00:00Whether it's been touched by unwanted hands or rejected by employers, schools, or strangers,
00:06black hair follicles are tired.
00:08Black people are especially tired of the double standard of our hairstyles being accepted
00:12when they're worn on non-black heads, yet frowned upon when they adorn ours.
00:17If you don't understand why black hair appropriation is offensive, but also a mess,
00:23allow me to over-explain it to you.
00:24Black hair is not and will never be just hair.
00:31It's wrapped in our identity and our history.
00:34Black hair is a sensitive topic, especially when it's on the heads of non-black people.
00:39This is called black hair appropriation, and it's a problem.
00:43And for some reason, people mistake their ignorant adoption of our hair as a trend as flattery.
00:49There's nothing flattering about this extreme imitation of the black scalp.
00:54So forgive me, Kim Kardashian and the rest of the coven,
00:58if I don't think your cornrows or your bantu knots that you think are mini buns are so cute.
01:04I'm a little busy thinking about how my ancestors had to use cornrows as mats to help guide slaves to freedom,
01:12or how they also used braids to store rice to aid in survival on their way to freedom,
01:17or even to relay messages to other slaves.
01:21Our history is not your fashion choice.
01:23In America, hair discrimination bans are being enacted to protect black people who wear their hair natural to work and to school.
01:30Society has deemed natural black hair as messy, unclean, and unprofessional,
01:35but hella cute when it's worn by non-black people.
01:38My black hair has never really known freedom.
01:41It has always been about rejection, assimilation, self-expression, and acceptance.
01:46These days, I keep my hair braided up under some protective style or weave.
01:51I grew up with a mama who made sure my hair was always presentable,
01:55which meant plaits, ponytails, or anything that sucked the freedom from my coils.
02:00And now, with the natural hair movement impacting society,
02:03it's as though black women are finally getting a chance to love our natural tresses fully for exactly what they are without backlash.
02:12The cultural significance of our strands disappears with imitation.
02:16Blackness has survived slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, and all kinds of oppression, and so has our hair.
02:24Our ability to endure speaks to the resiliency of blackness.
02:28And for as long as these hairstyles shall live, it's only right that they stay on the heads of black people.
02:34Until the next time a non-black person tries it with black hair,
02:38I'm Danielle Young, and this is The Overexplainer.
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