do i have nappy hair? what is nappy hair? - Page 2

bohemian_star · 08-26-2012, 06:52 PM

Now I know kinky is the same as nappy. I will use that word instead. I like the word kinky much better. I still have to do more research to fully understand it. Next thing, I write a post on kinky hair and people get offended again. Nappy hair is out of my dictionary-- FOREVER!

adthomas · 08-26-2012, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bohemian_star

how did i answer my own question if i still don't truly understand what it is?why would i be a troll if i put a picture of the real me?and why would i want to insult Black people if I am Black as well? it doesn't make sense? and i'm not trying to make myself look like a victim. like i said mixed people go through things like this all the time. I'm supposed to know everything about Blacks because I'm Black and I'm supposed to know everything about White, Filipino because I'm all of those? I have been so absorbed with my Hispanic culture that I never got the time to know exactly what nappy was. In my country, African hair is "bad hair" and I have gone against everything and everyone by transitioning. Not even my family supports it. But I chose it because I WANT to embrace what God gave me.I don't care if I look more Black or more White or more ANYTHING- I will look like how God wants me to look-the way he designed me to look with my natural hair! I don't use Webster's dictionary because I thought asking other Black women,like me, would be more insightful instead of reading something that was probably written by someone not black. i mentioned race because my Black friends tell me my hair texture is the way it is because I am mixed. "your hair grows so long because you're mixed" "your hair is so pretty because you got everything in you" Everything I mentioned is because of what I have heard from my Black friends! I am not familiar with the Black community since I am Hispanic and my parents don't even speak English. It wasn't until I started transitioning that I started finding out all this information on Black hair, as well as what I have heard from my friends over the years. So I was asking a question. I don't understand what nappy hair is and does my race have anything to do with why my hair is different than someone else's? That's why I mentioned everything I did- because I didn't understand. You insulted me by putting words in my mouth and saying that I feel superior and that I need to accept my Blackness. It's obvious that I do. I've said it numerous times. All my life, all I've known is Hispanic customs. Now that I am embracing my Blackness, I'm getting hammered for it. I don't get it?? Just because I do not understand something, I need to get crapped on?

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that it was not your intention but like I said before what you wrote was offensive and you contradicted yourself. Like another poster said you should reread what you wrote the first time.

Yes a lot of black people have the mind set of so called african hair being "bad hair" and "mixed hair" being "good hair". We here on naturally curly do not subscribe to that way of thinking so to make comments like that will tick people off. I responded to your question the first time saying technically "nappy" as far as hair means tightly curled. So even if you have nappy hair it is still nappy whether it is flat ironed or not. But mostly nappy is used as an insult to mean unkempt. I'm black and my hair is midback. Plenty of black people on here have long hair. Some could but choose to wear it short. Having White DNA is not a required to have long hair.

bohemian_star · 08-26-2012, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adthomas

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that it was not your intention but like I said before what you wrote was offensive and you contradicted yourself. Like another poster said you should reread what you wrote the first time.

Yes a lot of black people have the mind set of so called african hair being "bad hair" and "mixed hair" being "good hair". We here on naturally curly do not subscribe to that way of thinking so to make comments like that will tick people off. I responded to your question the first time saying technically "nappy" as far as hair means tightly curled. So even if you have nappy hair it is still nappy whether it is flat ironed or not. But mostly nappy is used as an insult to mean unkempt. I'm black and my hair is midback. Plenty of black people on here have long hair. Some could but choose to wear it short. Having White DNA is not a required to have long hair.

I'm gonna use the word kinky now. I like it much better. Nappy is a risky word. I understand it a lot better and yes, I do have nappy hair. If nappy hair is kinky hair, then yes I do have it. And I love my hair. I know Black hair can grow long. I'm not used to seeing it though because most of my friends wear weaves, sow-ins. I think it damages their hair. I've never worn any of that before but I see they have bald patches. They say it's the glue. I'm guessing they glue the wig on their real hair? I just can't imagine. But yea, I think Black women should accept themselves for who they are and not give into what society thinks is good hair. If we all come together and show them that kinky is beautiful, then no one could tell us otherwise. We need to stick together. If I contradicted myself, I was just confused. I'm learning a lot about the black community. Rule #1 Never ever say the N word again- and I'm not talking about the original one. well that too

adthomas · 08-26-2012, 07:47 PM

Welcome to Naturally Curly, Bohemian Star. I'm so glad you're here!!!

bohemian_star · 08-26-2012, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adthomas

Welcome to Naturally Curly, Bohemian Star. I'm so glad you're here!!!

Thank you very much. I really appreciate it

murrrcat · 08-26-2012, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bohemian_star

Quote:

Originally Posted by murrrcat

I beez mixed and I ain't have them problems.

My white friend did have Mixed people problem #61 (finding jeans that fit incase no one knew), but she's only white...so I think the website wrong....

and I kinda wanna meet the person who made this one and slap em

lol yea that one was funny. i did post one website that was really serious. it even talked about obama being mixed. you're really lucky that you don't have those problems. I was watching this TV special on mixed people and we have so many problems when it comes to identity. Maybe it's the area we live in because I know some areas are more accepting towards mixed people but where I live, I just can't fit in.

I don't have problems when It comes to identity because I know who I am. I figured it out along the way, Just because my mom is white and my dad is black is not what makes me who I am it's just a tiny part. Mixed people come in all different shapes and sizes and hair textures, just like white people and black people.

I think people have to realize that you can't just try and fit in everywhere, that is usually learned in grade school.

and trust my area was NOT accepting of mixed people....or black people...or any body other than white people.

bohemian_star · 08-26-2012, 09:33 PM

Murrrcat:
That's great! I was brought up with Hispanic customs and never had to deal with race until I started living in the states. My parents never really talked to me about being Black or White- just Hispanic. When we got here, I found I had to check boxes on which one I was or people would ask me what I was and I had to ask my parents about our roots. So yea, in my country no such thing as filling out race boxes or even discussing what we are. We are Hispanics and that's that. The US is very different.

Keenylicious · 08-26-2012, 09:53 PM

Never thought is say this on here (especially in a thread like this), but... I think y'all are being a bit harsh.

Actually I should say I think you're taking issue with the wrong thing here, but my issue is too much for me to type on a phone. Bbl.

On my EVO... I'm too fancy to proofread.

jmartinez · 08-26-2012, 09:55 PM

Well i have lots a background too but since your hispanic i'll tell you what nappy really means. Like you said, es una palabra ofensiva q basicamente quiere decir pelo malo. Pelo q en lo q no se puede poner en ningun estilo, ni se ve bien para nada. Viendo tu foto, claro q no tienes el cabello nappy. Y las otras personas aqui no estan enojadas. Es q en los Ee.uu, se parace q todos quieren separarse de tener ni una gota de sangre africana. Es por eso q son un poquito sensitivas, pero para nada estan enojadas

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jmartinez · 08-26-2012, 10:05 PM

Jajajaja ok, creo q unas estaban enojadas pero te ves bien. Tu cabello se ve muy suave y se ve q tienes la mezcla perfecta de las razas. Yo tiengo problemas siendo aceptada aveces tambien pero ignoro las personas q no me aceptan y busco a personas q si me aceptan. Puede ser q te dicen nappy por q estan celosas. No se.

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jmartinez · 08-26-2012, 11:03 PM

O and nappy means bad hair basically , kinky is the correct term it means cottony. Kinky is not offensive at all because it describes the hair as cottony. Cotton is soft and fluffy. As with alot of hair that people of african descent have. But being of african decsent doesnt mean, whoevers balck will be born with cottony hair. Many full africans and african americans with no apparent mix have completely straight hair. If you dont know about the nappy thing its ok. Ive explained here bilingual. Keep posting on naturally curly as there are many friends here. Sorry if there may be a little edge with this post, but there have been alot of people who have trolled for compliments or put others down. And if you have any other questions about english slang, im here. I speak spanish and english so ill be happy to clarify anything. Some of the stuff the young kids are saying i dont know but i can still help. For ex, i had to look up yolo on google. Lol

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adthomas · 08-26-2012, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmartinez

Jajajaja ok, creo q unas estaban enojadas pero te ves bien. Tu cabello se ve muy suave y se ve q tienes la mezcla perfecta de las razas. Yo tiengo problemas siendo aceptada aveces tambien pero ignoro las personas q no me aceptan y busco a personas q si me aceptan. Puede ser q te dicen nappy por q estan celosas. No se.

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Al principio me enoje porque pense que ella querria pelear con nosotros sobre el superiodad del pelo liso o lo feo del pelo malo y los morenos. Pero ya veo que es buena gente. Pienso que la confusion tiene nada que ver con el idioma porque yo tambien hablo Espanol pero soy de los EEUU y conozco el historia de los morenos en este paiz. Lo que ocurrio fue mas de diferencias de cultura pero ya nos entendemos bien. Ciao

Vrae · 08-27-2012, 01:17 AM

Oh my!! Way too much drama over the word nappy. This poor child is just confused over a term, that sounds like it is used offensively by ur friends. I dont understand y people get so defensive over race. To answer ur question a better word for nappy would closely related to kinky. I understand how difficult it is to fit in among different races especially wen u hav diff features from all of them. My advice to u wld b to ignore any negative comments made about ur hair. And embrace every curly kinky bit of it. I dont like the term nappy either. But it is programmd n our minds to c it as a negative...Ur hair is ur hair In the end

bohemian_star · 08-27-2012, 06:04 AM

JMartinez:: muchas gracias por la informacion. me sirve de mucho. yo no quise ofender a nadie y me senti muy atacada por las otras. Ya resolvimos el problema despues de discutir como una loca. lol. Esa palabra no la vuelvo a usar. Da mucho sentimiento. Pero gracias. De donde eres?

Adthomas: You speak Spanish!!! That's so cool. I was sooo not expecting that. I had to double check and make sure it was you lol.

Vrae:: i love everything you said!!!! thank you

)

anonymous_114091 · 08-27-2012, 09:07 AM

Nappy is a term with no official definition. It's in the eye of the beholder. In times when there was inequality between blacks and whites the word nappy was a derogatory term used to describe the hair of individuals of African descent, mixed or not, that did not have hair that fit the socially acceptable hair of the time, which were Caucasian hair types. Today the term nappy is used rather loosely. I've even overheard people with hair in the 1's and 2's refer to their hair as nappy. I guess in that respect it would mean difficult to manage. Other times people use it in a positive sense to emphasize the fact that they are proud of their tightly coiled/highly textured hair.

But, long story short: WHO CARES! As long as you like your hair what others say shouldn't matter. I'm sure you have beautiful hair. Carry on...

jmartinez · 08-27-2012, 09:56 AM

De los ee.uu pero de sangre american y mexicana

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CurlyJulie81 · 08-29-2012, 07:32 PM

Without even looking at pictures of your hair, it is NOT nappy. I think "nappy" is such a negative word- describing something nasty or gross. It should never be used to describe hair.

Hugs to you, lovely!

BlackAngelPlayah · 08-31-2012, 12:30 PM

I knew this was gonna blow up wrong.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure your hair is not nappy your friends are just being mean/jealous. Period.

In the future all people from other countries need to open with that instead of saying I'm mixed. Answers more questions. Gets better answers.

beeduh · 09-01-2012, 09:03 AM

I always thought nappy meant "not fixed". I knew, growing up, that the black communities here used it to refer to their hair or to insult someone. In my mind nappy refers to something like bed head for curly hair. If I go to bed with wet hair I'll wake up in the morning with nappy hair. It's not straight, not curly, and it's a tangled, frizzy, undefined mess. But I was also told by white people growing up that I had "kinky" hair. I disagree with this. My curl pattern has been the same since I was little. No one knew how to take care of it back then so it was a flyaway mess.

BlackAngelPlayah · 09-01-2012, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beeduh

I always thought nappy meant "not fixed". I knew, growing up, that the black communities here used it to refer to their hair or to insult someone. In my mind nappy refers to something like bed head for curly hair. If I go to bed with wet hair I'll wake up in the morning with nappy hair. It's not straight, not curly, and it's a tangled, frizzy, undefined mess. But I was also told by white people growing up that I had "kinky" hair. I disagree with this. My curl pattern has been the same since I was little. No one knew how to take care of it back then so it was a flyaway mess.

This is what I see nappy as kinda as well. I guess that's why I see it as an insult not just normal hair. LoL! Some have "reclaimed" the word. And I respect that. But I don't want to reclaim it any more than the other N word.