Cultural misappropriation and hair

[meandthem]

Am I being unreasonable to object to ethnicity being a factor in respect of what hairstyle choices women are "allowed"? I am pissed of that it now seems acceptable for some styles to be considered cultural misappropriation. What happened to the sisterhood and feminism and women's right to do what the hell we want with our hair!

I would say if I had to associate hoop earings with a group it would be both romany and irish gypsies.

But theyre not exclusive to anyone IMO

SpringHen I am of Romani parentage both sides of my family. But I am not offended if other races wear hoop earrings. I just laugh at the idea that anyone would care tbh. Like I said, we can acknowledge that black people suffer racism and still wear what we want if we like it.

SpringHen To be honest when I think of things which are exclusive to one group of people I do think of things like Native American costumes etc... things that are related to culture and religion, not race and ethnicity. race and ethnicity are just biology and most of us have the blood of several colours in us. i hate the term mixed race because we nearly all are mixed race. i just do not see it as a big deal unl;ess you live in US or South Africa where there has been segregation. There may be racism in the UK but we are also very culturally diverse and tolerant in mnay ways

Reanimated Yes. class is a bigger issue than race in the UK. those white girls in Rotherham were the real victims of virtue signalling. Those Asian men were not "oppressed" in any way. My Chinese friend who is a lawyer is not "oppressed" either. She earns tons of cash.

WTF is “cultural misappropriation” anyway ? Is that like if I pretend to be Scottish ?

I am going to admit, I have been lurking on this thread for a couple days now reading with interest. When I first started reading, I was of the opinion that "No way is anyone going to tell me how to wear my hair!" but reading on and musing about this a bit more, I am starting to think maybe if wearing my hair in an Afro style (am not black) would offend my black "sisters" as it were, then I should not be putting my "rights" to wear my hair as I want before their needs.

The experiences of black women like mirialis on this thread have been really heartbreaking to read at times. I see now that the pain and suffering of black women regarding the way they wear their hair runs very deep and that maybe we need to really listen and hear them out. At the end of the day, to us non-blacks, for us it is just a hairstyle. It does not have the same context as it would for many black people. I found this old article online today:

www.newblackwoman.com/2014/06/29/white-women-don't-belong-in-natural-hair-spaces/

I will say that I am not sure that black hair products are quite the same- because many white people have very curly or wavy or dry hair which could benefit from using them. Regarding coconut or argan oils, many of these are sold in pound shops now and a white person on a low income might not be able to afford the John Frieda Frizz Ease type products designed for caucasian curls or waves.

But I do agree wholeheartedly with the PP who mentioned about the afro products company only using white models to advertise their product.

To the PP who mentioned hoop earrings? I did not know hoop earrings were part of a specific culture- I see people of all races wearing them where I live.

No, no I'm not black! These latter posts that have led a poster to think I'm black is me saying to people RTFT and think about what black women here have told you about their experience before posting!

A poster gave a very detailed post about how much effort it takes - an entire day off work each week - just to get her hair to look "normal" or UK interpretation of "tidy" and that she gets less client meetings if her hair is in braids.

Unfortunately, it is undeniable that there are still people in the UK who not only believe "black people are lazy" but even think it's an acceptable thing to say out loud to other non-black people. Perceptions of "unruly" hair clearly play into that and it seems even braids are not seen as "professional" enough in at least some workplaces. And I think then anyone of any race can see how utterly galling it would be to see someone - who isn't already fighting a stereotype based on their skin colour - sporting a hairstyle that is seen as modern/fresh/ chic but which on you is deemed unprofessional, whether that is explicitly said to you or not.

Oops, sorry mirialis . Bit late to the party here, so to speak.

Another lurker here, and I feel the same as Hedgehogs. It's been a fascinating read, and I particularly thank the poster who described their haircare regime, that was a real eye opener.