If you are a natural girl then you are probably more than familiar with Andre Walker’s Hair Typing System. This system was devised as a way to distinguish the different natural hair types that exists on the Black woman’s head. Many have balked at this particular system because it places finer, thinner hair in the “1” group (the 1st hair type), while coarser, thicker hair is placed in the “4” group (the last hair type),
Here are the definitions of each type & sub type taken directly from Andre’s book:“Andre Talks Hair!”
There has been many a debate as to whether this system in racist or colorist. With questions posed such as:
Why is the kinkier type hair on the low end of the spectrum while curlier hair is high on the spectrum?
Is kinky hair bad?
Sides have been chosen and major “beef” caused because people with 4 type hair were made to feel unattractive because of their placement on that list. 4cHairChick.com has led the way in showing us all that it is simply untrue and that thick, kinky hair is indeed gorgeous hair. With their website and huge social media following they prove this every day. On the other end you have Mixed Chicks who make their presence known for people with natural hair that fits in with 2 or 3 type hair or with multiple textures. Their product of the same name “Mixed Chicks” proudly caters to people with this type of hair. Truth be told I LOVE and enjoy seeing ALL natural hair types from Coily to kinky to Curly to Straight. I live my life promoting HEALTHY natural hair and ALL hair types. Texture don’t even matter when it comes to defining beauty. It made me wonder though what would happen if SKIN had a numerical or letter type listing, and then I saw this…
Photo Source Unknown
I never shared this pic when I saw it, I knew it would cause a stir, because again look at the spectrum and the number placement. See a pattern?
Fast forward to today and I run into this Straight Outta Compton Casting Call situation. Apparently, the casting agency for the new biopic film about N.W.A. has put out a casting call list that is nothing more that hateful, ignorant and racist. It rates the women that it needs for the film on an A-D scale with A being the top of the list and D being the bottom. Any guesses on which woman qualifies for the D category? You guessed it. The original text from this casting call appears on Gawker.com but here is some of it.
A GIRLS: These are the hottest of the hottest. Models. MUST have real hair – no extensions, very classy looking, great bodies. You can be black, white, asian, hispanic, mid eastern, or mixed race too.
B GIRLS: These are fine girls, long natural hair, really nice bodies. Small waists, nice hips. You should be light-skinned. Beyonce is a prototype here.
C GIRLS: These are African American girls, medium to light skinned with a weave.
D GIRLS: These are African American girls. Poor, not in good shape. Medium to dark skin tone. Character types.
Wow really? SMH. We have got to do better. I know with the way society and culture is today that there will be many applying for these jobs and placing themselves into these categories. I also know that many of us will be watching this movie when it comes out. But can we just for one second stop allowing society or ANY one to keep putting BLACK women into these categories? Can we also stop categorizing our own skin and hair? We are more than just letters and numbers aren’t we? But in order for us to stop THEM from denigrating us we have to stop it first. Letters and numbers belong in books and on bras, but not people. I am not a letter or a number. I am a strong and proud Black woman. I AM my skin and MY hair. It DOES define me and so does my mind, my voice, my intelligence, values, and everything else that goes into making me who I am. I do not appreciate being lettered and numbered like cattle or…SLAVES. (Think!) If the producers of Straight Outta Compton want to be accurate in their depiction of what really went on for this biopic I hope they have ugly ass dudes with jheri curls playing each of their characters because that would be real. Plus I am sure that they were not ALWAYS surrounded by the finest babes in the industry. I mean come on. That being said I am HUGE fan of pre and post N.W.A. Dr. Dre (World Class Wrecking Crew – betchall know nothing about that!) and Ice Cube (Lethal Injection is still in heavy rotation on my MP3) so I hope they get this rectified. That’s all I have to say about this. On to the more meaningful.
Thanks for reading.
How do you feel about hair typing and skin typing?
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