Do you embrace the word "nappy?"

SleekandBouncy

Well-Known Member
My hair is naturally nappy (4a/b). Some people use the term as a pejorative, but that's their problem. I'm not going to validate them by accepting their interpretation of the word.

My hair is nappy, springy, sprongy, and kinky.
 

spicypeppermint

New Member
When people say nappy its NEVER in a positive form. Growing up that was a dreaded word as long as you were black & had kinky (nappy) hair. You KNEW you were nappy, you just didn't want anyone reminding you. As for now, if people want to pay to get my hair un-nappy fine! Until then I'll just be nappy with some cash in my pocket!
 

Sapphire_chic

Active Member
Never heard of it before these boards so maybe my opinion isn't all that useful.
Trying to think of equivalent words leads me to thinking i wouldn't embrace it. i prefer the other descriptions (coily, afro-textured)...ones that weren't made to hurt.
 

nappystorm

Well-Known Member
When that's the look I'm going for...It no longer bothers me. I look like "and?" when people tell me my hair is nappy.
 

msa

New Member
I don't use it in real life to refer to my or anyone else's hair because it is considered a negative term. If anyone says it to me, I just turn it into a positive.

But I don't see a problem with the term...I use it online all the time. It's descriptive.
 

firecracker

Well-Known Member
I refuse to allow that word to affect me negatively even though I know its rooted in negativity. I call my hair nappy, a bush and zulu warrior princess hair. I love my nappy bush and most likely won't have senior balding because of its nappy thickness.
 

silvergirl

Well-Known Member
i dont think its a bad term, nappy to me is knotty, or highly kinky hair. but i would not describe my own hair as nappy because i dont think it fits the texture definition.
 

BlkOnyx488

Well-Known Member
I am coming back around to embracing the word NAPPY. When I was growing up the worst thing in the world to be was a "nappy-headed-blackgirl" This belief lead to my mother putting chemicals in my hair when I was four years old. Which started me on a nightmare hair Journey of breakage and hair falling out that lasted for almost 30 years.

Perhaps if the community I was raised in and my mother had been more accepting of "Nappy headed blackgirls" I would have grown up knowing what it was like to have a full head of healthy natural hair. Instead of the bone straight breakage and near baldness I was raised with.

VIVA LA NAPPY HEADS!!!!
 

countrychickd

New Member
I don't embrace it! Everytime I hear it, it's meant in a negative way. People use that word to describe hair that they view as undesirable here in the south, so I've always felt offended by the word. As a result, I just can't use that word to describe my hair or anyone else's. There are plenty of other words that I can use to describe these gorgeous locks of hair, so why try to flip a word that I view as negative?
 
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