How Are We Describing Hair These Days?

[weaveadiva]

I described my girlfriend's hair as kinky and she became upset and said it's as bad as using nappy.
.

.
So I guess I'm outta the loop. What words do you ladies use when talking about hair types and textures? Coily? Curly? I'm lost.

 

[Bette Davis Eyes]

I dunno. I go by Andre Waller’s system. I’m a 4a with a little 4b above the ears.

I will say kinky curly or coily on occasion. Doesn’t bother me. I like my hair like
I like my men, kinky!

 

[faithVA]

For my hair I tend to say coily. I'm not offended by kinky but I do assosiate kinky with nappy.

How does she refer to her hair?

 

[LdyKamz]

Kinky had a negative connotation and was on par with nappy before the natural hair movement. Natural hair becoming popular changed the definition of the word for me and I am no longer offended by the word. But honestly, I used to have a screw face when people would say kinky lol I think I say coily or curly when I refer to my hair, I never really noticed before.

 

[Dayjoy]

Cottony? I don’t know. I’m still on a campaign for nappy acceptance. Maybe the way the European blacks say it, Afro textured? I love our hair and all its descriptors.

 

[PlanetCybertron]

I call our hair Afro-Texured.

I mainly do that to avoid any social justice issues arising and folks trying to argue with me, because I’m really not looking for any argument whatsoever. Like...at all. Lol

 

[Godsdaughter001]

Personally, I'm not offended by the terms nappy or kinky. But when I describe my hair - or someone else's hair, I also use Andre Walker's hair typing like @shawnyblazes mentioned. 4a, 4b, 3c, etc. I use the hair typing because it's more specific IMO.

But, nappy hair or kinky hair is nothing to be ashamed of IMO. I think it is offensive when it is spoken of with a negative implication. I'm happy to be nappy!! Whatever!

 

[sissimpson]

I am happy to be nappy

 

[Cheleigh]

My hair is pretty much a textbook definition of kinky coily, so I'm ok with both terms. People usually refer to the curl in my hair rather than the kink though.

 

[oneastrocurlie]

I don't describe my hair too often but I think I'd say coily. I wouldn't mind kinky depending on how it was used and who it was coming from. I don't use type too often because I think people can get offended if you don't say a type they want to hear.

In other words, you can't win lol.

 

[VictoriousBrownFlower]

I say afro textured but wouldn't mind in the least kinky but not nappy. I don't know why though. Nappy just sounds negative to me where kinky doesn't.

 

[FadingDelilah]

Wow! I learned alot from reading this! I always thought kinky was the acceptable word. I knew nappy is considered offensive to majority of people, but I thought that saying the word kinky at least was okay. I will now use "afro textured" like a few mentioned above.

 

[FadingDelilah]

Oh and can we talk about how moisturized his hair is looking? What products he use?

 

[Saga]

I say kinky, but usually idgaf.

 

[movingforward]

Hair.

Curly Hair
Straight Hair
Wavy Hair
Persian Hair
Marley Hair
Not your Hair

LOL!!

 

[dyh080]

I don't use curly or coily because (warning: This is MY opinion only) I think those descriptions are "feel good " type words, even though type 4 IS technically tightly curly.

It's the same reason I don't refer to dark skinned people as brown skinned, a term traditionally used to describe a person in between light and dark skinned.

To me kinky, nappy and dark skinned are valid descriptions and should not be taken as negative.

Again, this is MY opinion. You are free to have yours.

 

[sunflora]

I tend to use kinky. When I describe my hair as 'very curly', other people give me a weird look. I never wear my hair in its natural state, but other people do not see a black person as having curly hair, thus, to avoid the awkward conversation we must have on what the word 'curly' means and not saying 'nappy' because I hate the word, I just say kinky. It is akin to nappy, now that I think about it, but it lacks the negative connotation in my opinion. I wish people weren't so ignorant as to not realize the broad range that WOC can have in their hair. Afro-textured, coily, curly and kinky all give me different mental images (oddly enough, kinky makes me think of my own hair ).

I think I would care a lot less if ignorance and passive aggressive commentary didn't make me so angry. Around other blacks, I'd probably just say my hair is nappy and call it a day - I care a lot less, because we both know what we're talking about. I do get jitters when someone outside of this forum says a hair type though - I met a girl like that while ago, who said that (under her protective style) her hair was maybe 3c, and I immediately knew what she meant, and would have understood what she meant if she said her hair was 'very curly' too. I wish the knowledge was more widespread.

 

[Sarabellam]

I use kinky curly when talking to other BW. I say tightly curled when talking to nonBW.

Why?

Bc their life experiences with “kinky” as an adjective is generally negative. I don’t like giving them an inch to believe that I endorse negative talk about myself or my people.

However I also work in a fast paced high stress work environment so there is usually either too little time or energy to gently correct their recklessness on the subject of black people so I tend to be overly cautious.

 

[discodumpling]

Nappy, kinky, curly works for me & mine. #truth

 

[NaturalShe94]

Straight, Wavy, Curly, Coily, Kinky.

That’s how Ive been describing hair types forever. I mean that’s what it is. Now Nappy? That’s offensive. In school, my hair was up and my friend asked me why I dont let it down. Truthfully it was because it wasn’t combed out and I was always too lazy to comb it out. I said “its because I need to comb these naps out first” ... She HOLLERED, “GIRL I GOT NAPS, YOU GET TANGLES” .... Everybody busted out laughing, including myself. She had kinky hair, but it was long, hell, it was longer than my hair at the time and I was sitting at BSL. I personally don’t know the exact difference, but, I consider kinky, tightly coily hair. And coily, tightly curly hair. I honestly use nappy as a term of “messy, undone, tangled” hair but never a way to describe someone’s hair type.

 

[MaeveCarmen]

I never knew "kinky" was offensive. I guess Im out of the loop too..

 

[greenmetro99]

I say curly, straight, kinky, tightly coiled, nappy.... It's just hair. No need to sugar coat!