Playful curls, lustrous waves, or silky straight, there’s so much variety in hair types all over the world! And although you can style your hair the way that you want, you don’t really get to decide the type of hair that you are born with, do you?
Just like Reddit user Reasonable-Ebb-5721, who was a Caucasian with a natural afro, and all her friends knew about it. But one day, they suddenly accused her of cultural appropriation. And when she snapped back at them for being born that way, they all just left.
More info: Reddit
The poster of this story was a Caucasian woman who had a natural afro and her friend circle consisted of people of color
Image credits: wayhomestudio (not the actual photo)
Since they had all known her for quite a few years, they were well aware of her natural afro
Image credits: u/Reasonable-Ebb-5721
Image credits: KoolShooters (not the actual photo)
One day, they unusually started talking about cultural appropriation and she felt that they were all looking at her in a weird way
Image credits: u/Reasonable-Ebb-5721
Image credits: Nataliya Vaitkevich (not the actual photo)
One friend even said that it was weird how she was white yet had an afro, and they told her to get her hair straightened
Image credits: u/Reasonable-Ebb-5721
Stunned by this, she snapped at her friends, who then looked disappointed and disgusted by her loud tone and left
In today’s story, the original poster (OP) was a Caucasian woman whose close circle of friends were almost all people of color. And as they had known her for long, they were well aware that she had a natural afro. Usually, when they all got together, they spoke about political or societal topics, but never about cultural appropriation.
However, one day, when they were chatting, they brought up cultural appropriation and the issue of afros popped up. Well, our poster was sympathetic about the topic as she felt (just like most of us) that someone trying to mimic the hairstyle of people of color was kind of offensive. So, even though she nodded along to the topic, she didn’t really contribute much.
But then, she felt that people were looking at her weirdly. And as a survivor of social anxiety, she shrugged it off, thinking it was her insecurity kicking in. But the looks and stares just kept intensifying till one of them actually said how weird it was that she had an afro despite being white.
Well, OP was surprised as they all knew it was natural. But things didn’t end there, folks, because even others joined in and went overboard by stating that she was adding to racial tension and that she should straighten it. That was a pretty mean thing to say, so she just snapped and retorted loudly, “I'm sorry I was born this way."
Some of her friends looked disappointed, while the others gave her disgusted looks and they all just left. Probably feeling confused about the way she retorted, OP vented online and asked Redditors whether she was in the wrong.
Quite a few Redditors opened up about how even they were white and had natural afros. They mentioned that she shouldn’t have to change her natural self just to please others, no matter the reason. Some even said that her friends were not even aware of what cultural appropriation meant and were just accusing her without any reason.
Image credits: Liza Summer (not the actual photo)
Britannica states, “Cultural appropriation takes place when members of a majority group adopt cultural elements of a minority group in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way.” From the definition, it’s pretty clear that OP was not being disrespectful as it was just her natural hair.
Bored Panda got in touch with the original poster, who mentioned that it was very challenging to see how the whole situation affected her perception of herself. That's quite sad to know, isn't it? After all, she's just a 19-year-old girl who was already struggling with social anxiety!
However, when we asked her about what advice she would like to give to someone stuck in a similar situation, she was bold enough to say, "Try to talk things out before jumping to conclusions, but also make sure not to sacrifice yourself in this process."
Research shows that 65% of Americans say it has become more common for people to express racist or racially insensitive views in the past few years. So, we can understand why anti-racism is important. But, a Redditor also mentioned, “A lot of people who are intending to be anti-racist end up going so far they end up in racist territory.”
And this seems true for OP’s friends as people concluded that their statements towards the poster was racist and highly inappropriate. Many suggested that she should end ties with such people. However, she commented that it might have been a misunderstanding, so she was going to talk things through rather than just end it, as these friends had been with her through tough times.
However, OP informed us that she reached out to her friends through text to explain how she felt and sent them the post but they did not respond to her, yet. She thinks it unlikely that they will. It seems quite sorrowful that a conflict erupted over such a thing. But alas, you can never know what life will throw your way!
Well, now that you know the whole scenario, feel free to jot down your thoughts in the comments!
Redditors called out her friends for their hostile comments and suggested that she shouldn't have to change her natural self just to please someone
