Tulsa school sends girl home over hair.

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FStop7

Banned
Oh god, they're using combs??? What horribly unsanitary and nontraditional methods of hair upkeep will black people come up with next?!

Although I would suggest maybe consulting an actual black person on the issue rather than a wikipedia article, let me pull a quote from that bastion of factual reliability of my own:

I think it says a lot about ymmv if he thinks that using a comb is a "fad"
 
Haha, yeah I can't relate in any way and haven't the education to comment on the larger topics. I just think black girls have it tough as far as hair options.

Ours is a weird society-it would like to present itself as a meritocracy, but you're already given demerits for arbitrary things.
 
This may sound horribly obtuse, but I'm pretty sure this misconception of people with dreadlocks having dirty hair is propagated by white people. I have never known a black person with dreadlocks who didn't wash their hair, and I have hung out in various ethnic salons in multiple cities with stylists from different countries throughout the world. If you made a comment about people with dreadlocks not washing their hair in texas, you would get the meanest look if you didn't get told to get the fuck out.
Don't know where it came from but I've heard many a lady of the salon state the same. It's just ignorance about the hair style.
 

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
This may sound horribly obtuse, but I'm pretty sure this misconception of people with dreadlocks having dirty hair is propagated by white people. I have never known a black person with dreadlocks who didn't wash their hair, and I have hung out in various ethnic salons in multiple cities with stylists from different countries throughout the world. If you made a comment about people with dreadlocks not washing their hair in texas, you would get the meanest look if you didn't get told to get the fuck out.


White people with dreads tend to be hippies who smell bad in general.
 

Infinite

Member
This may sound horribly obtuse, but I'm pretty sure this misconception of people with dreadlocks having dirty hair is propagated by white people. I have never known a black person with dreadlocks who didn't wash their hair, and I have hung out in various ethnic salons in multiple cities with stylists from different countries throughout the world. If you made a comment about people with dreadlocks not washing their hair in texas, you would get the meanest look if you didn't get told to get the fuck out.

Yeah pretty much all of this. The perception of locs being wildy unkept hair is a Eurocentric one that is centuries old
 
There are a ton of black women in the US Army who manage to follow the strict grooming standards which also doesn't allow afros or braids. I'm not sure of the exact details but they seem to mainly put them into buns. This is a pretty common look. Disregard the sunglasses, definitely not within regulations.
xsWhjoN.jpg

The best part of your argument is the fact you posted a picture of a woman who's clearly in need of another relaxer to make her not naturally straight hair...straight.
 

aly

Member
^ What in the world?

I make it a habit of asking my black female friends (both of them) how much time and work they put into their hair. I mean I got some pretty curly untamable myself hair but wow, the way they describe it, it's like a science. They both said growing up was the hardest since they only had about 2 or 3 hairstyle options that looked nice and weren't expensive as hell.

As for the story, it's a crap rule but rules are rules. Looks like the father is upset but compliant.

Yep. Doing my hair is like fighting a war sometimes. It's natural with really tight curls that are hard to comb through. It's one of the reasons I don't have a problem with people using relaxers, because sometimes that stuff is hard to maintain. I don't use it anymore, instead I just braid it up to wear a wig or weave or make sure it looks like a neat afro.
 

Aristion

Banned
Wikipedia on Afro: "The hairstyle is created by combing the hair away from the scalp, allowing the hair to extend out from the head in a large, rounded shape, much like a halo, cloud or ball. In persons with naturally curly or straight hair, the hairstyle is typically created with the help of creams, gels or other solidifying liquids to hold the hair in place. Particularly popular in the African-American community of the late 1960s, the hairstyle is often shaped and maintained with the assistance of a wide-toothed comb colloquially known as an afro pick.


So no, black hair doesn't magically turns itself into an afro over night. It takes styling and grooming to make regular curly hair look like that. And that's why it's part of the dress code on that school.




JESUS CHRIST DUDE.


So you don't know many black people do you?
 

Christine

Member
I think that when black people are saying that rules like these ones center white bodies as a normative standard and marginalize black bodies and appearances, at the very least these claims should be considered to be genuine and potentially meritorious. Seeing them dismissed and diminished as frequently as I do makes me feel bad.
 

DigitalOp

Banned
Some posters in this thread should be god damned ashamed of themselves.

I won't name names.

These topics only degrade my trust in the system.
 

DERF

Member
Their answer would be "every time I try to touch a black person's hair they get pissy, so of course I don't know!"



I'm guessing you didn't bother to read the article or watch the video. She attended the school the previous year without incident, so they either revised the code after she had enrolled, or the administration changed to one that though enforcing idiotic policy was more important than retaining a straight A student.

She also now attends a different school.

For those complaining I did not read the article. I absolutely did. She basically got away with it for a year. Rules are rules don't like it find another school.
 

Infinite

Member
For those complaining I did not read the article. I absolutely did. She basically got away with it for a year. Rules are rules don't like it find another school.
The rule sucks and isn't free from our criticism of it by virtue of being a rule. Rules need to be challenged
 
For those complaining I did not read the article. I absolutely did. She basically got away with it for a year. Rules are rules don't like it find another school.

Let me guess, you also believe that Terms of Service agreements are legal agreements that hold up in court and should be respected 100%. That a rule which says 'no blacks allowed' should be accepted. That a rule that says 'all students must eat meat for lunch' should be obeyed as well.
 
Wikipedia on Afro: "The hairstyle is created by combing the hair away from the scalp, allowing the hair to extend out from the head in a large, rounded shape, much like a halo, cloud or ball. In persons with naturally curly or straight hair, the hairstyle is typically created with the help of creams, gels or other solidifying liquids to hold the hair in place. Particularly popular in the African-American community of the late 1960s, the hairstyle is often shaped and maintained with the assistance of a wide-toothed comb colloquially known as an afro pick.


So no, black hair doesn't magically turns itself into an afro over night. It takes styling and grooming to make regular curly hair look like that. And that's why it's part of the dress code on that school.

There's a certain twitter that I have to check right now. I'll be right back.
 
We can do better.

Crazy how they can wiggle that in their by-laws. Amazing, really.

Dont feel like debating any justifications...
 

Christine

Member
The 'rules are rules' and 'charter schools have the right to set their own rules' posts are the worst bit. Maybe they are, and maybe they do. This parent isn't even trying to escalate or appeal the decision! He's just publicly complaining about them. I swear it seems like some people have a thought process along the lines of "Wellllll, I guess these rules might not be fair. But talking to the media about them, that's just going way too far, especially if someone uses a certain word to describe policies implemented by people who might have their feelings hurt by being associated with said word."
 

Opiate

Member
Wikipedia on Afro: "The hairstyle is created by combing the hair away from the scalp, allowing the hair to extend out from the head in a large, rounded shape, much like a halo, cloud or ball. In persons with naturally curly or straight hair, the hairstyle is typically created with the help of creams, gels or other solidifying liquids to hold the hair in place. Particularly popular in the African-American community of the late 1960s, the hairstyle is often shaped and maintained with the assistance of a wide-toothed comb colloquially known as an afro pick.


So no, black hair doesn't magically turns itself into an afro over night. It takes styling and grooming to make regular curly hair look like that. And that's why it's part of the dress code on that school.

Your assumptions about what this means are wrong, but being wrong isn't something to be ashamed of. As others have pointed out, for many black people (not all, of course, as people vary), the "natural state" of their hair is some form of afro. Those "afros" may require some work to smooth in to a pleasing, managed shape or the traditional perfect circle, but the basic, natural shape is "giant poof of hair" for many black women.

Now, I'll point out why this is important to clarify. Again, an "afro" is essentially the state that many black girl's hair will naturally form to. We aren't even talking about neglect here: it's what happens naturally for many black girls who wash, shampoo, and condition their hair regularly. Disallowing afros is effectively the same as telling many black girls that their natural hair is bad or wrong. By contrast, the hair of virtually every white girl would be fine if you simply shampooed/conditioned it regularly. I personally know many girls who do not get haircuts for months or even years, and it's fine because their basic shampooed/conditioned hair is acceptable.

This is a problem. The implications are obvious.
 
those are braids
True, but that doesn't make his hair any less sweet. Anyways, a bit of levity was needed in here.

Being able to deny access based on "faddish [hair]styles" seems overly arbitrary. As a parent, I can understand having a dress code that is meant to prevent overtly sexual clothing/images, or the promotion of illegal substance use (including underage drinking) in a school full of minors, but hair styles seems extreme. Let kids have some individuality.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
This isn't about hair or race. This is about two stubborn adults having a pissing contest with a little girl caught in the middle.
 

DigitalOp

Banned
I'm being nitpicky here, but is that true? Or are they simply less likely to have straight hair genetically?

Our hair isn't naturally straight. At all.

It takes chemicals, relaxers... It damages our hair and scalp.

But yet if we told the world to deal with it just as some posters here do, we come off as the angry ones....

Some people really shit up the globe man.
 

Derwind

Member
I'm being nitpicky here, but is that true? Or are they simply less likely to have straight hair genetically?

I'm confident that the genetic diversity in the black population of the world has at the very least some straightish haired individuals but it does not speak for the whole. That I'm certain of.
 

tirminyl

Member
I'm being nitpicky here, but is that true? Or are they simply less likely to have straight hair genetically?

There is a lot of diversity with black people hair. My example - My older sister has soft big lofty curly hair naturally. I have wavy/curly mix. Looks like any average black persons hair. People think I spend time training waves, I don't. It curls when I grow out but I don't let it grow out. I would love to but I don't because I don't want people to freak out at work, especially since I meet with execs. My younger sister has kinky hair, and she chemically straightens it. My younger brother has curly hair that is the same as mine. Wavy short, curly long. Even if we pick out our hair, it curls up. A comb can still be ran through, so its not super kinky or anything.

I feel bad, because my little sister looks at us and says "I wish my hair was like all of yours" and I can't do anything. I want her to stop putting that chemical crap in her hair but she is terrified because of what she grew up experiencing from people and society in general.

So there are very few natural styles. You can:
  • Keep it buzzed in stylized cuts like, fades, etc.
  • Let the hair grow into an afro and maintain it at a particular length. Men can stylize it with tapers, etc. Men and women can "twist" it and maintain length.
  • Braid it.
  • Dread, twist & loc it. No different than braids except their permanent unless cut out
  • Grow the fro and weekly flat iron / hot comb it with necessary heat protectants to straighten it. Very time consuming, especially if you have thick hair.

Those are the styles, buzz cut, afro dread, or natural straightening in which you must go through the afro and or braid phase until your hair is long enough. Most will always be in the afro phase with natural hair.
 
I'm being nitpicky here, but is that true? Or are they simply less likely to have straight hair genetically?

Next time you around very young black girls take note of their hair style. Its usually in afro puffs, braids, or pulled back and clipped with bows. Thats because in order for most black people to get straight hair it takes harsh chemicals or a hot comb/iron and you dont want to use either of those on kids.
 
Next time you around very young black girls take note of their hair style. Its usually in afro puffs, braids, or pulled back and clipped with bows. Thats because in order for most black people to get straight hair it takes harsh chemicals or a hot comb/iron and you dont want to use either of those on kids.
Sadly, that doesn't stop some parents. Kids are getting perms younger and younger these days...
 
My wife mostly does my 2 year old daughters hair, and goddamn is it time consuming. When daddy does it she gets 2 big Afro puffs lol. We plan on never using chemicals in her hair. If she turns 18 and decides to ruin her beautiful hair, that's on her.
 

Timedog

good credit (by proxy)
The best part of your argument is the fact you posted a picture of a woman who's clearly in need of another relaxer to make her not naturally straight hair...straight.

LOL. People in this thread who don't have a fucking fraction of a clue about how black hair works....acting like authorities on black hair...

Amazing.

I hope it keeps going.
 

Infinite

Member
For the record there's nothing wrong with wearing a wig, weave or getting a perm just as long as you ain't doing because you feel society is pressuring you to do so.
 

Jimothy

Member
I've always found natural hair on black women incredibly attractive. So much better looking than unnaturally straight hair.
 
For those complaining I did not read the article. I absolutely did. She basically got away with it for a year. Rules are rules don't like it find another school.

In order for her to have "gotten away with it" for an entire year, that meant the board/staff would have had to allow it despite it being a rule. It's not like she was sneaking around with her hair like that, or they "didn't notice" until a year later.
 
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