"A Weave Is Not a Protective Style; It's Just a Weave"

Anticipatience08

Well-Known Member
Just read this article (as my other internet tab was opened to LHCF lol)

http://madamenoire.com/285380/a-weave-is-not-a-protective-style-its-just-a-weave/

This is not an anti-hair weave post but rather, this is a pro-truth post.

And the hardcore, nitty-gritty straight no chaser-kind truth is that a weave is not a protective style. A weave is just a weave.

Yeah I know, what business is it of mine what someone else puts on their head? It isn’t my business – until folks try to convince me that what I’m seeing is not what I am actually seeing. And that is what has been happening as of late in a couple of the natural hair social networking groups to which I belong. Perhaps because of the change of season, the sites have been awash with posts and pictures of self-proclaimed natural hair women, rocking the 23-inches of Brazilian wet and wavy cascading down their backs. They call it “protective styling,” a term coined to describe the process in which women (and men too) hide their hair from “harmful agents.” It used to just apply to those rocking the braids and cornrows, but some of our more ingenious womenfolks have found a loophole into TeamNatural by playing fast and loose with the lingo to make it more weave-tastic.

Technically, certain wig and weave styles, particularly the sewn-in, allow the hair a break from the daily stresses some women do to their hair including processing and perming, tugging and over-styling. And technically certain wigs and weave styles, are a great way to promote growth because your hair is pretty much in a dormant state from such manipulation, thus more free to do what it does uninhibited. But also technically, you have someone else’s hair on your head. And no matter how you try to spin it, that just ain’t natural.

At the core of what bugs me the most about the weave classification as a “protective style” is the distorted, if not counterproductive motives behind it. Honestly natural hair shouldn’t be this high maintenance. And unless there are hair bandits on the loose, hoping to score on the black market with a handful of your natural coils, there is really nothing in our natural environment that we have to protect the hair from. Everything else is truly about accepting and learning how to deal with your own hair as it comes out of your head – whether it comes out extra kinky or extra fine; in the snow, sleet, rain, wind or through hot summers. Acceptance of our hair is supposed to teach us that not every style choice is meant for us but that’s okay because our hair is beautiful anyway. Yet throwing a weave or some braids in your head – while a cute style – teaches you nothing about your hair, especially when you wear it for 11 months out of the year (which many of these womenfolks in TeamNatural are professing to do). All it does is just tucks away the “problem,” some folks refuse to deal with upfront. Of course, the real problem isn’t so much the hair as it is the thinking.

Likewise, what used to be about freedom from more European-centric standards of beauty, which meant forgoing all the unnecessary manipulations we put our hair through in an effort to match, or exceed, those standards – has now turned into growth challenges; angry rants about “shrinkage” and stretching; saturating our hairs with products in hopes of “defining curls” and behind the back selfies of women tugging at a small section of their hair and measuring how close it is to reaching BSL, or bra-strap level. It seems that many women don’t just want healthy hair; they just want lots of hair. And I’m not talking about big kinky, curly hair like a Tracy Ross (but that too) but also long hair, the kind you can swing about like your name was Becky. It’s a sad thing to say but the more I observe this heightened emphasis among naturals for “length” and “protection,” the more I realize that many of us have carried much of the same baggage along with us into what was supposed to be a liberating movement.

It’s true whether or not folks are willing to admit to themselves. And no cutesy, made-up technical term is going to hide the fact that many of these weaved-up naturalists are no different than Shay Shay and her best girlfriend LaQuanita, who trek over to the neighborhood Korean beauty supply store and haggle with them over 18”inches of 100 percent Brazilian. They, like our “protective” stylers, want to wear a weave because they want long hair and their nappy, possibly short, hair won’t enable them to have it. Long hair, don’t care. And think I’m lying or misrepresenting? When was the last time you’ve seen someone with a “protective style” get a short nappy weave? Rest my case counselors.

It probably shouldn’t bother me as much as any of the thousands of other contradictory ways in which we choose to live (present company not excluding). But for the last month or so, I have watched as several well-meaning womenfolk, try genuinely to raise both the contradiction and overuse of the term protective styling issue in these hair groups, only to be ostracized and demonized under the hair-slur of Hair Nazi. More than anything, I wanted to write a post to let those sisters know that you’re not crazy or delusional or hating. Many of us have yet to get past the stage of our “transition” where we stop equating length with strength, healthy condition and overall beauty. That’s why we have to exercise some patience even as we continue to set the record straight about the joys of embracing one’s own curl patterns as our personal biology and genetics intended.

Alternatively for my weave-loving sisters: Who cares if you wear a weave? People stopped tripping about that sometime in the late 80s into the early 90s. If I was rocking a weave I would not hide behind Negro-correct terminologies like “protective styling.” I would wear my weave loudly and proudly, testifying to all of its lengthy, straight and flexibility of styling choices it allows me to achieve that I couldn’t achieve naturally. Seriously, it is truly okay. Just don’t try to con the rest of us into accepting your weave as some sort of amendment to natural hair. Truth is, that weave stopped being natural the day it left the head of its original owner.
 
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DSP

New Member
Well adjusted people with fulfilling lives don't have time to police what other people do with their hair.

I don't wear weaves, but I don't give two figs what the next chick wears on her head or how she classifies it.

*Flips mini-twists*
 

FelaShrine

Well-Known Member
:yawn:

No thanks. who is she to say why anyone is using a weave? telepathic much? There's plenty to protect the hair from
 

AnjelLuvs

Well-Known Member
Seems to me like she is calling a spade a spade... Doesnt see like she is trying to police or anything as she stated, but sharing her opinion...
 

DrC

Well-Known Member
If I was rocking a weave I would not hide behind Negro-correct terminologies like “protective styling.”

If this black righteous militant don't shut the hayle up. :rofl:
 

SuchaLady

Well-Known Member
She should just shut up. I may sew in some inches this weekend just because.
 
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Saga

The Generous Queen
Did she really just right a 6-7 paragraph essay about women's weaves............?
The foolery is real.
 

TheNDofUO

Well-Known Member
I might look the same as the girl who wears a weave or a wig because she doesn't know what to do with her hair, she doesn't LIKE her hair or, hell, she doesn't HAVE any hair. But I'm not. I look after my hair. PROTECTIVE STYLING under wigs has helped my hair grow longer than I seen it since my age was in double figures so I will stick with it if I feel like it. the only reason I have to stop is because someone else doesn't like it. Doona care. You can argue the whole straight hair/black woman thing for years and a clear answer will never be decided but weaves? wigs? They are a style that add extra protection vs leaving the hair out. What does that mean? Protective style.
 

Mai Tai

Miss Nigeria-America
:lachen::lachen::lachen:

I don't even wear weave so I have no dog in this fight, but this ish right here is funny!

You mean to tell me that she wrote ALL of that just to say in the last paragraph... "Alternatively for my weave-loving sisters: Who cares if you wear a weave? People stopped tripping about that sometime in the late 80s into the early 90s."

Who cares if women wear a weave you ask? Well clearly YOU do! :lachen::lachen:
 

Saga

The Generous Queen
:lachen::lachen::lachen:

I don't even wear weave so I have no dog in this fight, but this ish right here is funny!

You mean to tell me that she wrote ALL of that just to say in the last paragraph... "Alternatively for my weave-loving sisters: Who cares if you wear a weave? People stopped tripping about that sometime in the late 80s into the early 90s."

Who cares if women wear a weave you ask? Well clearly YOU do! :lachen::lachen:

LOL she said that? I was not about to read alladat. Shoo...:lachen:
 

PJaye

Well-Known Member
Just read this article (as my other internet tab was opened to LHCF lol)

http://madamenoire.com/285380/a-weave-is-not-a-protective-style-its-just-a-weave/

At the core of what bugs me the most about the weave classification as a “protective style” is the distorted, if not counterproductive motives behind it. Honestly natural hair shouldn’t be this high maintenance. And unless there are hair bandits on the loose, hoping to score on the black market with a handful of your natural coils, there is really nothing in our natural environment that we have to protect the hair from. Everything else is truly about accepting and learning how to deal with your own hair as it comes out of your head – whether it comes out extra kinky or extra fine; in the snow, sleet, rain, wind or through hot summers. Acceptance of our hair is supposed to teach us that not every style choice is meant for us but that’s okay because our hair is beautiful anyway. Yet throwing a weave or some braids in your head – while a cute style – teaches you nothing about your hair, especially when you wear it for 11 months out of the year (which many of these womenfolks in TeamNatural are professing to do). All it does is just tucks away the “problem,” some folks refuse to deal with upfront. Of course, the real problem isn’t so much the hair as it is the thinking.


The entire article appears to hinge on this rather simplistic, somewhat judgmental argument.

What the author has failed to appreciate is that healthy hair practices - whether one is natural or not - are high maintenance in nature because they're centered on the inclusion of a scientifically-based, multifaceted, highly integrated routine. Acceptance of this fact, along with the individual traits of one's hair, is key for a successful journey. The author would do well to remember this (and he/she can have a seat while doing so).
 

prettybyrd

Well-Known Member
:lachen::lachen::lachen:

I don't even wear weave so I have no dog in this fight, but this ish right here is funny!

You mean to tell me that she wrote ALL of that just to say in the last paragraph... "Alternatively for my weave-loving sisters: Who cares if you wear a weave? People stopped tripping about that sometime in the late 80s into the early 90s."

Who cares if women wear a weave you ask? Well clearly YOU do! :lachen::lachen:

I got to the end of the article and said the same thing! :lachen:

I think this author may have gone natural in order to escape Eurocentric beauty standards, but I don't think that she should make the assumption that everyone else goes natural for that same reason.

Not every natural girl wanted to experience her natural hair, and bask in it's glory - some just wanted to try something new, or didn't want to use chemicals.

I just don't understand why people feel the need to have such passion about how someone else wears her (even if she bought it) hair.
 
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nissi

Well-Known Member
Ridiculous. Who is she to say why people are wearing weaves? Since she clearly did not research Wanakee or understand the principle of protective styling that even the air can dry out our hair, I borrowed some comments from here and told her to have a seat...
 

Dilettante

New Member
Yeah I know, what business is it of mine what someone else puts on their head? It isn’t my business.

She should've stopped here :look:

Personally I think she's confounding two separate issues. There are black women who wear weaves and there are black women who hate their hair, but being in one group doesn't automatically mean you're in the other as well.
 

JustGROWwithIt

New Member
:look:Um....Wow....She really wasted her time typing this seeing as how nothing she said will change anything. 100% disagree with the whole thing. Like @Dilettante said, wearing a weave/wig/whatever and hating your hair are 2 different issues. If she were right then really anyone who alters their natural hair must "hate" their hair, no matter their race. Women of all races dye their hair, and chemically straighten or perm their hair, cut/curl/flat iron their hair and wear weaves! So how is it that only black women doing the same are somehow not embracing their natural hair? Furthermore, what makes growing ones hair long a negative thing? That would be the same as criticizing someone who works out to improve their body! As far as it not being a protective style in her opinion, who cares? A weave is a weave, like she herself stated. What difference does ones reason for wearing a weave matter? This is straight foolishness.
ETA: Also, if someone doesn't like their hair that is their personal issue and their own right. So what if they choose to hide their hair under weaves or wigs? Would a women be criticized for choosing to wear pants everyday because she isn't happy with the shape or tone of her legs? Regardless of whether someone disagreed with her or not, it would be her right to dress how she feels comfortable and would not make her choice wrong. Just sayin...
 
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ckisland

Well-Known Member
I don't like the idea of weave (sewing on another human beings hair just so you don't have to style your own). If someone started selling human nails that you attach on your own, people would find it creepy as hell. But stroking the locks of some Indian woman is totally okay *burf*. I do understand why celebrities and models wear them for totally practical reasons. But the masses are wearing weaves because they want to have/experience long hair :look:. I agree with the author that a lot of people online claim that they're wearing wigs and weaves for "protective styling" when they're really weaving it because 1) don't want to deal with their own hair and/or 2) they think the fake hair looks better than their own. Hence all of the ladies who say that they're going to keep weaving or wigging it until their hair reaches *blank* length, or they're hair's at an "awkward length".

A big part of my dislike for weaves is that it's such a known crutch for black women :sad:. It would be a non-issue if it there were only a handful of weave wearers. People get rallied up when others assume that black women with long hair are wearing weaves, when the super majority of black women with long hair are wearing weaves :spinning:. I don't appreciate having to get weave checked because no one else can be bothered to wear their own hair :lachen:.

Also 90% of weaves and wigs look like weaves and wigs from a mile away. I can appreciate one that looks like real hair, but most just look tacky. Take the ridiculous look of an obvious weave and add: mass cases of chewed up edges, bald spots, the inability or desire to learn to take care of one's own hair, the negative generalization that black women only wear fake hair, and incredible insecurity that black women have about wearing their hair, and you will have why I (and others) are anti-weave.
 

curlycrocheter

Well-Known Member
There is a whole lot going on with this article......

On one hand, she really contradicts herself. Clearly SHE cares about who is wearing weaves. On another hand, I do believe that there are some women who constantly wear weaves in the name of protective styling, but really they have no idea (or intention) of how to manage their real hair.

Also, it seems as if she takes issue with long hair in general, whether it's real or fake. She clearly needed to get that off her chest lol!
 

metro_qt

Well-Known Member
But what is it to you?
You don't like it, and that's just great.
We are all entitled to our opinions.

If a woman wears another person's hair to experience long hair or to grown her own hair...at the end of the day, it isn't hurting you, or taking money out of your pockets... Why the outrage or disdain?

Let her do her.


Also. I was getting wig checked at 15 years old when people didn't wear wigs and weaves... People still couldn't believe a black girl had long hair. It had nothing to do with weaves.

Wigs and weaving did allow my own hair to return to waist length, and I don't care who wig checks me now...



I don't like the idea of weave (sewing on another human beings hair just so you don't have to style your own). If someone started selling human nails that you attach on your own, people would find it creepy as hell. But stroking the locks of some Indian woman is totally okay *burf*. I do understand why celebrities and models wear them for totally practical reasons. But the masses are wearing weaves because they want to have/experience long hair :look:. I agree with the author that a lot of people online claim that they're wearing wigs and weaves for "protective styling" when they're really weaving it because 1) don't want to deal with their own hair and/or 2) they think the fake hair looks better than their own. Hence all of the ladies who say that they're going to keep weaving or wigging it until their hair reaches *blank* length, or they're hair's at an "awkward length".

A big part of my dislike for weaves is that it's such a known crutch for black women :sad:. It would be a non-issue if it there were only a handful of weave wearers. People get rallied up when others assume that black women with long hair are wearing weaves, when the super majority of black women with long hair are wearing weaves :spinning:. I don't appreciate having to get weave checked because no one else can be bothered to wear their own hair :lachen:.

Also 90% of weaves and wigs look like weaves and wigs from a mile away. I can appreciate one that looks like real hair, but most just look tacky. Take the ridiculous look of an obvious weave and add: mass cases of chewed up edges, bald spots, the inability or desire to learn to take care of one's own hair, the negative generalization that black women only wear fake hair, and incredible insecurity that black women have about wearing their hair, and you will have why I (and others) are anti-weave.
 

ckisland

Well-Known Member
When people say, "let her do her" to someone, I wonder what do people think that person is out doing.

I'm not running by, snatching off wigs or setting up booths in BSS's yelling, "You're not Beyonce! You're not Rihanna (especially when that Little Mermaid nonsense took off)! Stop trying to be Naomi Campbell. She ain't got no edges!!"
I promise I'm not going around terrorizing weaveheads :lol:. I just chose to express that I know where the OP's coming from.

And I don't know about others who care about the perceptions of black women and how they perceive themselves, but it matters to me because I belong to this group and those things do and can have an effect on me as an individual :drunk:.

ETA: Also I didn't mean to convey outrage or disdain towards women who wear the weaves. I just don't like the prevalent weave culture or how weaves are obtained.
 
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Jasmataz

.........
So many questions...

1. Since when did the term "protective style" become "negro-correct"?
2. WTH does "negro correct" mean anyway? :perplexed
3. Since when did being natural automatically mean that you're supposed to be "accepting and learning how to deal with your own hair as it comes out of your head"? Also, I never received the memo that going natural was supposed to be a "liberating movement".
4. Since it is impossible for her to know the lifestyle of every single individual, how is it possible for her to know if a person's hair does or doesn't need protecting?
5. She says she's noticed a "heightened emphasis among naturals for length"...but don't most women in general (regardless of hair texture) desire long hair?

I've noticed that most people who have negative opinions about weave, know very little about it to begin with. And it's okay to not know, but to pass judgement as if you do...:perplexed
 

Blessed&higlyflavoured

Well-Known Member
I happen to agree with what she's trying to say

but she has assumed that everyone is going natural so as to reject euro-centric beauty standards. that's just not the case.
 

mccray689

Active Member
Its amusing she wrote all this on weaves. But I just don't understand why wearing a weave means your not natural or your trying to look "European" When will people learn a style is just that a STYLE. I like to wear my hair straight and curly. When I wear it straight does that mean I'm trying to be a white woman for a day? He11 no I just want my hair straight. I see why so much ignorance is present in the world. Also white people wear just as much weave if not more than black people. There is not a white celeb out their who's head isn't full of extensions. Even way back in the day white people were wearing wigs.
 
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Rocky91

NYE side boob.
Haha I literally just got some kinky curly sewed in today.

The part about "you're no better than shaniqua and em" really rubbed me the wrong way.
 

ChannieBoo3

Active Member
The fact that she is arguing that it is not a protective is ludicrous . Ppl try so hard to make rules for somebody else's hair . If they want to call it their protective style than that's what the hell it's gonna be , smh .
 

PinkSunshine77

New York's Finest
Well adjusted people with fulfilling lives don't have time to police what other people do with their hair.

I don't wear weaves, but I don't give two figs what the next chick wears on her head or how she classifies it.

*Flips mini-twists*

This right here!
 

cheerrette

Well-Known Member
I don't wear weaves and I skimmed through the article, but I never saw her reason that wearing weave isn't a protective style. She just talked about how its not natural. So is it not a protective style because its not natural? Maybe I should have read word for word but if that's the arguement then I don't get it. A protective style is meant to protect your hair from manipulation. If a weave does that then it's a protective style. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Whether or not someone is wearing it because it is protective styling is a whole different argument. Even still they could be wearing it to look like Becky but its still protecting their hair (if done corrrectly).
 
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