Why Do You Think that Untrue Myths About Black Hair Persist?

[vtoodler]

There are so many myths about Afro-textured hair, such as "getting it wet is bad," "you should relax it every 6 to 8 weeks," or "it doesn't grow as fast as Caucasian or Asian hair."


The sad part is that many people, including me, once bought into those myths. Why, despite the advent of YouTube, hair forums, healthy hair-minded stylists, and hair/dermatology books do they persist?


And what can a person do to shatter them, without giving unsolicited advice (which we know often causes tension)?

 

[TamaraShaniece]

Well I think the myths seem to persist because

There are over 200,000,000** black women in America. Only about 200,000** are on hair boards, YouTube etc.

That's NO WHERE CLOSE to 1%.

I think the mass is trying to keep their glamorous looks and appearance up w/ weaves. This whole looks are important, I have to look top notch is starting at such a young age, that parents ruin their kids hair and kids ruin their hair too. When someone went half bald from a weave or too tight braids, they will continue to weave & cover, go to a salon, or find the blessings of LHCF.

**just numbers to display my point.

 

[NaiyaAi]

Because not everyone is on LHCF, Youtube, blogs, etc.

The only thing you can do is lead by example. Show people your healthy hair, show them others' hair, and then they'll be convinced. Youtube is especially important here, because there are tons of before/after videos of people who once fit the stereotype.

 

[koolkittychick]

I think the issue goes deeper than that I'm afraid. The myths persist because the majority of Black women simply do not like their hair--not the texture, the shrinkage, and definitely not the amount of work it takes to to keep it soft and healthy.

It does not conform to the prevailing standards of beauty (i.e., straight and hanging), and these myths arise when we try to apply those beauty standards to our hair. Because we cannot wash, condition, blow dry and finish our hair with a little mousse in 20 minutes or less and walk out the door with "socially acceptable" hair, it is unruly and of poor quality. Because our hair requires the daily application of moisturizers, water and (gasp!) oils, substances that would render the hair of other races a greasy mess in a matter of days, in order to stay soft, there must be something "wrong" with it. Because the same six inches we grow each year as other races only looks like half an inch because of shrinkage, our hair doesn't grow. Because many of us resort to applying the equivalent of drain cleaner (relaxer), or the hair of other races onto our hair to make it something that it's not because that's what we think looks good, we must be ashamed of it.

Our own issues with our hair are what perpetuate those myths, in all honestly. The sooner we stop judging and trying to style our hair by other races' standards (i.e., get it to act like white girls' hair), the sooner we can help all sistahs to embrace, nurture and rock the beauty that is our own unique hair.

 

[Lilmama1011]

because I think that it steams back to slavery, I pretty sure we have parents who have looked at our hair and said something distasteful and said some like "Woo girl you need a perm, your hair is nappy". Their parents did it to them so they do it to their children and I feel with us learning about our hair "afro textured" ladies will soon start to pass own what we know and love about our hair, I'm pretty sure you ladies are already doing this now but when I was younger I never heard a afro textured girl praise her hair, ever! I saw girls that had natural hair but they never spoke about, just kept it in ponytails and that was it. But when we got to that age when we were on ourselves that's when we started to hear stuff from our mother like "I'm tired of doing your hair, it take too much time, go get some weave and a perm put in it I'm done" so we all thought that was the only option. I really thought that when you grow up that's what your suppose to do, get a perm and that was that. I always was against weave, it never interested me despite the fact majority was wearing weave around me. And I just thought the other people stayed natural because they didn't have money to get their hair done or didn't give a sh#$. but when I joined the forum I realized what natural hair looks likes when it is properly moisturized and sealed and I must admit it is beautiful, I want to go natural but scared because I have spent several years relaxed and scared my hair wont look as pretty as the others on here, like I wont have no curl definition, even tho when I see new growth I do see waves and feel my new growth behaves better than my relaxed hair with the tangles and all, I got off the subject a bit but whatever....lol

 

[Saludable84]

A lot of the problem is that the same women who made us believe our hair is bad are our mothers and grandmothers. They've said things to make us believe our hair needs this and that when in reality, it just needs care.

Everyone is so hell bent on straight hair because it seems socially acceptable when it really does not have to be. I remember when I was a teen and I haven't had a relaxer for a while. I actually liked my hair. It wasn't in the best of health, but I could comb it and I liked the volume and thickness. My mother would comment "you need a perm!" And this is what made me believe I needed a relaxer. No one taught us how to care, just to conform.

Now that there are black women out there trying to grow long healthy hair, regardless of being relaxed or natural, it's a great step. However, not many women are taking that route, still putting care into the hands of people who destroy with heat tools an 1/16 of the knowledge us on these forums possess. To them, it's a waste of time or stupid to be on YouTube watching these girls get long hair or search a forum. They rather be bothered with the salons.

I read constantly that you should trust a pro with your relaxer. Funny, every time I trusted a pro with my relaxer, I got scalp burns and damaged hair but since doing it myself, I have neither.

When people start seeing your results, they start believing that it can be taught. But the reality is that there are only a handful of us out there doing it. It is going to take more to convince women that our hair can be better. And having a #team is not making this situation better.

Please excuse my iPhone; it's trying to get it together

 

[naturalmanenyc]

I never believed such myths about my hair. I relaxed every 12 -13 weeks. I washed my hair often, even in high school, and although my hair does not grow at the average of 1/2 inch per month I know it does grow since I reached BSL when my hair was relaxed. I guess I never believed the myths since I had a stylist (from age 13) that didn't perpetuate the myths. I've heard "professionals" make statements about hair that are untrue i.e., you have to trim every 2-3 months. That is not true unless you are damaging your hair during your day to day styling. There are people on YouTube who admittedly don't trim but instead just clip off knots or weathered/split ends and their hair is long & healthy i.e. kimmaytube.

As for shattering the myths, seeing is believing.

 

[genesislocks]

I think these myths prevail because there are many women out there who are addicted to HBO (hair belonging to others). When they wear it they get hellos, compliments, attention etc. that they feel that they won't get with their real hair.

That's why I stopped wearing extensions, haven't worn them in years. I felt like I was living a lie that I had to keep up and it was destroying my confidence and what I thought of the natural beauty that God gave to me.

In the same way I think that a lot of women just don't want to believe they their hair can grow. Or, at least until they see someone else's results. Even then, if they're not ready to believe they'll pull the "you must be mixed" card.

Note: I'm not saying that this applies to all women who wear extensions. I'm strictly referring to the ones I have seen act differently and speak about themselves differently based on whether or not they had HBO.

It's sad to see these thoughts persist, but if we keep leading by example, eventually we will inspire others to take the first steps in their own hair journey. Just a little more time

Anyway...I could go on about this all day lol
I'll stop blabbing now

 

[KaramelDiva1978]

I think everyone what is hitting the nail on the head--there is much more miseducation from those we trust than proper hair education. The cycle of untruths continues to be fed and believed by millions and when they see the truth of hair growing long they throw in another untruth "she must be mixed" or "she's the exception" to the myth.

 

[Lilmama1011]

And I see it better to get advice from the new generations than grandma and momma because they were misinformed as well, I'm not saying all younger generations know everything but I feel we are not as stuck in our ways as the older generations

 

[bydebra]

The majority of black women that I encounter on a daily basis have healthy hair...not necessarily long, but it is healthy. I don't think it is as bad as people make it out to be. Also, one person's myth is another person's truth. I'll just take the examples that you posted:

"getting it wet is bad," --- We know that water is good because it moisturizes the hair, but some people do not wet their hair too frequently in order to avoid shrinkage and tangles. Then there is so-called "hydral fatigue." I like to wash my hair 1 to 2x a week, but it seems like a lot of people thrive by waiting as long as a month.

"you should relax it every 6 to 8 weeks," -- I personally like to stretch my relaxers, but I have to deal with 2 textures, detangling, etc. unlike when I relaxed every 8 weeks, I could simply rollerset my hair and it never tangled, and I didn't have to deal with two textures, so I could avoid breakage without having to be extra careful.

"it doesn't grow as fast as Caucasian or Asian hair." -- Those of us who are into hair care know that hair grows on average 1/2 inch, but I personally have seen Asian people grow 8 inches or more in a year, so I do sometimes question how accurate that "average" is. I grew up in a diverse setting and time after time, I saw my Asian friends hack their hair into a bob and grow it back to mid-back before the school year was over.

 

[bydebra]

^^^ I meant 1/2 inch in a month

Also, I think that a lot of the new hair care knowledge is somewhat mythical. There is a lot of hair care knowledge that is spouted that is not really tried, tested, and true.

 

[Ogoma]

Well I think the myths seem to persist because

There are over 200,000,000** black women in America. Only about 200,000** are on hair boards, YouTube etc.

That's NO WHERE CLOSE to 1%.

I think the mass is trying to keep their glamorous looks and appearance up w/ weaves. This whole looks are important, I have to look top notch is starting at such a young age, that parents ruin their kids hair and kids ruin their hair too. When someone went half bald from a weave or too tight braids, they will continue to weave & cover, go to a salon, or find the blessings of LHCF.

**just numbers to display my point.

Your stats are way off . There are about 22,000,000 black women in America.

 

[Lita]

I thank God,my mom/grand ma..Let my hair do what it did..lol..My hair wasn't permed till collage (that was my) own doing..I wanted to see how it looked..Fail!..Me & perms didn't get along...I was taught early to love the skin I was in & everything else.

Happy Hair Growing!

 

[vtoodler]

Here's good news about our hair: overall, it greys and thins slowly as we get older.


From USNEWS:

Race and ethnicity play a role in the graying timeline, too: Whites typically start to notice gray strands around age 35, while African-Americans tend to be 40 when it begins. About 50 percent of people have half a head of gray by the time they're 50, says Jeffrey Benabio, a dermatologist with Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, Calif.

Read more here: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/08/23/gray-hair-at-25-yes-heres-what-you-can-do

http://books.google.com/books?id=yU...v=onepage&q="african" "gray hair" age&f=false


.

 

[Lilmama1011]

The majority of black women that I encounter on a daily basis have healthy hair...not necessarily long, but it is healthy. I don't think it is as bad as people make it out to be. Also, one person's myth is another person's truth. I'll just take the examples that you posted:

"getting it wet is bad," --- We know that water is good because it moisturizes the hair, but some people do not wet their hair too frequently in order to avoid shrinkage and tangles. Then there is so-called "hydral fatigue." I like to wash my hair 1 to 2x a week, but it seems like a lot of people thrive by waiting as long as a month.

"you should relax it every 6 to 8 weeks," -- I personally like to stretch my relaxers, but I have to deal with 2 textures, detangling, etc. unlike when I relaxed every 8 weeks, I could simply rollerset my hair and it never tangled, and I didn't have to deal with two textures, so I could avoid breakage without having to be extra careful.

"it doesn't grow as fast as Caucasian or Asian hair." -- Those of us who are into hair care know that hair grows on average 1/2 inch, but I personally have seen Asian people grow 8 inches or more in a year, so I do sometimes question how accurate that "average" is. I grew up in a diverse setting and time after time, I saw my Asian friends hack their hair into a bob and grow it back to mid-back before the school year was over.

I saw a hispanic girl in highschool senior year have hair short as Dora by the time prom was here her hair was waist length, that's less than a year!

 

[SelahOco]

I agree with a lot of you. I think people have been taught to hate their afro textured hair and have adopted an abusive relationship with their strands - beating it into submission to the popular culture's idea of beauty.

One day, as I was ripping my glued in weave out of my head, I thought to myself "there has got to be a better way to do this." I got tired of just expecting my hair not to ever grow. I had no love or respect for it at all.

When I got tired, I sought out this forum. And now I see things much differently.

 

[Mahogony7]

The majority of black women that I encounter on a daily basis have healthy hair...not necessarily long, but it is healthy. I don't think it is as bad as people make it out to be. Also, one person's myth is another person's truth. I'll just take the examples that you posted:

"getting it wet is bad," --- We know that water is good because it moisturizes the hair, but some people do not wet their hair too frequently in order to avoid shrinkage and tangles. Then there is so-called "hydral fatigue." I like to wash my hair 1 to 2x a week, but it seems like a lot of people thrive by waiting as long as a month.

"you should relax it every 6 to 8 weeks," -- I personally like to stretch my relaxers, but I have to deal with 2 textures, detangling, etc. unlike when I relaxed every 8 weeks, I could simply rollerset my hair and it never tangled, and I didn't have to deal with two textures, so I could avoid breakage without having to be extra careful.

"it doesn't grow as fast as Caucasian or Asian hair." -- Those of us who are into hair care know that hair grows on average 1/2 inch, but I personally have seen Asian people grow 8 inches or more in a year, so I do sometimes question how accurate that "average" is. I grew up in a diverse setting and time after time, I saw my Asian friends hack their hair into a bob and grow it back to mid-back before the school year was over.

In regards to Asain hair. There diet directly influences their hair growth. They eat a high amount of foods beneficial to hair such as gelatin,fish and seaweed. I too used to think that their hair grew like weeds and I expressed this to my Asian friend. She politely told me that I was wrong. It took her five years to get to waist length from a pixie cut. Also there are many of them that abuse their hair with dyes, bleaching and daily heat use. Which is why there are so many moisturizing conditioners, masques, and daily treatments specifically for colored hair. They are also fans of using henna and oil in the hair(camellia). I saw a girl with healthy hair habits go from shoulder to waist in 3 years. There are some unicorns out there, but their grows similarly to ours. These weren't things I learned until I moved to an Asian country. Oh, and they LOVE, LOVE them some extensions from India too!

 

[belldandy]

We just aren't as adventurous when it comes to our hair, I guess. (Generalizing)

 

[Gryphyn]

I think a lot of it is passed down from generation to generation. Remember that's how cultural information was primarily shared in the days before the internet. I wasn't close with my grandparents, but my bf was close with his grandmother and he's always throwing those old beliefs at me. His beliefs still persists even when I tell him they're wrong. I don't think that's much different than how other black people think about hair. If I hadn't decided to Google black hair care one day I'd be just as uninformed now.

 

[vtoodler]

@simplydebra

With regard to Asian hair, bear in mind that diet and lifestyle play a significant role. Asians, overall, tend to live healthier lifestyles than other demographic groups.


Second, their hair is usually very straight--often straighter than Caucasian hair; this increases the illusion of length.

 

[Lilmama1011]

yup and they also smoke hell of cigarettes too, shouldn't that cause some damage

 

[RngdeCurls]

I think a lot of myths continue to thrive where there is no desire for education. Some women are complacent in thinking that their hair is unmanageable and don't want to learn anything other than how to mask the perceived issue.

 

[Postal]

I think it's mostly an issue of Black women not knowing what they don't know. . I , myself, didn't know that I didn't know about my own hair. I figured I knew what I needed to know about it from my family and my own personal experiences. I, too, just accepted the fact that it couldn't grow, after all, when I looked around my neighborhood and family, I was correct. I wouldn't say it was complacency but rather an acceptance of what was,at the time, an obvious truth( which of course is not). Overall, I think that myths continue because are so little people outside of LHCF practicing healthy hair habits that long healthy Black hair has not become the norm. Until that happens,myths will continue

 

[SoopremeBeing]

It's simple: some folks are too ignorant to learn about the science of hair. And there's not that much to learn about hair really...

 

[bydebra]

@simplydebra

With regard to Asian hair, bear in mind that diet and lifestyle play a significant role. Asians, overall, tend to live healthier lifestyles than other demographic groups.


Second, their hair is usually very straight--often straighter than Caucasian hair; this gives the illusion of length.

I'm sure those factors play a role in it. IDK...it's just weird to me that people won't acknowledge that different hair types are...well, different and that growth rates may be a factor. That 1/2 is just an average. We all know people, of all races, whose hair grows faster or slower.

 

[cami88]

I think the issue goes deeper than that I'm afraid. The myths persist because the majority of Black women simply do not like their hair--not the texture, the shrinkage, and definitely not the amount of work it takes to to keep it soft and healthy.

It does not conform to the prevailing standards of beauty (i.e., straight and hanging), and these myths arise when we try to apply those beauty standards to our hair. Because we cannot wash, condition, blow dry and finish our hair with a little mousse in 20 minutes or less and walk out the door with "socially acceptable" hair, it is unruly and of poor quality. Because our hair requires the daily application of moisturizers, water and (gasp!) oils, substances that would render the hair of other races a greasy mess in a matter of days, in order to stay soft, there must be something "wrong" with it. Because the same six inches we grow each year as other races only looks like half an inch because of shrinkage, our hair doesn't grow. Because many of us resort to applying the equivalent of drain cleaner (relaxer), or the hair of other races onto our hair to make it something that it's not because that's what we think looks good, we must be ashamed of it.

Our own issues with our hair are what perpetuate those myths, in all honestly. The sooner we stop judging and trying to style our hair by other races' standards (i.e., get it to act like white girls' hair), the sooner we can help all sistahs to embrace, nurture and rock the beauty that is our own unique hair.

YES! All of this. I have a friend who I need to read this post. She hates her hair, admires my long hair yet won't let go of microbraids because she is afraid of having "short" hair. What I want to say is....newsflash...your hair IS short....and damaged, as well as dry and unruly. Why? Because you don't take care of it! No deep conditioning, no detangling, no oils or moisturizers. Hair is like anything else that needs to be nurtured or else it will fail to thrive.

Another thing is that she is constantly comparing her hair to that of white girls and claims that she does not want to have to spend a lot of time and effort to get it to look the way she wants Name anything worth having that one does not have to work to achieve? She is living in a white woman's fantasy land of waking up, slathering on shampoo, shaking it dry and leaving the house. That routine is simply not in the cards for most Black women with natural hair! The more we set unrealistic expectations for what our hair will do and be the more we will hate it. Many of us unfortunately make the mistake of judging our hair by a standard that is impossible to achieve. Once we start working WITH our hair instead of against it the better off we will all be.

 

[CurlyMoo]

I saw a hispanic girl in highschool senior year have hair short as Dora by the time prom was here her hair was waist length, that's less than a year!

But don't many Hispanics have a very high protein diet?

 

[greenandchic]

But don't many Hispanics have a very high protein diet?

The ones I grew up around ate tons of carbs.

 

[greenandchic]

YES! All of this. I have a friend who I need to read this post. She hates her hair, admires my long hair yet won't let go of microbraids because she is afraid of having "short" hair. What I want to say is....newsflash...your hair IS short....and damaged, as well as dry and unruly. Why? Because you don't take care of it! No deep conditioning, no detangling, no oils or moisturizers. Hair is like anything else that needs to be nurtured or else it will fail to thrive.

Another thing is that she is constantly comparing her hair to that of white girls and claims that she does not want to have to spend a lot of time and effort to get it to look the way she wants Name anything worth having that one does not have to work to achieve? She is living in a white woman's fantasy land of waking up, slathering on shampoo, shaking it dry and leaving the house. That routine is simply not in the cards for most Black women with natural hair! The more we set unrealistic expectations for what our hair will do and be the more we will hate it. Many of us unfortunately make the mistake of judging our hair by a standard that is impossible to achieve. Once we start working WITH our hair instead of against it the better off we will all be.

I go to the gym most days of the week and I rarely see a white woman shampoo, shake dry and go. They are in the vanity mirrors with blow dryers, products, flat irons like everyone else. I've even seen one white woman glue weave pieces in her hair once with a weave hot glue gun. My SO sometimes takes longer to do his hair than I do complete with blow dryers, Ecostyler gel, etc. The fantasy of effortless hair doesn't exist. Maybe it does in the Pantene commercials.

Hell, I'm coming to terms with the fact that I cannot do wash and go hair myself.