View Full Version : True Colors
tempest666
05-10-2010, 11:45 AM
What exactly is "good hair"? One of our other friends is trying to impregnate her domestic partner, but she specifically stated that she wants a white guy so the baby will have "good hair" I looked at both of their hair and it seems just fine to me. I pointed out the concept of recessive and dominant genes, but she's not listening. C'est la vie, but I'm still puzzled. I asked Penny what the definition of "good hair" was but she just muttered something about a eugenics experiment.
Eugenics is the study and practice of selective breeding applied to humans, with the aim of improving the species. In a historical and broader sense, eugenics can also be a study of "improving human genetic qualities." Advocates of eugenics sought to counter what they regarded as dysgenic dynamics within the human gene pool. Specifically, in regard to the continuation of congenital disorders and factors impacting overall societal intelligence relating to the heritability of IQ.
I had never really heard the word eugenics in a positive light, mostly associated with hitler. Our friend isn't racist, though. I need to ask Penny why she is equating this endeavor of our friend with something so mean.
tempest666
05-10-2010, 12:42 PM
ughhhh I'm running a fever. He just went and picked up my contact lenses and brought me homemade chicken soup his mom made. :)
sxcbbw
05-10-2010, 01:53 PM
I wouldn't say I have it as bad as anyone else, but I'd rip the face off anyone calling me a mick, paddy, coal-cracker, etc with my bare hands.
tempest666
05-10-2010, 01:53 PM
At no point in time did I say it wasn't racist, or that it wasn't racism.
Chris Rock did a documentary called 'Good Hair' about the lengths black women go to to have 'good hair', which is to mean not kinky or coarse. I've heard mixed reviews on the documentary itself, but there are many people who have studied and written papers on black hair.
http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/08/06/race-gender-and-good-hair/
hmmmmm I guess my buddy isn't gonna like my hair, cause if I don't straighten it, its kinky and pretty coarse right now. I think I want to shave my head :-* My hairdresser took off to Thailand to become a Buddhist monk, and I've been to paranoid to go to anyone else
Lexi_Girl
05-10-2010, 04:30 PM
My hairdresser took off to Thailand to become a Buddhist monk, and I've been to paranoid to go to anyone else
That's pretty much the best story I've ever heard about why a hairdresser can't do your hair XD
Your icon is lovely, by the way.
tempest666
05-10-2010, 06:07 PM
That's pretty much the best story I've ever heard about why a hairdresser can't do your hair XD
Your icon is lovely, by the way.
Thanks on the icon compliment. And my hairdresser and I were together for 5 years. Thats the longest relationship I have had with any man, professional or romantic. (we were just friends)
rubyredlipsss
05-10-2010, 06:47 PM
this is one interesting thread. we talk about racism, to terminology, to history and now to hair. not saying it's a bad thing...it's a good discussion to have. my hair is crazy if i don't straighten it. i have a love hate relationship with my hair. it never looks good au natural, it wavy, has weird kinks, frizzy and in humidity gets really big. it's really thick but very fine so i have a lot of hair that's time consuming to straighten. no products or treatments (which i've tried all kinds) have worked well with my hair, so i just take the time to straighten, don't wash every day (more like every 4 days-it's not oily) and it looks good, until there's any sort of humidity, then it starts to frizz and lose it's straighteness.
but i would never put the amount of time or work that i know my black friends have to put into their hair. i haven't seen the documentary but weren't some people mad at chris rock for doing it because it took from something that had already been done?
i dunno, i don't think i really know that much about ethnic hair, other than mine compared to most white girls hair, so my points are really narrowed to my ethnicity.
Violet_Dawn
05-10-2010, 08:02 PM
Chris Rock's documentary, IMO was focused on one viewpoint and rather narrow. not all black women who chemically relax their hair want to be "white," and not all women who choose not to are militant/politically conscious. he, like many others, sets up black women's hair to be a political statement when in reality, it shouldnt be. It was a good try, though. It's such a complex issue that literally spans generations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/fashion/27SKIN.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2009/02/03/michelle_hair
these articles are a jumping off point...
http://diversityinc.com/content/1757/article/2615/
^^this was about the whole debacle involving the Glamour Editor and afros
it's interesting that your friend talked about "eugenics" i can kind of see where she was coming from with that.
yeah this thread is pretty interesting i like how it jumps around
paladine
05-10-2010, 08:56 PM
Chris Rock's documentary, IMO was focused on one viewpoint and rather narrow. not all black women who chemically relax their hair want to be "white," and not all women who choose not to are militant/politically conscious. he, like many others, sets up black women's hair to be a political statement when in reality, it shouldnt be. It was a good try, though. It's such a complex issue that literally spans generations.
these articles are a jumping off point...
^^this was about the whole debacle involving the Glamour Editor and afros
it's interesting that your friend talked about "eugenics" i can kind of see where she was coming from with that.
yeah this thread is pretty interesting i like how it jumps around
I think you missed his point Violet. He talks about his own daughter and her questioning why she doesn't have good hair. Thats a tough thing for a father to hear. It seems to be a good movie that asks some interesting questions.
Violet_Dawn
05-11-2010, 10:51 AM
no, i didnt miss his point. i watched it 3 times, and analyzed it for a class. i understand it quite well, and i can understand it is hard for a father to hear that from his daughter. i can remember asking my own mother similar questions about my "nappy hair" and becoming upset that i didn't have "good hair"
i also know as a black woman who has natural hair and chooses not to use chemical relaxers that it is a deeper issue than what Chris Rock makes it. i like that he used celebrities and essentially followed the hair's journey, and he questions a lot of things. however,there was also no opposing viewpoints that was in the documentary, which i think would have taken it to the next level and made it great. To me, it was "black women do x because of y and z," and i thought that made the documentary shallower than what it could have been.
so no, i didn't miss the point at all. i did say it was a good try though. it didn't go as deep as i wished it would have.
rubyredlipsss
05-11-2010, 11:04 AM
even though i haven't seen it, i can totally see where you coming from violet. i mean just because i don't wear my hair naturally doesn't mean i do it because i'm making a statement that white girls have different types of hair, i do my hair from a fashionable standpoint and rejecting my father's side (which is thick coarse curly hair). i've had my hair chemically straitened because i like my hair strait.
hell, if i had the type of curl/hair to have an afro i would totally rock it because i think it looks fucking cool from a fashion standpoint. neither of those fit into a militant standpoint trying to go against. i think women in general are going to style their hair to their liking. i dunno, i will admit trying to argue from my point of view seems a little frivolous, but giving a viewpoint as a woman in general, women are going to style their hair to what they like and deem fashionable to their own personal style. but these are just generalization about women in general. just my two cents.
Violet_Dawn
05-11-2010, 11:12 AM
yeah when i had my dreads, i was always seen as "pro black" or "politically conscious" when in reality i have no real interest in politics whatsoever...honestly. i just wanted to wear my hair however. i love to wear my hair straight, curly, and in a fro. i love to rock the fro, it is pretty high fashion, esp. if i am going out. i've been doing it less though b/c i am student teaching and my first graders find it...distracting. but then what isn't distracting to firstgraders.
i can understand where you're coming from...i guess it's like (example) you being a natural brunette but constantly dying your hair red. you're not ashamed to be a brunette, you just prefer red hair. at least that is my rationale.
tempest666
05-12-2010, 12:26 PM
hello all im back from the dead... my friend is still determined to conduct her little eugenics experiment. she offered my very good looking but impoverished male friend that I'll call Hans Solo $800 to impregnate her girlfriend. I told her there is no guarantee that the kid is gonna have the features she wants. Damn I wish I could play with that amount of $.
Kellydancer
05-12-2010, 08:22 PM
hello all im back from the dead... my friend is still determined to conduct her little eugenics experiment. she offered my very good looking but impoverished male friend that I'll call Hans Solo $800 to impregnate her girlfriend. I told her there is no guarantee that the kid is gonna have the features she wants. Damn I wish I could play with that amount of $.
That's sad on so many levels. Call me traditional but I really am repulsed by people like her. Genetics are very funny though. The guy I hope to eventually marry and me were talking about this last night. Both of us have dark hair, dark eyes and slightly dark skin (olive). He mentioned it would be funny if our children turn out blonde haired, blue eyed because of how genetices are bizarre. Not likely but things like that happened to people I know. As it is, I hope our children inherit my wavy hair.
tempest666
05-12-2010, 09:10 PM
That's sad on so many levels. Call me traditional but I really am repulsed by people like her. Genetics are very funny though. The guy I hope to eventually marry and me were talking about this last night. Both of us have dark hair, dark eyes and slightly dark skin (olive). He mentioned it would be funny if our children turn out blonde haired, blue eyed because of how genetices are bizarre. Not likely but things like that happened to people I know. As it is, I hope our children inherit my wavy hair.
Genetics is a funny thing. I breed snakes as a side business. For example, I have 2 reticulated pythons that are het for albino. that does not automatically mean that I will get albinos in my next clutch. More than likely, half will be normals, half will be albinos.
Get Hot Lingerie
05-15-2010, 01:10 AM
Hmmm....I am a little late in this conversation. So I am trying to think of where to begin. LOL.
First, racism is wrong on all levels. I would be upset if someone called me a white bitch. "White" is a racist word, just like calling someone red, black, or yellow. I try never to say an african american is black. Now I was worried the other day that an african american girl took offense to me saying "nigger rigged". That is just an expession in my area for something you creatively fixed. Thank god, she did not take offense because it was not meant in that way.
I do have problems with African-Americans and hispanics being treated differently than lighter skin people. My main problem is that I am native american, german, irish, and scottish. The problem that I have is that by our government standards you can be african american or hispanic with just a drop of blood, but to be able to claim native american you need a blood test that will show that you are a certain percentage and be able to trace your family back to the Native American list. Where is this fair? I would say that 90% of light skin americans could claim native american if they would use the same standards as they do for african americans.
As far as hair goes, I have been told by three different hairdressers that I have the thickest hair they have ever seen. One had quoted me a set price for a style and highlight before he touched my hair. Afterwards, he said he should have charged me triple. He had to go back and mix highlighting bleach three times. LOL. My hair is naturally curly, thick, and dense. Therefore, it has to grow past my shoulders for it to grow down. Up until that point, it just grows out (as in clown) in a frizzy mess.
My mother says that my genes are really strong. I have three children with two different men. I had two with one man and my daughter looks just like me. The son with another man looks like my daughter and I. We are talking, exact facial features, build, hair, and eyes.