braids
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Can I Live? Malia Obama Tries Out Braids for Summer, and Now Everybody’s a Hairstylist
First kids—they’re just like us! Ah, youth. I remember my college years at a predominantly white college in the Northeast, navigating a course load and campus job while trying to figure out how to stay cute while washing my hair with extra-hard dorm water … good times. It’s no wonder that by the end of…
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Met Gala 2018: Issa Rae Gets Regal and Red-Carpet Ready
Last night, all the sexy people strutted their red-carpet stuff at fashion’s biggest night out: the Met Gala, the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. Issa Rae was ready to shine as usual, giving the evening’s theme, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” her own spin…
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Judge of Characters: Can White People Do Black Hair?
Perhaps the proper question is, can “transracial” mascot Rachel Dolezal do black hair? Well, she does, and has been doing so for a while; she acknowledged in her book, In Full Color, that she would do hair in college as a side hustle. That hustle has grown into a full-on kitchen-beautician business, and Dolezal is…
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Banana Republic Employee Told Her Box Braids Are Too ‘Urban’ and ‘Unkempt’
A young black woman is accusing her managers at Banana Republic of “blatant racism,” saying that they targeted her over her hair, which was protected by box braids. According to a Facebook post shared earlier this week by Destiny Tompkins, her manager—a white man—labeled her hair “too urban” and “unkempt,” cited her for a dress…
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Kawhi Leonard Looks Like He Cut His Braids Off With a Rusty Spoon
Kawhi Leonard was probably born with braids. He’s had them ever since anyone can remember. He had them when they were fashionable, and then he kept them even when they weren’t. His braids always seemed to be firmly nestled atop a bed of new growth. Like Anthony Davis’ unibrow, Leonard’s commitment to a 1996 hairstyle…
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Mass. ACLU Files Complaint Against Charter School That Disciplined Students Over Braids
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has filed a complaint against Malden’s Mystic Valley Regional Charter School after reports that the school disciplined and suspended students because they wear braids, citing the school’s dress policy. The ACLU filed the complaint Monday with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, charging that the policy…
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Mass. Charter School Students Sent to Detention, Banned From Prom Because They Wear Braids
Why black hair in school environments is still an issue in this, the year of our Lord 2017, is beyond me. But here we are, yet again. This time, in an apparent sudden enforcement of the “rules,” black students at a charter school in Malden, Mass., have been subject to punishment over braids (yes, the…
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South African School Ordered to Suspend 'Racist' Hair Regulations
A South African school that came under scrutiny after being accused of discriminating against black girls and encouraging racist hair policies has been ordered to suspend its hairstyle regulations and reassess its rules, Al-Jazeera reports. Students at Pretoria Girls High School say that they have been called monkeys by teachers for wearing banned Afros and…
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Texas High School Cheerleader Fighting to Wear Her Hair How She Wants
Kemirah Jn-Marie, 15, is a flyer on the Ross S. Sterling High School varsity cheerleading team and is a victim of discrimination by her coach with regards to her hair, according to an ABC report. She had braids done this year to meet cheerleading requirements that hair must be pulled back in a secure ponytail…
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How "Braids," Lupita Nyong'o's Vogue Short, Captures Peak Black Woman Awesomeness
I’ve taken great pains to avoid spending extensive amounts of time on Facebook. There are not enough crispy-chicken wraps in the world to help me bounce back from the deluge of unintentionally inaccurate Black history facts, passively racist status updates from college acquaintances, and awkward selfies from my uncle’s second ex-wife. I can even feel…