don’t have anyone but Black folks at their family reunions and they’re just passing along incorrect information that some misinformed relative has said about their heritage.I look at Asian/White/Hispanic women and they proudly represent their heritage and say they’re 100%…I wish we would do that too..being Black is nothing to be ashamed of! Unfortunately, like you said, this will remain until Jesus’ comes 🙁 Glad to know who I am and WHO’s I am…
Perfectly stated Antrelise! And I do the exact same thing…it’s so funny to see how frustrated people get when I tell them my parents, grandparents and great grandparents are all Black…their minds just can’t handle it! SMH
I know right, Kandis!! And even after all that, they still say…. You probably have a grandparent from Jamaica or Trinidad and you just don’t know!! Happy to hear I’m not alone 🙂
I’m smiling reading this b/c just today I told someone I was mixed w/ black, blacker, and blackest. The look on her face was priceless.
YES LORD SAY IT AGAIN!!!! IT’S ANNOYING WHY CAN’T WE CREDIT FOR OUR BEAUTY BECAUSE WE ARE BLACK, NOT BECAUSE OF A MIX IN THERE
What is your perception of a Caribbean? I find that an odd statement since America, South and North are of the same Continent
What is your perception of a Caribbean? Don’t you know that America, North and South and the Caribbean are of the same Continent?
Not sure if your question was for me but, I live in South Florida, and if someone says you look like you are from the Caribbean what they mean is that you look like you are mixed with Indian, Chinese, etc. maybe it has a different connotation where you are from. So that’s why I said black/noncaribbean to emphasize that I am not mixed.
Not all people from the Caribbean are mixed with Indian, Chinese etc… where do people get this notion from? The majority of these people tend to stick with their own anyway so it kind of dispels that myth.
I agree!!
In fact , the people who ask me this question are almost always from the Caribbean, but NEVER look like they are “mixed” themselves. Not sure what that’s all about 🙂
I find it draining discussing race and such..bc its the same arguments/points over and over. New conclusions are seldomly reached
@ nia, thank you. i’m getting a headache just by reading the caption alone.
Hi Nia,
I enjoy discussing. I think the topic is complicated and I agree that there aren’t clear conclusions. I do believe it is worthy for dialogue and discussion especially in a community (natural hair broadly) where questions of racial authenticity are frequently used as a way to challenge one’s natural journey or struggles with hair care. I highlight the point mainly to say we all have a dynamic past that is shaped but in many cases horrible and terrible events however blackness is more than just skin color or being 100%. Rather it is about a life experience that is repeatedly shaped by being a member of a marginalized group. I think the divisiveness is less helpful so acknowledging the myriad of places that can be sitting under the surface as black skin is simply a call for more unity and less concern about dividing lines.
discussion is fine as long as ACTION of some sort is happening as well…
Hi me,
My only call to action in this case is that we think more about how divisive with each other (the natural community) when it comes to hair based on how black people are. You may not be the person doing that and that is cool however there are plenty of people that do. This article was mainly written to dis-spell the idea of some sort of “black pureness.” I am definitely aware of the fact that a lot of people hold myths about Black hair and what it can and cannot to. Therefore, I think action is being taken everyday to inform people about its beauty and versatility. Websites like this provide a huge educational platform. Everyday when I go out with my natural hair it is action being taken. Because my hair is long (BSL) I have many people ask my why I haven’t straightened my hair. I don’t have a problem with straightening one’s hair but I choose not to because I want my kinks, curls, and naps to show. I think my hair is awesome. My hair represents me and my background and so I wear my hair proudly. Time after time people approach me asking for hair care advise or complimenting my curls. From my view “action” can come in many forms.
There’s the traditional West African black aesthetic and there’s the black aesthetic that was tremendously influenced by miscegenation. Of course, the black aesthetic in the Americas is more likely to be influenced by miscegenation due to slavery and interracial unions…yes, that means some black people will have hair textures and complexions that are not what we’ve come to know as traditionally West African.
In the Americas, miscegenation is a fact. Regardless of having two brown or black parents, it’s naive to think that miscegenation does not play a role in the way we look. DNA is funny…sometimes, first generation mixed-race persons will not have that certain aesthetic we’ve come to associate with being mixed race. And sometimes mixed race characteristics can travel through a gene pool for generations to come.
Whole nations are comprised predominately of people with a mixed race aesthetic…Brasil, India, some Caribbean islands, East Africa, North Africa…I’m not sure why it’s so difficult for people to comprehend this.
I wonder where people get this notion that West Africans or Africans in general aren’t mixed. There are whole tribes stretching to Angola whose heritage is partly due to Portuguese miscegenation dating back waaaay back to the 1400s. There are whole slave heritages (such as in Liberia) where after the fall out of slavery in Western countries Black identified persons were shipped back to random areas of Africa.
Recently scientists have finally accepted that Chinese and Kenyan people share genetic similarity due to trade routes.
And then you have people like me. 100% Nigerian but my great-grand mother’s maiden name is Pereira and I got a few De Costas in my family as well.
Black and Black Diaspora identities are shaped largely on perception and not necessarily fact. My last example would be the Melanesians and Aboriginals of Australia and so forth, who identify as “Black” but are actually mostly Asian decent.
Miscegnation is a fact EVERYWHERE on EVERY continent. No one is wholly one race.
TL;DR: There is no typical regional aesthetic. Just stereotypes and generalizations we latch on to areas and peoples with a higher “prevalence” of certain traits.
Oh I should point out I wasn’t disagreeing with you, just adding more facts 😀
Well, I am a person of Nigerian descent who can trace my lineage back quite a few generations. My hair has come a long way and has grown to great lengths. I have 3 textures on my head, with mainly 4a, but also some 3c and some 4b. I know that I am predominantly black, if not 100% black. In Nigeria, miscegenation is in our history, but not nearly as prevalent as it was in the Americas. But at the end of the day, people still question my background and assume that I am mixed with something. I like that this article addresses that we as a people are diverse and CAN grow our hair out. I am West African, and while I am proud to have chocolate skin and predominantly type 4 hair, some of my family members (we are Igbo)who are just as Nigerian as myself have light skin, some of type 3 hair, and some of us have freckles, etc. Regardless, we all can grow our hair out with the proper love, care, and maintenance.
P.S.- I just want to throw out there (this is not directed to anyone in particular) that blackness on its own (even without miscegenation) is VERY diverse. There is more than one skin color that is sub-Saharan, more than one hair texture, etc. that is African. Igbo people during the Middle Passage were often identified by the British by their lighter skin tone. So let’s not think that everyone in Africa started with the same skintone and became diverse AFTER mixing with other races.
It makes me wonder what we consider a “prevalent” racial phenomenon. Would it be the kinky hair? Many women of the Caucasus region (note: Caucasian actually does not denote White) also share that distinction. Wide noses? Many Asiatic cultures same the same features. Or perhaps it is the skin color– which we already have established is not unique to our own dynamic.
Racial classification is so interesting when you realize how little it actually accounts for.
Also it’s funny you point out Igbos are lighter. I’m Yoruba and we all tend to be dark as hell LOL I always thought that was interesting. Y’know despite being in such close proximity to each other we have drastically different cultures and appearances.
Anyways it was great discussing this with y’all! I’m curious as to others’ take on the subject…
here we go again east african countries are not predominately made of mixed race people where the hell does that myth come from? as for north africans i don’t know so i won’t make any statement. i don’t mean to attack you but as someone else stated there was a foreign presence in west african countries too leading to some admixture but how do you actually know that east africans are more mixed than west africans? we still have a long way to go busting myths and misconceptions.
… Who said East Africans were more mixed than West Africans. Can we stick to what was actually said? If you need me to reinterpret my words for you because it wasn’t clear enough I can do that.
Everything I said can be attributed to well known anthropological facts provided to us by the dedicated scientists eager to trace the human genome.
If you have a problem with that, I can’t help you.
Google is Your Friend.
http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/14/17315481-600-year-old-chinese-coin-found-in-kenya?lite
http://www.mfa.gov.cn/ce/ceke/eng/sbgx/t204436.htm
I cannot with the ignorance in the rest of your comment.
@nana my bad i wasn’t responding to you but to silkynaps whostated that entire nations are comprised predominately of people with mixed race asthetics including east africa. i was just correcting by saying that east african countries are not predominately made of mixed race people that’s all. i’m fully aware of the fact that common genetic traits were found between chinese people and some african people and that some african people actually have common genes with jews thanks for your information.
Op! Then I apologize for my brash response haha. I was so confused because being “mixed”/miscegenation does not guarantee the traits we commonly associate with the mixed identity (light skin, curly hair, light eyes, etc).
Actually part of the reason why early Egyptologists refused to classify Egyptians as classically “Black” was because they didn’t have the features we commonly associate with West Africanness (wide everything, dark skin, neotenized skulls). However Egypt’s antiquated named– Kemet– itself means “Black Land” and lemme tell you the land ain’t actually Onyx Black lmao.
(Can you tell I love this subject)
Anyway I do apologize and be well!
@nana i actually agreed with your comment ^^ and concerning ancient egypt you’re right but making people accept the fact that ancient egyptians were black and not white is another thing and let me tell you not an easy one!
it reminds me of the legend of the queen of sheba (english is not my mother tongue so i really don’t know if that’s how you her in english) proofs of her existence have acctually been found. ethiopians call her makeda and i strongly believe she was from abyssinia (the empire that later became ethiopia) but again you’ll have people who strongly challenge this because traces of her were also found in yemen lol
anyway i’m off topic so i stop here. as for the mixed heritage linked with hair growth i think we should wait for people to challenge this by themselves and i hope the growing natural hair movement will help.
When I say miscegenation was less/more prevalent, I mean how culturally common it was to mix with other races in the region in question. In some regions of Latin America, miscegenation was not really as frowned upon as it was in Africa. I have taken a course on this stuff and did a research paper. A lot of it has to do with the prevalence of slavery and “ownership”. Many white slave owners justified rape with the fact that they thought they “owned” these women and could “do whatever they wanted”. Depending on the region considered in Latin America, some people might have even openly married people outside their race.
On the other hand, colonialists in many African countries tried to downplay and limit mixing between races. They often (wrongly, of course) viewed Africans as “savage” and “full of disease”, etc. It’s not to say that it didn’t happen here, but a lot of that unjustified fear limited how common it was. Both narratives are sad unfortunate….
I agree, Nana!
I find it interesting that whenever broad features, dark skin and coarse hair are attributed to West Africa people feel the need to point out “but but but Asians have broad features too.!!!!” or “my mother’s cousin’s boyfriend is white and her hair is so kinky!!!” First of all, who cares? No one was talking about “them” and secondly, the exception isn’t the rule and lastly, would the reaction be the same if thin features, light skin and silky hair was the association?
this is an aside, but you are so lucky to be able to trace your lineage!!! and not through some dna internet order, but through stories handed down each generation…just like the white folks. so cool. i was in west africa once years ago and most of the women i saw had thin dull hair. i just chalked it up to poverty, poor diet, stress, relaxers, weave, etc. those who had short natural cuts were prettiest. i really think that once a person begins to live a healthy lifestyle and finds healthy products for their natural hair, it will grow very long. no matter where you are from. my mom is very light skinned. from what i have heard, we have white slave master, native indian and asian indian in our genes. as long as i had a relaxer, my hair did not grow. once i went natural and finally found a good natural hair care regimen (took about 5 yrs), my hair has grown and is now irritating to deal with because of the length.
WOW! Am really impressed by your answer. It always good to see black people that know their history. To add on to your answer the Arabs also mixes with the Kenyans and Tanzanians. We now refer to them as the Swahilis. Many people keep forgetting that the ‘whites’ settled in Africa for a long time therefore our line was corrupted. That said, Africans had various skin tones and hair textures even before these other nationalities discovered the continent.
ey! I am from West Africa, and correct me if I’m wrong but there really isn’t a traditional aesthetic, being from Nigeria you see a mixture of women and men who look “mixed” or have lighter skin. All parts of the world like you said have people with a mixed race aesthetic, in fact I have met black men and women who look “West African” but they’re ancestors go back to the Native American.
What I’m trying to say, is that one cannot tell if a person is mixed just by looking at them.
The comment was for silkynaps.
I don’t understand why some people think black people come in one shade and one hair texture. I have a light complexion and my hair is in the 4b/4c range, I’ve had some people seem to get irritated with me or surprised because I don’t have the texture of hair “a light skinned girl” is supposed to have (very funny too me). I have been called white, mexican, chinese and almost every other race, most people who are half white are darker than me, My parents are black and so are their parents, my mother is lighter than the average white woman with hair kinkier than mine, DNA and genetics can do any and everything.
I think she is taking the term 100% black to literally. When people say that, what they really mean is their parents are not different races and/or that there is no immediate non-black ancestry that they are aware of.
Hi Nooni,
I understand what people mean when they say that they are 100% black. You are right…most of the time they are referring to their parents or no immediate ancestry that they are aware of. However, I think this notion to claim 100% blackness makes no sense when the evidence says otherwise. The qualifier of 100% makes the expression problematic because trying to prove “blackness” is much more complicated. In all honesty I don’t think people need to explain how black they are. My argument is about just accepting that our black identity is most prominent but that our background is a mix of an array of backgrounds. Trying to prove how black you are to demonstrate the difficulty you may have growing natural hair is pointless. The journey is the journey. We should just support each other.
Race is not an objective characteristic, and the whole concept of talking about black and white race etc is inherently flawed because ‘race’ does not exist. As such, we often use largely flawed terminology to say what we feel, therefore using the term 100% black is fine. The underlying meaning is conveyed. Saying I am a black person makes as much sense scientifically as saying I am 100% black, both are scientifically incorrect, but they convey a specific meaning.
Using the term 100% black is fine and perhaps not all of us want to acknowledge our past ancestors equally. I will never acknowledge any distant white ancestors on the same level as my black ones, so saying 100% is fine with me.
The problem with what you said is that you fail to understand that race and identity are person specific. You may not like 100% black, but if it works for someone else fine.
i’m sure it’s just an expression that simply means that, as nooni said, their parents or grandparents or even great grandparents aren’t “other”. in any case, no matter how factually incorrect it may be, we all understand what is meant by what is said. it’s the same as when someone says “i’ve got mixed hair…” whether the person making that statement is mixed or not, we all, even if begrudgingly, get about the same mental image conjured up in our heads of some type 3ish curly, wavy (not black, but not white) curl pattern. it’s probly a dumb way to describe one’s hair, but the point that begs to be made by it usually finds its way across to the listener.
agreed. I don’t think any black AMERICAN believes they are 100% black literally. but it’s a shared understanding that we mean that there has been no recent race mixing in our genetic makeup. I really thought this post was going to be about something else, more specifically delving into issues like this:
” the uplifting of European standards of beauty and the stigmatization of curlier and textured hair commonly found in the Black community. Consequently, many of us never learned the proper care for our hair.”
it is like this BECAUSE of our history in american and BECAUSE of european colonialism all over the world. centuries of oppression is surely going to leave us feeling some type of way about our hair, no? like….thinking that it doesn’t grow? So that’s why some people make a point to say that they’re 100% and they could grow their hair, i think. To show that this myth of black hair not growing is, well…a myth. and oppressive myth that slowly but surely, with this movement, we are seeing go away.
I won’t delve into the fact that people blackness are questioned by those in and outside of the black community by things such as hair texture, facial features, or attractiveness. We all should know why that is as well.
bottom line, when black americans usually say they’re 100% black, they mean that there is no recent racial mixing in their family. We know the reality of our history, but it’s not like i’m bout to mention my ancestor’s rapist in explaining my genetic makeup…
I totally agree Chereace…. I thought the article was a nice way to state the obvious… I mean… That is common knowledge that no Black American is 100% black, right?…..right? Lol. I think it would have been much more beneficial to delve more into what this flawed thinking has to do with our hair and how we care for it. While the actual breakdown of the percentages was very interesting- this article told me nothing that I didn’t know already