Nappy-The Other “N” Word
FYI-Please don’t ever refer to a black woman’s hair 
as hair as “nappy” ( can also be spelled “knappy” ). In general, it’s not considered a compliment. A black woman’s natural hair texture happens to be quite a touchy subject.
A friend of mine had an experience the other day that proves the point. My friend is black and she is Brazilian. She has only lived here in America for a few years and is still adjusting to the very different ways and culture of Americans. While riding the bus one day, there was a miscommunication and she ended up in a heated verbal exchange with another black female of Caribbean descent .
It quickly got nasty and even turned personal when the Caribbean female spat out vicious words to my friend that were intended to be hurtful and humiliating. The Carribean woman screamed “ At least my hair ain’t “NAPPY! ” (gasp) The comment about my friend’s hair texture was completely unrelated to the incident at hand.
Thankfully, my friend is firecracker herself and she refused to let that ignorant comment rattle her self esteem. She is comfortable with who she is. So her immediate response to the rude woman was
“You have the nerve to talk about my hair when you have that plastic hair on your head! My hair may be “NAPPY” , but at least it’s my OWN hair! ”
Bravo! Although, I’m not in support of loud verbal exchanges in public, if had to happen that was a great response. I felt she definitely needed to defend her personal dignity. And taking the same moment to let the rude female realize that she shouldn’t throw stones while living in a glass house.
That is only one instance that shows how deep seated issues with hair texture are amongst black women. I refer to this issue as the so-called “good hair” mentality. There seems to be an unwritten rule that having straighter, curlier or wavier is thought of as being more desirable, more attractive. But on-the-other- hand if you have cotton-like, tightly coiled, kinky hair that appears dry and rough you just have to do your best to cover it up and deny it. As if, somehow this hair is a shameful and embarrasing “affliction”. And since you have the misfortune of having such ”nappy” hair it’s because you’re “too black”. This of course, is because you must not have any “Cherokee Indian in you”. 
Even though many black women are seemingly proud to be black, just as many it seems lack confidence when it comes to embracing their natural hair texture. My goal is to help more women embrace and appreciate whatever God gave them. After all, every hair texture has it advantages and disadvantages.
Have you had a similar shocking hair horror story? Share your story.
