Unfair Stereotypes About Black Women who Wear Weaves
Beauty salons all over the country are filled with women who want their extensions, full wigs, and weaves sewn into their hair. But there is a difference. These women are white.
White women? OF course. But when black women do it, they HAVE to. White women do it because they WANT TO. It’s all unfair.
This article is all about the unfair criticism that black women face for wearing weaves.
1. The texture doesn’t often match.
This is one that gets on my nerve. For many years, black women wore straight hair or curly hair because...well, that’s all that they were offered for a long time. There were few companies out there the sold types that reflected black hair accurately. If they were, then they were afro wigs that clowns wore. Not exactly a style you would wear on the street to be considered sexy. You can’t buy what someone hasn’t sold you. It was only later in the late 2000s that black women were offered a wider variety of weaves. As soon as that happened, black women literally JUMPED on wearing more tightly curled hair over straight styles. Sure, women wear straight styles that are silky, but that’s the fun about wearing weave. You can wear any other styles you want to.
2. Black women wear unrealistic lengths.
Unrealistic to whom? To what? This falls into the ridiculous stereotype that black women can’t grow their hair. So since they can’t grow hair then apparently, anything longer than shoulder length is unrealistic for a black woman? That’s ridiculous. Since we happen to be human beings, then whatever white women can grow their hair to the same that we can grow our hair. It’s that simple. IF you see a black woman with long hair, then you have to realize that every woman is not wearing a weave. I get asked this question all the time....”IS that your hair?” “Is that a piece?” I got asked that in a bathroom once. I smiled and told the woman that it was my hair. She wanted to know where I bought the piece. I wanted this black woman to know that she could grow her own hair out to that length.
3. Black women are ashamed of their hair and cover it up.
This could have some truth to it, but I don’t blame black women who for centuries have been told that their hair is unprofessional and can’t be worn out. In fact, there were laws, especially in Louisiana that passed laws where black women were forced to cover their heads in society so that they would be less attractive to white men. In fact, the opposite happened. White men were attracted to the colorful scarves that black women would wear. A black woman could be whipped in public for wearing her hair out. Black women are still being told their natural hair is unprofessional and not good in a working environment. How is something that grows out of your head not professional? It’s your hair.
Society has shamed black women for their hair.
White women have purchased wigs, weaves, and hair pieces. However, no matter how long their actual hair, people assume that every inch is their own. If a black woman has long hair, it is assumed always that it is a wig. This is unfair. If a white woman wears her hair in different colors, she is creative and artistic. If a black girl does it, she is ghetto and unprofessional. So are black men when they were dreadlocks or braids. They are seen as ghetto while whites get to look edgy
These things need to stop in a so called thinking and civilized society.
Women of all colors, nationalities, ethnicities, and races wear wigs and have always done so. Men have wore them too. Why black women still seem to get the short end of the stick here is a mystery to me. Many times, we are given a hard time by other black people...especially black men.
I hate to do this....but....Brothers, you need to stop!
All my adult life wearing weaves, I have heard black men make comments that they want a black woman to be natural, but when I wore my natural hair, they were less attracted to that. When I wore weaves, I had to beat them off with a stick. Why do they say one thing and yet do another? This is anecdotal evidence of course. So I’ll hit you guys with this....
Random dude says....
“I like for my woman to wear her hair up so I can see her neck. I do have a funny story: I put my hand through this woman’s hair that I was dating, and I guess they put glue to hold it together or something and my watch got stuck. She started yelling, ‘Wait, hold on, don’t touch my hair!’”
White women? OF course. But when black women do it, they HAVE to. White women do it because they WANT TO. It’s all unfair.
This article is all about the unfair criticism that black women face for wearing weaves.
1. The texture doesn’t often match.
This is one that gets on my nerve. For many years, black women wore straight hair or curly hair because...well, that’s all that they were offered for a long time. There were few companies out there the sold types that reflected black hair accurately. If they were, then they were afro wigs that clowns wore. Not exactly a style you would wear on the street to be considered sexy. You can’t buy what someone hasn’t sold you. It was only later in the late 2000s that black women were offered a wider variety of weaves. As soon as that happened, black women literally JUMPED on wearing more tightly curled hair over straight styles. Sure, women wear straight styles that are silky, but that’s the fun about wearing weave. You can wear any other styles you want to.2. Black women wear unrealistic lengths.
Unrealistic to whom? To what? This falls into the ridiculous stereotype that black women can’t grow their hair. So since they can’t grow hair then apparently, anything longer than shoulder length is unrealistic for a black woman? That’s ridiculous. Since we happen to be human beings, then whatever white women can grow their hair to the same that we can grow our hair. It’s that simple. IF you see a black woman with long hair, then you have to realize that every woman is not wearing a weave. I get asked this question all the time....”IS that your hair?” “Is that a piece?” I got asked that in a bathroom once. I smiled and told the woman that it was my hair. She wanted to know where I bought the piece. I wanted this black woman to know that she could grow her own hair out to that length.
3. Black women are ashamed of their hair and cover it up. This could have some truth to it, but I don’t blame black women who for centuries have been told that their hair is unprofessional and can’t be worn out. In fact, there were laws, especially in Louisiana that passed laws where black women were forced to cover their heads in society so that they would be less attractive to white men. In fact, the opposite happened. White men were attracted to the colorful scarves that black women would wear. A black woman could be whipped in public for wearing her hair out. Black women are still being told their natural hair is unprofessional and not good in a working environment. How is something that grows out of your head not professional? It’s your hair.
 |
| White women wear weaves and wigs and other things and no one blinks a damn eye. |
Society has shamed black women for their hair.
White women have purchased wigs, weaves, and hair pieces. However, no matter how long their actual hair, people assume that every inch is their own. If a black woman has long hair, it is assumed always that it is a wig. This is unfair. If a white woman wears her hair in different colors, she is creative and artistic. If a black girl does it, she is ghetto and unprofessional. So are black men when they were dreadlocks or braids. They are seen as ghetto while whites get to look edgy
These things need to stop in a so called thinking and civilized society.
Women of all colors, nationalities, ethnicities, and races wear wigs and have always done so. Men have wore them too. Why black women still seem to get the short end of the stick here is a mystery to me. Many times, we are given a hard time by other black people...especially black men.
I hate to do this....but....Brothers, you need to stop!
All my adult life wearing weaves, I have heard black men make comments that they want a black woman to be natural, but when I wore my natural hair, they were less attracted to that. When I wore weaves, I had to beat them off with a stick. Why do they say one thing and yet do another? This is anecdotal evidence of course. So I’ll hit you guys with this....
Random dude says....
Age: 27AND ANOTHER....
City: New York City
“I like for my lady to wear her hair straight down—no perm, all natural. I hate going through female’s hair and finding tracks and stuff. I like to see a female rocking natural hair because it shows her in her natural form, natural beauty.”
“I like for my woman to wear her hair up so I can see her neck. I do have a funny story: I put my hand through this woman’s hair that I was dating, and I guess they put glue to hold it together or something and my watch got stuck. She started yelling, ‘Wait, hold on, don’t touch my hair!’”
YET ANOTHER....
“I mostly like relaxed hair. I’m not into the whole nappy thing. I think it’s a cool look but I just like the clean look of relaxed hair. It’s a preference.”
UH-HUH, AND?
“I think long hair is a good look for taller women but shorter women with a small face look nice with short hair. I don’t like that nappy, nappy hair all the time. If she likes long hair, I like it. But if she has short hair and it doesn’t fit her then we might break up.”
AND WHAT YOU GOT TO SAY?
“Honestly, I like a permed hair but it has to be yours. I want to be able to stroke my hand through my girl’s hair without any stops. I want to be able to go from the top without catching any speed bumps or a little derailed track, you know.”
Yeah. I’m starting to think that these men don’t know what the hell they want. Because honestly, if you look good then these men are still going to talk to you anyway. Regardless of your hair...well as long as it’s neat, clean, and looks good. They’ll holler at you. What we don’t talk about enough in our community is a little thing called featurism. Which is...
In other context, society accepting or preferring certain features over others (i.e. European features over African features).
Yeah, that’s important. Black men and featurism is a big thing. They will want to see certain features on black women and prefer them over others. That’s a problem. Again, black men will talk to you if you look good, but they have preferences that they like over and over again, without really examining why. We’ll talk about this in a future post.
These stereotypes are simply unfair for black women to have to deal with in and out of our communities. I wish that people of all races look deeper still to see that things and people are more complex than what you think they are.
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