Oh lord... I was asked a "do black people" question

[mahoganee]

I hear ya on the questions! I get ( when I have braids )..................

1. WOW how long did it take to get that done?
2. how long will it stay up?
3. how often do you wash it, can u wash it, how do u wash it??????????
4. can I get my hair done like that?
5. now, how long is your hair........then

6.THEY START TO PUT THE HANDS ON IT IF THEY CAN

I actually had one white guy tell someone " don't EVER put your hands in a black womans hair unless your invited !" he told me later his girlfriend was a sista

I was asked some of these same questions sunday while waiting in line at sam's club. She apologized for asking so many questions and I laughed and told her that it was okay and that a lot of people ask the same things she was asking. I don't have problem answering if they ask correctly but if it's to put me down or black people in general down then I'm not so nice.

 

[Shatani]

I was asked some of these same questions sunday while waiting in line at sam's club. She apologized for asking so many questions and I laughed and told her that it was okay and that a lot of people ask the same things she was asking. I don't have problem answering if they ask correctly but if it's to put me down or black people in general down then I'm not so nice.

and thats the way it should be!

 

[mahoganee]

damn, like youre some kind of sideshow freak!!!!

ive had white roommates since i went to college, and they always like to watch me do my hair....thats alright, i liked to watch them cook....i just couldnt figure out how the food could look so pretty and taste like lickin the floor under the fridge!

You are too funny!

 

[beloved1]

Well, people are probably posting about me somewhere on a majority white board b/c I am very 'inquisitive' and am always asking questions. I ask about it all at my job, from the fake boobs/ lips on this one chick, to the fact that EVERYBODY there is a bottle blond, to why they tan. And they tell me all of it I never knew just how much they have to do to their hair- it's alot!!!! When they are real like that, we can have a sense of comraderie. I have educated them on the fact that our hair grows just as fast as theirs, but breaks, and have found out that they can relate (especially those with kinky/ curly hair, which is more than you think, b/c they blow dry/ flat-iron religiously).

 

[Queenie]

...and have found out that they can relate (especially those with kinky/ curly hair, which is more than you think, b/c they blow dry/ flat-iron religiously).

I've found that out too in the last couple of years. I know some women who blow dry their hair completely dry every morning.

 

[ravensunshine]

Oh Boy! Have I been waiting for a thread like this! Yep the dumb white people's questions thread!
I too grew up in an alllllll white rural areas- yep cow tipping, Bud beer and the biggy of them all the KKK. Well, oddly enough I made friends with a family down the road (some 3rd generation trailer dwellers) with three girls about my age. Their mother worked in the local all white beauty parlor. Yep beauty parlor, not salon. Anyhow through them we each had experiences trading stories and hair tips. Yep the girls would get up an hour early every day before school to do their hair to avoid the "wet rat" look, wash, condition, blow dry, curl iron, and tons of Aqua Net hair spray. I too learned to follow suit to achieve the flips and wings and feathered styles.

Secretly I would wash about 2x per week though and get up in time to religiously curl my hair with the hottest curling iron I could find, then keep the look all day through rain, shine and blinding snow with the help of a quarter can of Aqua net hair spray. I don't think they make that stuff anymore, I'm sure it has been outlawed! The hair wouldn't move until you slept on it or washed it out, ahh the 80's.

But the questions from class mates! The dreded 'can I touch it- wow its hard just like mine, so you use Aqua net too...'

More recently in my life, thousands of miles away from where I grew up, I was dating a not so smart white guy with 2 great kids. The kids were hanging out in the bathroom while I was doing my hair.

At first I didn't think much of it, but then I caught a glimpse of them behind me in the mirror- they were literaly mesmorized by what I was doing. Yep, just like I was doing a magic trick! Then the ex-boy friend walks in and takes a seat on the toilet and proceeds to watch too. That was it! I yelled at all of them to get outa there. It felt so weird! I was blow drying with a round brush. No magic here, nothing special and no Aqua net, just a blow dry.

Looking back, I found out later that I ws the first black person they ever knew! Shortly there after, the son began dating a black girl in his school, so I always figured that exposure to me had some lasting effect! Ahh, the mystery, and lure of our beautiful hair!

 

[LuvLiLocks]

My co-worker/friend said me one day when I went to work with a slamin roller set:
"wow that is pretty and nice and bouncy, it's not like stiff or anything."
so I say, stiff isn't "good" for MY hair, so she says:
" I watched my roomate (black) get her hair done once and it was basically fried and really stiff with a ton of spritz, but it was pretty, but I have to wonder, is that why so many black women's hair don't seem to grow past the shoulders?"
So I told her that she was probably right about that, how can ur hair really grow if you fry it constantly?
I wasn't offended by this conversation, but I was preplexed by the fact that she could realize this, but most of my fellow sisters don't seem to notice or care about what they do to their hair........

 

[balisi]

with kinky/ curly hair, which is more than you think, b/c and have found out that they can relate (especially those they blow dry/ flat-iron religiously).

Ever since enrolling in cosmetology school, I have found out that MOST of them blowdry and flatiron regularly, and many of them use (or are interested in) thermal straighteners which, in essence, relaxes their wave and/or curl pattern. One of the white managers at my job recently had a hair straightening appointment on her Outlook calendar. Like Jainygirl, no non-black person ever asks me about my hair and in the past year, I've worn wigs, weave, kinky twists, spirals, transitioned from relaxed, bc'd and am now wearing my hair in all its natural glory. I'm rocking wash 'n goes, two strand twists, pony puffs and the very occasional flatiron style, and although I get compliments on my hair, none of them ask me about it.

 

[wyldcurlz]

Someone may have already said this, but I LIKE it when they ask ME, instead of going on and living the rest of their lives in ignorance. I had the best one a few years ago:

"Is it true that black people can't swim?" After I answered her, another white girl walked up to us and interrupted our conversation to say "NO!!! That's not true, black people can't swim because I have a friend (insert name here) and when he gets in the pool, he just sinks right to the bottom."

I was in shock! I mean, these are educated upper middle class to upper class people and you'd think they'd know better. but anyway, I'm more than happy to answer those questions. Hopefully it'll bridge some gaps.

...and a little side note, if you read any fashion magazine they're now encouraging white people to wash their hair less!! They think all the washing and scrubbing til squeaky clean is stripping their hair of natural oils. So, maybe our less is more philosophy is just fine.

 

[Queenie]

...and a little side note, if you read any fashion magazine they're now encouraging white people to wash their hair less!! They think all the washing and scrubbing til squeaky clean is stripping their hair of natural oils. So, maybe our less is more philosophy is just fine.

When I lived in Australia, I found that the women there only wash their hair like 3x/wk. And the Europeans did that too.

 

[ladylibra_30]

i get the 'questions, cloaked compliments, commments'

when i do something very simple like change the position (i.e side, low, high, or two buns) of my bun: i get asked, "how long did it take to do your hair?" heaven help them if i do a bun with pin curls and decorate it with rosettes b/c they literally freak out and lose their minds.

they think they are complimenting me when they say "you don't wear weaves like a lot of black women. your hair is soft and not stiff."

i had one hispanic know-it-all actually tell me that our hair is damaged by heredity. well, after i stopped laughing at her, being in shock, and picking myself up off the floor i told her "we are god's perfect creation...god created black people with perfect, strong, healthy hair not damaged hair! please stop saying/thinking that."

 

[isawstars]

i had one hispanic know-it-all actually tell me that our hair is damaged by heredity.

...You've got to be kidding me! I hope no one ever says anything like that to me or I will snap. At least you were able to laugh about it... I guess I get offended easily, but that is something I will try to do... Laugh at stupid comments like that.

 

[mahoganee]

"Is it true that black people can't swim?" After I answered her, another white girl walked up to us and interrupted our conversation to say "NO!!! That's not true, black people can't swim because I have a friend (insert name here) and when he gets in the pool, he just sinks right to the bottom."

I was in shock! I mean, these are educated upper middle class to upper class people and you'd think they'd know better. but anyway, I'm more than happy to answer those questions. Hopefully it'll bridge some gaps.

Now that is pure stupidity. WTF?

 

[hottopic]

Why am I just reading this.... It's funny, because it’s true. My friend (not of our race) asked me questions along those lines too. At first I felt weird, but I still told her the truth (sometimes more than she needed to know), but I tell her anyways. I want her to open her eyes to the world a little bit wider. She is mad cool, but the hair questions always come??? I do not get that.

 

[uncutandgettinglonger]

You guys are ill.

I've had my share of questions, I've tried to answer them graciously. A lot of the myths (not just about hair) get on my nerves. Yes, blacks can and do swim. I think that the reason why a lot of us aren't good swimmers is because of where we grew up, the hair factor, etc. My mom paid like $50 per lesson one year so that I would know how to swim. I'm not a great swemer any more because I havent swam that much since I learned, but I can swim.

Also, the whole, "black hair dosen't grow as fast' myth. Gimme a break.