Indian women are loosing their hair upon coming to the USA

[jamaraa]

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[werenumber2]

The ones with wavy and curly hair wanted it bone straight all the time, and one Indian classmate told me that some of them use relaxers, I never knew that. She also told me that it was when she started straightening her hair with relaxers and flat ironing all the time and using mainline products that her hair broke off. Others experiment with blond streaks and I guess they don't know the effects of that and get breakage from that too. But most of the ones I talked to said they started having hair problems when they wanted to wear their hair straight every single day.

I'm assuming the pressure to straighten exists in India too though, right? The standard for Bollywood stars seems to be stick-straight hair strategically tousled up with a bit of curling iron action, and I'm told many of them don't even have naturally straight hair. Considering how huge celebrity culture is in India, I can imagine the girls and women are affected by those images.

[sharifeh]

IOW, yes some South Asians use these things, as do many Arabs. Many of these folks DO NOT have straight hair and many of them want it. It's not just when they comes to the US/UK either....the Middle East is supposedly the 3rd largest market for buying relaxers. My friends who immigrate and relax have few problems finding hair products.

Yes and it's not only the black arabs that have type 3 and 4 hair. I can name many arab girls I know personally who have skin as white as snow white and have type 3 and 4 hair. (Yes 4) I know a couple of them relax. I would post a pic but I would have to block out their face hmmmmmm
One of my arab friends is 23 and she just started relaxing; her hair is at least type 4 and she's white with brown hair

[jamaraa]

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[jamaraa]

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[andromeda]

I think taking a look at the hair of Indo-Caribbean women is very revealing and confirms the phenomenon in the OP. Stress, climate change, alienation from Ayurvedic practices and products, and adoption of Western counterparts (dying, etc.) all play a role.

I know many Indo-Carib women with beautiful thick hair, however length is not as valued as much as traditional Indian women. In fact, many choose to wear their very short. I also know many who have overprocessed, damaged hair with highlights galore. Overproccessed hair is not a good look, and when it's WL+, it actually looks worse, IME.

[tarheelgurl]

I work with one Indian that has had concerns about her hair falling out too.

[Ithacagurl]

Good point. One of the girls I worked with was born and raised in Mumbai. One day she was showing her wedding pictures and pointed out her family's maid. She told us that it was quite common for middle-class families to have maids. Then everyone understood why she complained all the darn time about doing stuff American housewives can do in their sleep.

It is the same in Jamaica, I also lived in Latin America and it was the same. When my jamaican cousind came to school here they had a lot of issues adjusting without a helper.

[almond eyes]

Indians do not have the pressure to have straight hair, in the culture as long as you have long hair, you are accepted. The trend in India is to have shorter hair lenghts (under BSL) and I guess the more modern rich women have APL/SL hair while the rural women have the unstyled (one braid, bun) Knee or Butt length.

In the States, many Indian women conform to the pressure that all women face to wear their hair out (unprotected style) and dry (without product to prevent the oil and conditioner getting all over the place) which has caused the breakage. And yes, more Indian women in the States are using flat irons and blowdying every week which also adds to the problem.

Arab women also have afro-hair textures too. I had a Algerian colleague who had white skin, green eyes but had 4a hair and would get relaxers and weaves. Yep!!! And she had short hair syndrome because of the constant breakage. And she did not consider herself African, she was Arab (Berber)!!!!

Best,
Almond Eyes

[jamaraa]

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[almond eyes]

You are right Jamaara, she considered herself Arab-African not Black African.

Best,
Almond Eyes

[JayAnn0513]

Indians do not have the pressure to have straight hair, in the culture as long as you have long hair, you are accepted. The trend in India is to have shorter hair lenghts (under BSL) and I guess the more modern rich women have APL/SL hair while the rural women have the unstyled (one braid, bun) Knee or Butt length.

In the States, many Indian women conform to the pressure that all women face to wear their hair out (unprotected style) and dry (without product to prevent the oil and conditioner getting all over the place) which has caused the breakage. And yes, more Indian women in the States are using flat irons and blowdying every week which also adds to the problem.

Arab women also have afro-hair textures too. I had a Algerian colleague who had white skin, green eyes but had 4a hair and would get relaxers and weaves. Yep!!! And she had short hair syndrome because of the constant breakage. And she did not consider herself African, she was Arab (Berber)!!!!

Best,
Almond Eyes

That reminds me of Hoda of the Today Show. Her hair has some serious kink to it. I'd say she was a 4a.

[jamaraa]

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[shunemite]

On IL, they actually talk about "straightening balms", blow dryers, and flat irons...they have whole threads about it. IOW, yes some South Asians use these things, as do many Arabs. Many of these folks DO NOT have straight hair and many of them want it. It's not just when they comes to the US/UK either....the Middle East is supposedly the 3rd largest market for buying relaxers. My friends who immigrate and relax have few problems finding hair products.

Many people flirt w/ blonde dye and sometimes have a full on affair....black hair ain't meant to be blonde! The change is so radical it's like . Much of the hair is covered from public view, but trust me, many have bad hair habits.

PC is not my game, but could you please edit your original post to change it to Pakistani? I know you don't know what that means, but if the IL women wrote the equavalent about us, we'd be VERY angry and rightly so. TIA

I talked to my middle eastern classmates about this, they agree that it's not offensive. That's straight from the horse's mouth.

[jamaraa]

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[sharifeh]

I talked to my middle eastern classmates about this, they agree that it's not offensive. That's straight from the horse's mouth.

Indians and Pakistanis are not Middle Eastern. They are south asian. Not all Pakistanis find the word "paki" offensive, since many call themselves Paki(kind of like blacks I guess), but since it is a racial slur from colonial times, some do find it offensive, especially in the older generation. My South Asian friends are split about it. Just something to keep in mind.

[purplepeace79]

When I saw the title of this thread, the first joke that came to my head was "Why? Are all the sisters robbing them for their tresses?"

LOL

I can imagine how damaging our elements are to people from other areas. Our polution alone is enough to shave years off the lives of others. The hair is just a minor issue.

[Kiynwah]

Some of my Indian and Paki and Ethiopian classmates lost their hair when they started following American trends. Natural curiosity of shampoos, serums, and leave-in's. Coloring. The ones with wavy and curly hair wanted it bone straight all the time, and one Indian classmate told me that some of them use relaxers, I never knew that. She also told me that it was when she started straightening her hair with relaxers and flat ironing all the time and using mainline products that her hair broke off. But most of the ones I talked to said they started having hair problems when they wanted to wear their hair straight every single day.

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I did not know that SOO many asian women have to straighten their hair!! When I travelled to China, I was shocked to see how many of the girls had to use a straightening iron in their hair, every day! I would say about 1/3 to HALF the chinese women I knew had natural curl in their hair.... amazing when I think of the predominant images we see in the media!

[Mahalialee4]

So, are AA's becoming the new Asians with the use of Auyurvedic products? smile

[Elle97]

Looks like my next vacation may be in India

LOL! seriously... i don't know what it was...