How many AA women you know are MBL or WL

[sheava]

I know five people IRL. One is WL and the other four are MBL.

 

[CurlyMoo]

Most AA women can't concieve of themselves or any other AA woman growing hair that long or longer without the aid of another race mixed in the genes. So many don't even try. To me it's a matter of mind over matter. Let us not forget the self sabatoging and hair dresser kill joys. If you believe you can you research it. Or at least ask. Like I did. How hard is it to google "Long Hair," and this forum pops up.

Not to mention the naysayers who derail your journey with negativity. I remember years ago excited about Wanakee's system and someone cuts me off by saying she's mixed and her hair just grows long. I gave up, then a few years later I brought the subject up and I was told she had a wig. Again discouraged. It wasn't til March 2008 that I actually believed I could grow my hair long and here I am on my journey to long hair and no one can tell me different. When I told my friends, I was given the side eye and asked why or if I or anyone in my family ever had long hair before.

 

[jamaraa]

.................................

 

[CurlyMoo]

I've known so many that I almost always assume that a woman w/ long hair has her own hair. Now some weaves are obvious and I can see those, but most I assume it's theirs unless I find ou otherwise. That's what MY experince has been.

I think I'm getting more cynical because I think most are all weave or wigs.

 

[jamaraa]

.......................................

 

[CurlyMoo]

I'm starting to think it depends on what part of the country you're in. I think I've only known 1 person who's gotten a weave. She didn't even get a long one (neck length), she just wanted to rest her hair.

Girl weaves are so popular it doesn't matter what part of the country. Hopefully there are places where weave is not a big deal or unknown. Because someday I hope to live somewhere where I won't be asked if it's real.

 

[jamaraa]

.....................................

 

[CurlyMoo]

Well as you say, there's a mentality out there. It's a shame, but what can you do other than grow your own and stank eye "weave checkers"?

Have you been on the "long hair mentality" thread yet?

That mentality came from somewhere. Years of brain washing. I have read through the "long hair mentality" thread. I was undecided but now I know.

 

[jamaraa]

..................................

 

[Likeyouneverseenme]

Only bi/multi racial women.
No AA.

 

[tori_mama]

I know 4. My lifelong friend had 3b midback hair. It grows to waist length but she cuts it. My aunt has had waist length 4b natural hair for years. She braids it and leaves it alone. A girl I worked with in ATL had thick beautiful relaxed 4b MBL hair. I will be the next one

 

[Kiynwah]

I knew one girl. Her hair looked natural but was fluffy, silky and gorgeous, definitely waist even butt length. She was not mixed - both parents were AA. Her hair never looked oily or greasy though... which perplexed me. I wonder how she kept it moisturized? Her mom had SLH (relaxed) and her dad had tight coily 4b. Very inspiring.

 

[teysmith]

ZERO!! I dont know any.... wait.. i think i know one. a girl i went to elementary school with.. hair hair touched almost touched her butt back then... now it may be a bit shorter but but its still pretty long..she is, i think, the only person I've ever met with hair that long!! she had a cousin's who's hair was that long too n elementary..but its not that long anymore...maybe about bra strap length now...I'm guessing bad hair care practices...

 

[SVT]

I just started looking at the Chris Rock interview with Oprah and it got me wondering, how many AA women I know with MBL or WL hair. I could only come up with 2 women and that's a shame. I'm not counting the ones I know from this board. Now I can see why, Indian hair is so coveted by women of color.

Not including the internet, I know/knew five. One of those is a relative.

 

[Starronda]

One girl, but it was back in high school. Her hair was thick and beautiful mbl, then she went and got a Halle Berryerplexed...So I guess my answer is none.

 

[inspiration150]

1. I hope to be the second getting close though. lol

 

[babyhurr4]

i have met quite a few black women with bra strap and longer hair, long hair runs in our family....so thats about 15 ladies i know right off back alone. Thats including my momma who has midback and sisters who have bl hair. My great great great grandma, lol.....use to sit on her hair it was so long, I was told....and we're all full black. I've met a lot of people back in high school with long hair! I don't know if they were mixed or not though, some of them looked like they could be. I've met people I work with, with long hair and in passing.....so its not all too uncommon for me.

 

[Martine]

Only 2 - both Creole. I live in Brazil a few months out the year and I know they are not AA, but it is VERY common in Brazil to see black women with VERY long hair. Most are racially mixed with a lot of Native American blood and it's very very common to find black women over there with thigh length hair.

I think with AA, it's a combination of stress and lack of knowledge about hair care and we're not as mixed although being mixed isn't a guarantee that one will have long hair but I think that blacks who have native american ancestry do seem to have long hair like Ananda Lewis.

Also the daughter of Sidney Poitier - Sydney Tamiia Poitier has VERY long beautiful thick butt length hair and also the wife of Deion Sanders - Pilar Sanders has very beautiful long hair. Both ladies are biracial.

And of course some of y'all on here especially Irresistible has "Brazilian girl" long hair.

 

[Martine]

A lot of you ladies on this forum have bangin long hair. I really love Irresistible's hair. It's so long, thick and lovely. I work in Brazil a few months a year and even though they are Afro-Brazilian they are still African women like us. Their hair is very very long, thick and beautiful. Most are mixed with Portuguese and native American. Like BostonMaria said it is very common for Afro-latinas to have long hair. It is common for black women in Brazil to have waist, butt and thigh length hair. Some of the African slaves they descended from had long hair. Not all are mixed because I know that being racially mixed is no guarantee of long hair. Some African women have very long hair.

A Creole lady at my church has long WL hair and so do her two daughter. Also a coworker, also Creole, has long WL hair.

When I look through my family album a lot of my older relatives had WL hair. I wonder why so many black women in the past had hair down to their knees and it is difficult for most of us to grow our hair to shoulder length?

This forum is an inspiration to a lot of black women because a lot of you obviously put a lot of work into growing your hair and have a lot of patience and discipline in your regime which I don't really have right now. You all are proof that it is possible for AA women to have long flowing hair too.

 

[Newtogrow]

I read up until page 15. Nice Thread.

I'm sorry to report that I know none.

 

[ActionActress]

I don't know any, and most the women I know don't want, or say they don't want hair that long.

They say that because they think they can't do it themselves. But will Oh and Ah at your hair some one else's hair.

 

[BostonMaria]

Well as you say, there's a mentality out there. It's a shame, but what can you do other than grow your own and stank eye "weave checkers"?

Have you been on the "long hair mentality" thread yet?

OOh I'm off to stalk this thread (assuming I can find it)

 

[ActionActress]

Since locs don't count zero (and even then the answer was only 1-waist length btw). Now, if there was a thread about how many balding, traction alopecia having, receding hairline due to braids but still get the braids again anyway because they like to pretend that my broken edges are baby hair and press them down with Let's Jam having women I know, I could talk for days.

LOL!!! True Dat but sad.

 

[winnettag]

I believe it because of genetics and the evidence all around me. I don't see black women with MBL or WL hair. If I do they are usually biracial or black women who hair would be considered "good." Dreads isn't the actual length of one's hair.

Well, to be fair, most of the black women around you probably aren't trying to grow their hair long like we are.....it doesn't mean that they couldn't if they really tried and wanted to.

 

[jujubelle]

I can say about 9. And all are family, I included myself when I was younger (I have Bc'd twice and had breakage, but I am now about 4 in from APL). All except for 3 have cut their hair to about BSL. Maybe it is genetics I dunno. But my family had a real basic KISS attitude towards hair. To style it was rollers. Curling irons and flat irons just became in vogue with them recently, they hate blowdryers saying it gives them headaches...lol. Hair is usually kept up and out of the way unless they are dressing up or something important. I am the only natural one, they get relaxers prob every 6 weeks. We just basically listen to our hair, moisturize as needed maybe my aunts grease their scalps only when they see flakes or "feel" their hair is dry. Natural treatments like eggs and garlic when needed. I am realizing that rebelling and trying to do so much like my American friends was the pitfall so I have since learned to KISS. I am still learning to keep my hands off my hair and to myself which is why I am trying out weaves.

 

[blue_flower]

There's an older black woman who works at the grocery store who has MBL hair. It looks 3c-4a-ish. She either wears it brushed back with a head band, a bun, or a ponytail. I saw her today and her hair looked smoother and the ends were curled. She doesn't smile and she's not that friendly, so I've never asked about her regimen. But from the way she wears her hair, it's obvious she keeps it simple.

 

[Renewed1]

My grandmother (100% black) had WL hair a few years ago. But she is about 90 now, so its really short.

 

[ActionActress]

What I think has no effect on how often my hair grows. How often my hair grows depends on my genes.

I think what Jamaraa means is when you think you can't have long hair. You psychologicalyl begin to do things to your hair that keep it from reaching its potential. There are many AA women who don't reach their potential not because of short hair genes but because they may not know how to care for their hair and the FALSE notion that we are stuck at ear, neck and chin length.....because of genes. **game show buzz for incorrect**


Celestial, I think this forum is enough proof to show the contrary. There are women on here who thought their genes were stoping them only to find out they had to CHANGE their thought patterns first, then their practices. It is false that AA women or African women in general are doomed to have the shortest "gene" in the world.(That is an example of thinking that needs to change)

 

[hillytmj]

I think what Jamaraa means is when you think you can't have long hair. You psychologicalyl begin to do things to your hair that keep it from reaching its potential. There are many AA women who don't reach their potential not because of short hair genes but because they may not know how to care for their hair and the FALSE notion that we are stuck at ear, neck and chin length.....because of genes. **game show buzz for incorrect**


Celestial, I think this forum is enough proof to show the contrary. There are women on here who thought their genes were stoping them only to find out they had to CHANGE their thought patterns first, then their practices. It is false that AA women or African women in general are doomed to have the shortest "gene" in the world.(That is an example of thinking that needs to change)

ITA...I am living proof that a change in belief really helped me embark on my long hair care journey. As long I falsely believed that non-mixed black women couldn't grow long hair, I never even took the time or effort to really learn about my hair and try to grow it. I'm so happy this forum exists because it really opened my eyes to the various possibilities that we have with our hair.

 

[ActionActress]

I can say about 9. And all are family, I included myself when I was younger (I have Bc'd twice and had breakage, but I am now about 4 in from APL). All except for 3 have cut their hair to about BSL. Maybe it is genetics I dunno. But my family had a real basic KISS attitude towards hair. To style it was rollers. Curling irons and flat irons just became in vogue with them recently, they hate blowdryers saying it gives them headaches...lol. Hair is usually kept up and out of the way unless they are dressing up or something important. I am the only natural one, they get relaxers prob every 6 weeks. We just basically listen to our hair, moisturize as needed maybe my aunts grease their scalps only when they see flakes or "feel" their hair is dry. Natural treatments like eggs and garlic when needed. I am realizing that rebelling and trying to do so much like my American friends was the pitfall so I have since learned to KISS. I am still learning to keep my hands off my hair and to myself which is why I am trying out weaves.

Jujubelle I LOVE the quote in your siggy!! I will use that one.