Afros - in or out?

[TheWorldIsRound]

I’m off to see ABBA Voyage next weekend.the venue have sent some information, including the following “Please do not wear so-called ‘Afro’ wigsThese wigs are culturally insensitive and not appropriate to be worn as fancy dress. If any guests are wearing this style of wig they will be respectfully asked to remove them as a condition of entry to the arena.”I had no idea that Afro wigs were considered culturally insensitive. For my 30th birthday I had a 70s themed party and wore an afro wig (it was the same colour as my own hair - gingery brown - not black, if that makes any difference). Did I mess up?Do others agree with the venue’s views - particularly anyone who may have their own natural afro (or potential to to grow one). Is it really regarded as akin to “black face”?Obviously if something causes widespread offence, I would not dream of doing it, but all I thought I was doing was paying tribute to one of the ultimate symbols of iconic 70s style.Can people only pay tribute to their own cultural grouping and to move outside of that is manifestly offensive ?YABU: everyone knows afro wigs are deeply offensive YANBU: it’s hyper-sensitivity on the part of the venue

I have afro hair and I straighten it. I'm mixed but my dad is Caribbean. Its funny how nobody is allowed to be offended by me straightening my hair isn't it? I find it all ridiculous. It's hair and you're doing it in a fun and positive way it's not like youre doing blackface.

Too many people want to find reasons to be offended these days. YANBU!

It makes me sad. I love afros, and I wish I could just celebrate their gloriousness

Oh do leave off. It doesn't make you sad.

Not saying it’s a good idea to wear one or not, but there are tonnes of other coloured ones on Amazon.
https://amzn.to/3qWoDnA

Straightening hair was done because black people were mistreated and made to feel their hair in its natural state was not acceptable....and even up until recently many workplaces or schools have had issues with it. If it had been celebrated in the first place, I'm sure many would not have subjected their scalps to burns and chemicals for acceptance

This exactly.

pleasantly surprised the venue has issued this advice. How times have changed!

I personally wouldn’t say it’s on the same level as blackface but it is still culturally insensitive.

Exactly there are literally schools in London of all places that have harassed black kids mainly girls for having wearing braids or wearing their natural Afro out.

I remember wearing my hair out and a colleague asked if she could touch it, and was actually marching towards me as she said it. I said hell no but I can understand others are less assertive and don’t want to rock the boat.

Does this venue ever feature drag shows which many think are “woman face” and an offensive parody of women too.

What about those fancy dress “Scottish” ginger hair attached to a tartan hat? Are they allowed?

Or “Irish” leprechaun giant green hats?

😂😂😂

there a phrase that goes something like “society loves everything about black people… except black people”

Oh my god 😳 why would she want to touch your hair ?

I genuinely don't get the point you are trying to make ?

I assume you turned 30 some time in the 80s because how did you not realise mimicking a Black hairstyle for a laugh isn't insensitive??

What an intellectually lazy opinion.

I don’t actually recall afros being ‘fashionable’ in the 70s anyway (apart from on people who could grow them naturally).

Erm yes, reading about how a woman was told to change her perfectly fine hair in order to “tone down” her race, does make me sad.
and on a lesser scale, I am sad that I can’t join in a celebration of blackness by virtue of my own race.

These wigs are culturally insensitive

What tosh! Can I claim that long very straight hair is 'culturally insensitive' when women like Michelle Obama wears it?
I have a lovely purple curly wig which gets trotted out on occasions, first by me, then daughters, now grandchildren

You can't join in "celebration of blackness" by wearing a silly oversized .afro wig to an ABBA event stop being ridiculous!

I guess you can appreciate black culture without actually imitating a black person I mean what next tanning up and getting hairbands?

Hairbbraids*

Very permed hair was certainly a thing in the late 80s/early 90s, I used to have mine done. Once it had gone very wrong, one of my tough pupils came up to me at break and whispered 'Tell me who did it Miss and I'll give them a seeing to'!

I had a perm in the 80s but perms .then were not Afros.

May be you need to talk to the older black women - which you probably have on your dad's side of your family - about the discrimination they faced getting jobs if they bothered to try with natural hair.

You, yourself, won't face this discrimination today in lots of places.

Because we are freaks.

Oddly no-one ever tried that with the white and asian guys I know/knew with tight curly hair whose hair also grows upwards....

Why would anyone be offended by you straightening your hair when the half side of you has straight hair (I assume your mum does, as a white woman)?

That's not what you said. Or at least it's not how it comes across. You didn't say you were sad about expectations around black women's hair. You said it was sad you couldn't celebrate afros...ie wearing an afro wig

How would you like to celebrate blackness op?

It’s not blackface but is still insensitive. Kindly do not equate people with black heritage straightening Afro hair, to a white person just rocking an afro wig for lols.

People have had to straighten their hair to conform to a set of imposed white beauty standards which decry natural afro hair as unkempt and dirty. It’s not so long ago that we were getting in trouble in work and school for just wearing natural afro styles. People still have to contend with poorly expressed curiosity in the form of their hair being touched without their permission. Hair texture is still used as a comparison to make black and mixed raced girls feel ugly and othered. Society is hostile to Afro hair so Afro hair is often straightened, it can’t be offended by something it’s demanded. That young girls are more and more able to embrace their afros/ curls and natural styles rather than being pressured into getting chemical burns just for straight hair

Intentional or otherwise, these wigs do other Afro hair further.

I'm impressed with this venue.