I am trying to get familiar with american culture. So basically my hair been loced for a year now and my inspiration was actually african americans. I used to do a Lotta cornrows as well. I genuinely had no idea what cultural appropriation is, 2-3 years ago I just heard it at YouTube but didn’t do enough research abt and thought only white people can’t participate until I installed tiktok abt 6-5 month ago and OH GOD! People go crazy over it. I never knew it is that taboo and serious. Is this just an online thing or people actually gonna get mad at me? Like in college and in streets?
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Depends, as a young person, people may find it distasteful or weird. I don’t think most people will care but as a person who goes to college, there are crazy people there lmao. People refuse to believe it but someone might say something. You can keep it if you want tho, MOST people don’t really care.
Keep the locs if you want to keep them.
Cultural appropriation is just a racist doctrine that lambasts people of a race immersing themselves in the culture of another.
Keep your hair however you want to keep it! You do you.
Sometimes an employer will have a dress code that applies to hair styles. Trad con like banks and other financial services or food service jobs may not be open for you if you keep the style.
Do whatever makes you happy.
Keep em
Don’t worry. It’s typically only white people who get accused of cultural appropriation, racism, etc. If you’re a person of color, you can pretty much act with impunity socially. People won’t call you out on anything because they are too scared of being ostracized from society by the liberal mob. So wear your hair however you like.
I hope you enjoy your new home whenever you get here. Welcome in advance.
It doesnt really matter, black people in real life dont care, its just black people on twitter. They especially wont care if ur not white
Short answer – keep them and find out.
If you like your hair that way, and it comes from a place of understanding and respect, then usually people don’t give a crap.
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But also understand there is reasons why those hair styles are charged politically, and a lot of people have ran into issues with prejudge and employment due to keeping their hair that way.
You’ll have to make that determination for yourself. I have a ponytail and know that it carries with it a negative stigma.
When looking for a job or having professional connections (from scratch) I would personally advise cutting them off.
I’d do the same myself as a white male. I’m cutting my hair off this week in preparation for an internship. Cultural norms vary between different groups in the US.
The only people who care about shit like that are terminally online hyper-progressive white liberals, and fortunately they’re an extreme minority everywhere outside of college campuses. Black people aren’t going to care how you style your hair.
So just ignore the former, like the rest of the country does, and you’ll be fine.
it probably depends where you are going in america but i highly doubt any of the 18 year olds who are easily offended will bother to actually say anything outside of social media.
a few people i personally went to school with had locs / braids regardless of their hair texture.
i am in michigan, the metro detroit area is very mixed when it comes to culture. people here prefer that you try to understand or relate to them. hairstyles are one way to do that. it is different when it comes to things like wearing a head dress from native american culture. hairstyles don’t typically have a meaning behind them and the ones that do are a bit more obvious-like when hair is covered up.
I say keep them. I’m curious where in the US you are relocating to? This country is huge and different areas have vastly different cultures
TikTok is not real life.
Welcome to the US in which you can do whatever hairstyle you want, and the only people that bitch about things are probably going to be the male and/or female Karen’s in which we just ignore them
People go way overboard on cultural appropriation. You do you. Though U can see people on college grounds getting butt hurt.
Majority of people wont care, hair is hair
Dreadlocks aren’t solely an African or African American thing. Anyone judging you for cultural appropriation should probably do well to remember all culture is appropriated.
I’m not getting annoyed because people listen to Bach when they aren’t Germanic enough (it feels ridiculous to even type that out). If anyone told me not to make mole I’d have to tell them I got the recipe from a Mexican woman at my church who married a white American (again, the absurdity of even saying it).
Wear your hair how you like it. This is America, you are free do do what you like. Gatekeeping hairstyles is absolutely absurd and you shouldn’t feel any shame or approbation about wearing your hair one way or another.
No one’s going to get mad at you, the internet paints a warped reality of how America actually is. As long as you keep your locks clean no one will care. This is coming from an African American and the son of Jamaican immigrant. One of my dad’s friends as kid actually was rastafari, a religious group that was one of the main reasons dreadlocks became popular among black people in the west.
TikTok is not representative of the US as a whole. If you really want to fit into American culture, tell cultural appropriation to screw off and appreciate EVERYTHING.
Also, Africa is not the only place to have locs. They were very prevalent in peagan Europe.
Social media is not real life, many people wear their hair in locs. America is huge and incredibly diverse, people wear their hair in a million different ways.
Of course, there are always going to be bigots. But I wouldn’t say it’s enough of an issue to cut your locs. Perhaps, depending on where you live, where you want to work you may find cutting you locs is best. But I doubt it would be that much of an issue and I would wait to access the situation before cutting you hair
There’s actually a law in 12 states (hopefully more to come soon!) called the Crown Act, that protects people from being discriminated in the workplace based on hair. So I think this should tell you that this discrimination based on hair (specifically natural/ethnic hair) is a known and important issues to a lot of people! I hope that might make you less nervous
I can’t speak for all black people but as a Blackman myself. Cultural appropriation is only a big deal when pick a fad but don’t try to understand the struggle. Black people in America have had to create a cultural identity so it can be gate kept at times. Just be your authentic self no matter what. If someone says something about it be sincere ask if they have any insight to African American culture because you’d love to learn more. To me imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
You’re gonna look weird but I dont think any stranger is gonna confront you about it
I can tell you that a large majority of us couldnt care less what your hairstyle is.
i would say cut them. to me it is cultural appropriation and you might have a hard time finding a job anyway.
It’s going to depend on where you move. Certain spaces can get super militant about these things. Some spaces just outright don’t care. Especially if you’re moving for work and it’s a high level space then no one is really going to give a shit. If you’re moving for school you might get a few interesting looks
As far as cultural appropriation, just do whatever you want man! I honestly cannot understand how anyone would be *unhappy* that others have taken a liking to a part of their culture.
As long as it isn’t done to harass or make fun
nobody cares
Nobody is going to care but assholes, tik tok is not real life
As long as it’s neat, nobody gives a fuck.
No one’s going to give a shit. As long as they look good and presentable, I don’t think anyone is going to care outside of maybe some jobs with very old fashion conservative dress codes, and even then it’s probably not going to be an issue if you look presentable.
The idea of cultural appropriation is kind of dumb and in real life people don’t really care. If you take something extremely culturally significant and water it down to make it more mainstream without its original meaning and sell it, I can see how thats offensive. If you have a hairstyle that’s popular with black people, that’s… Not really the same or an issue aside from people looking for things to be upset about
You keep your hair the way you want it and whatever makes you feel comfortable. This is a free country and don’t let others tell you don’t have as much freedom as they do. We welcome you with open arms!
No you’re fine. Just internet keyboard warriors. Vast majority of people don’t care or will respect your freedom of choice even if they do care. Welcome to the US!
A free man wears his hair how he will
Wear whatever you want to wear, and keep your hair how ever you want it. Being original is a style in itself in America.
NGL in some places your hair can make it hard for you to get a job. Especially in more conservative states. I believe there was a bill called “The Crown Act” that protects people with textured hair and natural styles from being discriminated against at work or deemed unprofessional. I believe it’s passed in 8-9 states, most of them in the South or and California. I believed the act has made its way to the House with a 60 vote differential and on its way to Congress. I’m begging they pass it as my older brother had to cut his due to the limitations it imposed on him in our home state (Massachusetts). If you work in a more creative industry it doesn’t limit you, but unfortunately it can be a hurdle in far too many. I say where you’ll relocate to will make the biggest difference. If you’re going to somewhere like Southeast, you’ll be fine especially in the metropolitan areas.
You’d be a lot better off losing them.
Don’t bend to stupid faux offense. Wear your hair how you want. Locs aren’t exclusive to African Americans. Many cultures wore them that way.
Enjoy your life and do you.
Depends on where in the US you’re going to be living.
You do you bro you like it keep it
Laugh in the face of anyone who would try to confront you about it.
Don’t let people tell you how to look or dress. You do you and do what you want. Welcome! I hope you find happiness and success here!
do what now
Keep em bro you do you
Well just to be clear, do you have locs? Or just matted hair? Cause usually you need a specific hair texture (the super tight curls generally more common in black people) to really do locs.
If you have the hair texture to pull off locs it’s almost certainly a non-issue unless you’re particularly pale skinned (Apologies if I’m making assumptions, but it sounded like that wasn’t the case from your post). And either way I’d say it’s only a small but loud minority that would actually say anything.
Where a lot of contention comes from is white people destroying their hair to mimic locs with 0 understanding of what locs actually are. It’s a BIT taboo in some circles. Nowhere near on the same level as, say, casually uttering the n-word or something, but it’s not great.
That said, it’s not SO taboo that anyone would likely say anything to you. Like if I see a white guy with clearly matted faux-locs, I would probably be silently judging him for it, but I wouldn’t say anything cause who knows? I might be wrong, some people who are technically black and have black family/culture etc, can look relatively fair skinned.
No one cares. Ignore the outrage on TikTok and Twitter – that is not real life.
In a vacuum, simply having dreadlocks is not cultural appropriation. I cannot morally condone restricting art to people of a certain race – and fashion is indeed art.
But it’s important to note that the opinion above ignores the social and political history surrounding that hairstyle among Black Americans. For that reason alone I’d never do it to my hair, not to mention that it takes unnecessary effort to make dreadlocks out of 2B hair. And aside from all that, I don’t want people making assumptions about me because of my hair.
Personally, if this is how your hair already is, I wouldn’t change it just because you’re moving to the US. The cultural appropriation outrage is way way way overblown. The only people who might give you a hard time about it are hiring managers during a job interview.