"The Apartheid of Hair in South African Society"

Hey ladies!

A friend of mine posted this article on facebook and I thought it was really interesting.

Check it out and share your thoughts!

http://clutchmagonline.com/lifeculture/feature/separating-strands-the-apartheid-of-hair-in-south-african-society/

This may sound ignorant too but I tend to judge blackness based on hair texture.

Just because that texture hair is synonymous with the western African Black race. When I see a "black" person with hair that is not nappy (has curls or is silky) it is just very apparent to me that they have other ancestors. Not to say that someone with a typical black hair texture doesn't have other ancestors..But to me hair shows more blackness than skin

I like the article or whatever it is.
At my other college it was very international and i knew a lot of South Africans. they explained to me what "coloureds" were. Honestly to me coloureds are not black, they their own race. they do not look like any race I have seen. they do not look like a biracial (black/white) person because they have silky hair a lot of the time from from India etc. they just have their own look overall. My black south aftrican friend went to public school with a lot of them Her school was mostly coloured so she has countless school friends on facebook that she showed me. Similar to how many hispanics have their own look even if it is just a race made from other races. I also wanted to point out that race is till an issue. i had a guy from South Africa tell me that eh wishes he had my skin complection (Tyra Banks color basically) and that he does not like dark girls.

What a shame that racism is still present.

this line got to me
“When a child is born, the first thing people look at is the skin colour,” Myrtell says, “and people rejoice by saying ‘wow, you got a white child!’ if the child is light-skinned. Then they look at the hair. In the first 3 months of a child’s life, you can hear them say ooh let’s hope it doesn’t change, because it’s so straight.”

I can't tell you how many times I've heard even dark skinned americans say "yea I used to be light when I was a baby. My real skin color is on teh inside of my arms see?" That is SO annoying. I don't care how light you used to be? Matter of fact I don't care about your skin at all! I used to be the color of the asian down the street when I was born..lol so what? You know?

krys315 wrote:This may sound ignorant too but I tend to judge blackness based on hair texture.

Just because that texture hair is synonymous with the western African Black race. When I see a "black" person with hair that is not nappy (has curls or is silky) it is just very apparent to me that they have other ancestors. Not to say that someone with a typical black hair texture doesn't have other ancestors..But to me hair shows more blackness than skin

I'm sure a lot of people do that too, even if it is ignorant or sounds ignorant. I have thought it too. That is why the twins' hair from the blog http://www.happygirlhair.com/ baffle me.

They are twins, have the same amount of "blackness" (lol), but have completely different hair textures. So I guess the theory is wrong. =]

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Jazmine
Aw that is sooo cute. I truly hope the one with the afro hair doesn't feel jealous in the future. Because we all know how black people are about hair and putting attention on people with "good hair"

i went to the site and they are so cute. they are not identical though right? Haha yea I doubt it because you would have the same hair if they were. Aw that is cute though. Usually siblings, etc have similar hair types. Hmm i wonder what the parents' hair looks like

And yeah the theory is wrong I guess :-)

krys315 wrote:Jazmine
Aw that is sooo cute. I truly hope the one with the afro hair doesn't feel jealous in the future. Because we all know how black people are about hair and putting attention on people with "good hair"

i went to the site and they are so cute. they are not identical though right? Haha yea I doubt it because you would have the same hair if they were. Aw that is cute though. Usually siblings, etc have similar hair types. Hmm i wonder what the parents' hair looks like

And yeah the theory is wrong I guess :-)

Yea I know what you mean about the "good hair" thing, they might hear that when they get older from their friends. They aren't identical, but they both have beautiful hair and its good that their mother gives a lot of attention to their hair, so it will be easier for them to ignore ignorant comments in the future.

krys315 wrote:Jazmine
I truly hope the one with the afro hair doesn't feel jealous in the future. Because we all know how black people are about hair and putting attention on people with "good hair"

Why would it have to be the child with the afro hair envying the other sibling? Could it possibly be the other way around? That is a possibility. Also, not all Black people focus on having "good hair" (your words not mine). That's a broad generalization.

Gosh, we have to open up our minds instead of further perpetuating this kind of thinking. Thereare many natural hair beauties with kinkier texture that I absolutely love. There are also some more looser/wavier texture haired beauties who I think have nice hair too but the looser/wavier textures do very llittle for me at all.

Also, as far as the twins go and people in general we all have genes that are more dominant than others right? Just like twins where one is Black and the other is White.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2008/07/17/4380054-black-and-white-twins-brothers-from-the-same-mother

I didn't say all black people. it was used in general terms. No one can ignore that black people with silkier hair are more envied by black people with kinkier hair and not usually the other way around. Does it make it right? No. Is it the truth? Yes.

krys315 wrote:I didn't say all black people. it was used in general terms. No one can ignore that black people with silkier hair are more envied by black people with kinkier hair and not usually the other way around. Does it make it right? No. Is it the truth? Yes.

That is not always the case or always true. According to whom and based on what? Maybe for you but not everyone.

DvaAuNaturel wrote:

krys315 wrote:I didn't say all black people. it was used in general terms. No one can ignore that black people with silkier hair are more envied by black people with kinkier hair and not usually the other way around. Does it make it right? No. Is it the truth? Yes.

That is not always the case or always true. According to whom and based on what? Maybe for you but not everyone.

its not as prevalent in the natural hair community, but everyone knows that idea/ignorant belief exists in the real world. She wasn't agreeing with it, just pointing it out.

yes I was just pointing out [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Which leads me to a question, does kinkier/nappier hair have a shorter terminal growth point? Because they are both the exact same age and the one with the coilier hair doesn't seem to have much length. Unless of course her hair just grows much slower. I'm sure shrinkage has something to do with it though. I just scrolled down on the main page and noticed that.

Both of them are cute and adorable, but I love the kinky headed one, just because i am more used to that hair type.

krys315 wrote:
does kinkier/nappier hair have a shorter terminal growth point? Because they are both the exact same age and the one with the coilier hair doesn't seem to have much length. Unless of course her hair just grows much slower. I'm sure shrinkage has something to do with it though. I just scrolled down on the main page and noticed that.

no, the one with the tightly coiled hair, "Little B," had her hair shaved at her orphanage when she was about 2. The mom/blogger said "In orphanages, kids' heads are often shaved to control outbreaks of ringworm and infestations of lice"
http://www.happygirlhair.com/2009/11/international-adoption-travel-hair-care.html

Her hair has actually grown a lot since then!

[quote="DvaAuNaturel"]

krys315 wrote:
Also, as far as the twins go and people in general we all have genes that are more dominant than others right? Just like twins where one is Black and the other is White.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2008/07/17/4380054-black-and-white-twins-brothers-from-the-same-mother

This topic reminded me of the "black and white" twins too. They are so cute. One couple has 2 sets of twins.

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JazmineB wrote:

DvaAuNaturel wrote:
Also, as far as the twins go and people in general we all have genes that are more dominant than others right? Just like twins where one is Black and the other is White.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2008/07/17/4380054-black-and-white-twins-brothers-from-the-same-mother

This topic reminded me of the "black and white" twins too. They are so cute. One couple has 2 sets of twins.

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Have you guys seen this?
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3060907/Black-parents-give-birth-to-white-baby.html

Jaz
Yeah i was wondering why her hair was only that length. thanks for clearing that up. And awe I have never seen those twins. They looks just alike but with different colorings. Ehich makes the darker one look native american or hispanic...and the light one look like 1/4 black and rest white. Aw so cute. Did you see these twins way back when? They look just alike too. Their parents were biracial. they were saying one is black and other is white, but to me the one they were calling black looks pretty much like a biracial. I wonder what they look like now. At first I though the pic you posted was them grown up.
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Livin&Lovin I am sooo shocked by that link. I don't even believe it sort of. It makes NO sense! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I hate being confused like that!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3060907/Black-parents-give-birth-to-white-baby.html

LivinandLovin wrote:

Have you guys seen this?
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3060907/Black-parents-give-birth-to-white-baby.html

Omg. . . thats so weird! She is white but she actually looks a lot like her mom. I wonder if she will get darker as she gets older, as some babies do? All three of their kids are really adorable though. What a nice family

krys315 wrote:Jaz
Yeah i was wondering why her hair was only that length. thanks for clearing that up. And awe I have never seen those twins. They looks just alike but with different colorings. Ehich makes the darker one look native american or hispanic...and the light one look like 1/4 black and rest white. Aw so cute. Did you see these twins way back when? They look just alike too. Their parents were biracial. they were saying one is black and other is white, but to me the one they were calling black looks pretty much like a biracial. I wonder what they look like now. At first I though the pic you posted was them grown up.
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Your welcome. Yea I saw that a while ago. I wonder what they all look like now too, because all of the pictures online are like 5 years old now

Woah! That story with the black parents and white baby is pretty amazing!

@JasmineB, I was thinking the same thing. The baby looks like her mother and her sister. I was also wondering if she would get a little darker as she gets older.

That's what's so crazy, she obviously looks like her family, with the exception of her skin color. As to whether she will get darker as she gets older, I don't know enough (or anything really) about skin, so I can't really say.

My daughter was very light skinned when she was born and has blue eyes but she has got darker the older she has become.

From what I have read, colour genes don't act like a paint blend of the mother and the father. At conception, the genes from the mother and the father are shuffled as if they are a pack of cards and the end result is that some cards stick out more than others. While many cases you can clearly see features of both parents some quite unusual combinations can result e.g. very dark skin or very light skin.

Have a look at this story , it's very sad.