don’t touch my hair
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With a New Amendment, New York State Quietly Joins California in Fighting Hair Discrimination [Updated]
New York City passed amendments to ban hair discrimination in February, but now the state has followed suit, lending its legislative weight to the ongoing conversation around hair bias. Prompted by the CROWN Act (SB 188), proposed by Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Calif.), California became the first state to pass anti-hair discrimination legislation on July…
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Stranger Danger: Random White Woman Narrowly Avoids Catching Hands After Touching Black Woman’s Hair
Here’s the problem with growing up in a world that tells you you’re entitled to everything (even owning and colonizing people at various points in history): If you don’t know (or learn) better, you’re inevitably bound to touch something—or someone—that doesn’t belong to you. That’s what happened on Thursday in a Georgia establishment called Little…
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If You’re a Black Woman Who’s Tired of White People Touching Your Hair, There’s a Game for That
As black women, we occasionally have to deal with white people asking to touch our hair. Whether they’re fascinated by the curls, locs or intricate styles, there’s always a time in a black woman’s life when she feels like she’s on display at a hair petting zoo. You may have felt the urge to smack…
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Don’t (re)Touch My Hair: Photographer Apologizes for Photoshopping Lupita Nyong’o’s Hair on Magazine Cover
The photographer who “smoothed” actress Lupita Nyong’o’s hair for the cover of Grazia magazine has apologized, saying he made an “incredibly monumental mistake.” Photographer An Le, who was born in Saigon, Vietnam, but now lives in and runs a studio in New York City, added that changing Nyong’o’s hair was an “unbelievably damaging and hurtful…
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Lupita Nyong’o ‘Disappointed’ That Magazine ‘Smoothed’ Her Hair in Cover Photo
One of these days, y’all will finally learn to leave black women’s hair alone. But today is apparently not that day, and Grazia UK is facing criticism from actress and all-around queen Lupita Nyong’o after, she says, the magazine edited out her hair “to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like.” Nyong’o shared…
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On Watching a Black Woman Let Wypipo Touch Her Hair
At the intersection of divine providence and the collection of complex chemical reactions that cause us to convert oxygen into carbon dioxide and that we have chosen to call “life,” there still exists a nether region that can be explained only by the ancient African proverb, “Shit happens.” Shit happened to me last night. Well,…
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‘Don’t Touch My Hair’: Solange Calls Out Magazine for Cutting Out Her Crown
How much more explicit could Solange Knowles be? The Grammy Award-winning singer recently graced the cover of the Evening Standard Magazine. She looks luminous and regal, with large pearl earrings and a bold, asymmetric white top. The problem? The Evening Standard cut out her hair. Knowles posted the original photo on her Instagram account Thursday…
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You Can’t Touch Solange’s Hair, but You Can Ask to Touch Mine
If you have been natural for any length of time, you have more than likely had someone attempt to touch your hair. Strangers and friends of various races and ages seem to be intrigued by the texture, feel and all-around unexpectedness of black hair. Oftentimes this intrigue is expressed through a stray hand inching its…