FOR THE RECORD: My hair DOES NOT make me look like:
a) a monkey
b) a dog
c) a duck.
d) Or any animal.
And anyone who says otherwise is being RACIST even when they think that likening hair like mine to wild animals is funny or “cute.”
FOR THE RECORD: My hair DOES NOT make me look like:
a) a monkey
b) a dog
c) a duck.
d) Or any animal.
And anyone who says otherwise is being RACIST even when they think that likening hair like mine to wild animals is funny or “cute.”
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 
please don't tell me people are so insensitive, stupid and just plain ignorant. Im sorry you have to deal with this.
Rebecca
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I am as Ashkenaz as Ashkenazi comes, and I have hair like yours (except mine is light brown) that grows up and not down. People have told me it reminds them of a poodle. It's not racist, it's just thoughtless.
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See tomorrow's post for more about this. TheTruthAboutIsrael, the fact is that people with hair like ours are usually African-American or of African descent (like myself) and so I think when their hair is attacked, it is indeed not just thoughtless but often race related.
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I personally love your hair. I have been wishing recently that I hadn't started having my hair relaxed when I was 8. I've also been hoping that there would be more acceptance of natural hair in my chosen profession of lawyering(which, fyi, is totally a real word).
I would love to have my natural hair, and I'm pretty sure it would look a lot like yours.
Those other people are ignorant. Or perhaps they're just jealous and being mean to hide how badly they want such beautiful curls.
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I'd kill for a 'fro like yours. I think there's nothing prettier than leaving it curly and just wearing a headband around it.
My one friend almost punched me for saying that (just imagine your hair bleach blonde, and that's hers)
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I hear you, M. My sister recently stopped relaxing after a lifetime of it. It's really difficult going through the growing out process.
But as you pointed out, having your hair natural when you're a minority woman can become an issue of being “unprofessional” as was infamously pointed out by a Glamour magazine editor who said as much about afros in the workplace.
A white Jewish friend with similar hair told me that she was told in her Orthodox day school that her hair was “immodest.”
I was told by women laywers (and other Orthodox women) that they wear sheitels (wigs) on the job because they were treatedly unfairly when they wore head scarves. Even in Jewish workplaces. I imagine some Muslim women could make the same comments when they opt to wear the veil.
Women's hair, you see in these aforementioned circumstances, can become more than an issue of race, even going as far as becoming a religious problem.
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FrumCurious, I can't tell you how many people look utterly horrified when my husband says how much he loves my hair and hopes our children will have hair exactly like it. 🙂
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Well I agree with him: it's beautiful! At least you got somebody rootin for you? Haha. 🙂
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I think your hair looks really cute in this picture, for what it's worth. I have curly hair too, but I'm a white girl, so it's different.
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I don't get it. I've met a lot of people with hair like yours. What's the hidush?
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I'll add my name to the list of people who are super jealous of it. It looks great!
I have curls, but some days they are fuller than other days. Very annoying- I just want them to be consistent!
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Carolyn, curls are anything BUT consistent. 🙂 That's why I get asked, “Did you cut your hair?” every time I wash it.
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I think the hair makes me look more exotic (as a Jew and otherwise). It catches people's eye and before they can think straight, they make awkward, sometimes racist, comments. This year was the first year I managed to get a compliment about my hair from my grandmother–who never got over when I stopped straightening my hair at 16–(all my kinky-haired relatives straighten their hair and to do otherwise is considered unnatural) so we're making strides nonetheless. 🙂
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I would also mention a double standard as it has become fashionable for white males, especially populists on the left like Ralph Nader who don't comb their hair and no one says boo, or speaking of washed up relics from the past, aging male baby boomer hippies who have long, graying hair that makes them look some sad reject from the summer of love.
Granted, I part my hair on the left when I don't have a military buzzcut, and my family pictures show the same hair style for about seven generations.
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Yo yaldah, your fro looks superb (for real!). Let it be. Jewish guys with Afros have a hell of a time wearing yarmulkes, and despite your 'issues' with various head coverings,
as described in previous blogs, I think you're way ahead with a full
Afro.
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