SOLANGE - Don't touch my hair

[artRaver 3,188]

When you've never had to deal with people asking to touch your hair always so you don't understand the meaning of the song, lel. 

[Knife 6,888]

Thank you, diet Beyonce!

So tired of people trying to touch my pubes..

[Tokyo Rose 1,475]

Awesome, saw this last night

[StrawberryBlond 14,872]

Social justice issues are really going rather on the nose these days, aren't they? You couldn't get a more on the nose title than that if you tried. This is really cringey. White people don't care about black people's hair. I know what I'm about to say may be controversial to many but thinking their hair needs to be changed or its unacceptable is an issue within the black community that they put upon members of their own race. You'll notice that most black people who ever felt pressured to change their hair weren't told this by whites, but by other blacks, normally their family. They think white people care about it - we don't. And as for complaining about whites wanting to touch it...stop embarrassing yourself and look at wider society! You just need to have 'different' or 'interesting' hair to make people want to touch it. Ask anyone who's goth or emo. Ask anyone with long hair. Or silky hair. Or curly hair (anyone can have curly hair, not just blacks). And ask anyone who has red hair, specifically those living in Scotland (ironic, I know, the country with the most redheads is the one with the least acceptance of them). I'm a Scottish redhead and I've had to deal with complete strangers touching my hair, plaiting my hair, putting gum in my hair, having comments shouted about my hair in the street, having sexualised comments shouted at me because of how the colour of my hair correlates with the hair somewhere else . And when straight hair was all the rage, everyone told me I should straighten it (for those who are unaware, red hair is naturally thick and unruly, if you see a redhead with straight hair, it was achieved through artificial means). So, yeah, I totally get why so many black people hate their hair and/or hate people touching it. I went through the exact same things...difference is, I realise it's not a race-specific issue like they apparently think it is and I don't think it's worth making a music video about. Before you claim you have a unique struggle, first find out if it's actually unique. Seriously, some people need to start talking to people outwith their own group to realise that we might all be suffering in similar ways and have more in common than we think.

2 hours ago, artRaver said:

When you've never had to deal with people asking to touch your hair always so you don't understand the meaning of the song, lel. 

See what I wrote above. The sad thing is, no one really seems to know what I'm talking about when I say what I've been through as a redhead. That's how under-represented the problem is. Yet, people will fully support a black person's struggle with their hair. Because race comes into it (apparently, though there's no proof of it), it makes it an important issue, but if a white person's going through the same thing, it's laughable.

[Dawson 9,488]

 

[Werk 13,166]

Put it on speed 1.25 and it's a bop.

[artRaver 3,188]

1 hour ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Social justice issues are really going rather on the nose these days, aren't they? You couldn't get a more on the nose title than that if you tried. This is really cringey. White people don't care about black people's hair. I know what I'm about to say may be controversial to many but thinking their hair needs to be changed or its unacceptable is an issue within the black community that they put upon members of their own race. You'll notice that most black people who ever felt pressured to change their hair weren't told this by whites, but by other blacks, normally their family. They think white people care about it - we don't. And as for complaining about whites wanting to touch it...stop embarrassing yourself and look at wider society! You just need to have 'different' or 'interesting' hair to make people want to touch it. Ask anyone who's goth or emo. Ask anyone with long hair. Or silky hair. Or curly hair (anyone can have curly hair, not just blacks). And ask anyone who has red hair, specifically those living in Scotland (ironic, I know, the country with the most redheads is the one with the least acceptance of them). I'm a Scottish redhead and I've had to deal with complete strangers touching my hair, plaiting my hair, putting gum in my hair, having comments shouted about my hair in the street, having sexualised comments shouted at me because of how the colour of my hair correlates with the hair somewhere else . And when straight hair was all the rage, everyone told me I should straighten it (for those who are unaware, red hair is naturally thick and unruly, if you see a redhead with straight hair, it was achieved through artificial means). So, yeah, I totally get why so many black people hate their hair and/or hate people touching it. I went through the exact same things...difference is, I realise it's not a race-specific issue like they apparently think it is and I don't think it's worth making a music video about. Before you claim you have a unique struggle, first find out if it's actually unique. Seriously, some people need to start talking to people outwith their own group to realise that we might all be suffering in similar ways and have more in common than we think.

See what I wrote above. The sad thing is, no one really seems to know what I'm talking about when I say what I've been through as a redhead. That's how under-represented the problem is. Yet, people will fully support a black person's struggle with their hair. Because race comes into it (apparently, though there's no proof of it), it makes it an important issue, but if a white person's going through the same thing, it's laughable.

Well, I remember being in kindergarten and people would always ask to touch my hair and be surprised it was soft because of the obvious texture. I also remember waking up early in the morning before school to my mom fixing up my hair with berets, etc just to have kids throw water on my hair but nobody else's.

Thanks for erasing my experience though, I guess? 

[KyliesChild 16,907]

@StrawberryBlond Who said that black people are the only race that has to deal with people touching their hair? Black people have always complained about people touching their Afro. There aren't many black people represented in the media with their natural hair. Some find Afros unappealing. However black women wouldn't feel good at all if you start touching their hair because people find it “fascinating". Don't you  think people having that way of thinking is a problem?

[Computer 10,973]

Very soft singing, reminds me of Janet.

[StrawberryBlond 14,872]

19 hours ago, artRaver said:

Well, I remember being in kindergarten and people would always ask to touch my hair and be surprised it was soft because of the obvious texture. I also remember waking up early in the morning before school to my mom fixing up my hair with berets, etc just to have kids throw water on my hair but nobody else's.

Thanks for erasing my experience though, I guess? 

I'm sorry you went through that and I'm not trying to erase your experience at all. It's sad that this is what's assumed every time someone tries to point out that an experience is not completely unique to one specific group. It's about trying to realise that we all have more in common than we think. What I have gone through with my red hair is the same as a lot of black people have gone through. That's why I don't like this struggle being labelled as a uniquely black issue because it isn't. It silences those who aren't black when the same thing happens to them. It's about making sure bad treatment is picked up on from all groups, not just oppressed ones. I think it's dangerous if we start to believe that there are certain issues that affect one group of people but not others. It's like trying to make yourself feel unique for having a struggle that no one else can relate to. If you feel annoyed because your struggle isn't as unique as you think it is, there's something wrong and I shouldn't have to say what that is.

19 hours ago, Skai Jackson said:

@StrawberryBlond Who said that black people are the only race that has to deal with people touching their hair? Black people have always complained about people touching their Afro. There aren't many black people represented in the media with their natural hair. Some find Afros unappealing. However black women wouldn't feel good at all if you start touching their hair because people find it “fascinating". Don't you  think people having that way of thinking is a problem?

But that's just it - whenever I hear the issue of black hair come up, it's painted as an exclusively black issue to feel ashamed of it, have strangers touching it and having people hate it. This is true...but it's not an exclusively black issue. I am saying that I've gone through exactly the same things for my red hair but no one seems to understand or think it's funny when I explain it to them. Then I hear black women talking about how they used to hate their natural hair but now they love it, that they hate it when people try to touch it, that people have tried to make them feel like they should change it...I feel like I can relate so much. Yet, when I talk about having the same issues as a white redhead, I'm shut out. It seems to be that people nowadays want such a unique stamp on any issues that they have, convinced that they, and people like them, are the only ones going through this. Suffering is suffering, we should stop trying to make it such a unique concept to certain groups and only oppressed ones at that.