What Natural Hair Means to These Afro-Latinxs

“This is my fingerprint to the world.”

So many Afro-Latinxs have had to deal with rude assumptions about their hair, been subject to the phrase pelo malo, and been made to feel ashamed of their hair.

And they deserve better.

That’s why we’re so grateful for this video from The Flama, which features several Afro-Latinxs sharing what their natural hair means to them!

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism

Click for the Transcript

Speaker 1: It’s still majestic and it’s still lovely. And now I’m Marge Simpson. Boom!

Speaker 2: I think that a lot of people associate being Latina with having hair that’s not disagreeable. That’s not true!

Speaker 1: Sometimes I wear it down like this, and sometimes I have to put it up when I have to run after a train, or run after a person, or run after a mugger, or run after my girlfriend.

Speaker 3: If we slept together, and you woke up and you looked over, this is what you’ll find.

Speaker 2: This back section is my Puerto Rican section. And then in the middle we have “Fiddler on the Roof.” It doesn’t curl. It doesn’t want to cooperate. It just wants to do it’s thing. But that’s not allowed.

Speaker 4: It’s like regal. It’s beautiful. It’s empowering.

Speaker 5: A phrase that you always here is “pelo malo”. So I used to say, [phrase in Spanish].

Speaker 2: One time, I had an aunt say to me that I’m more Black than I am Latina now that my hair is natural.

Speaker 3: “You have to look neat.” I’m like, so you’re telling me that looking neat means keeping my hair buzz-cut low?

Speaker 6: “Oh, your hair kind of looks like a sheep.” I was like, “What do you mean?” And then he pets my hair and is like, “Baaaaaa.”

Speaker 4: When I went to my stylist at a Dominican salon, and I told her that I was going natural, she was just like, “Why would you do that?”

Speaker 1: “Oh, look at that pajon” or like, “rat’s nest.”

Speaker 4: “Can I see? Can I touch it? What does it feel like? It looks soft, but is it soft?”

Speaker 6: It totally bothers me when people come and touch my hair, especially without permission.

Speaker 3: They’ll be like, “Oh, I like that!” But I’m just like, “Whoa! Whoa!”

Speaker 4: Yes, you may have questions and that’s fine. But do not walk up to me and touch my hair.

Speaker 1: You don’t like it and that’s good because you don’t have it.

Speaker 6: The more that I’ve grown into myself, the more I’m willing to let myself be extraordinary and let myself just be. Just be who I naturally am.

Speaker 2: I can wake up and decide I want my hair straight, and I’ll straighten it. I can want it curly, and I’ll make it curly. I wouldn’t change it.

Speaker 4: I love it the way it is. I know it can be demanding as far as taking care of it sometimes but I would not change one thing about my hair.

Speaker 1: This is my fingerprint to the world, something that you can’t see up close under a microscope. I can’t wait until it turns grey. I can’t wait until it becomes dreadlocks, and I neglect it. I just want it to be a part of me for as long as possible.

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