Jezebel 
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New York, 10:04 AM
Mon Dec 21
22 posts in the last 24 hours
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Also, when I had hair down to my waist, people kept touching it. Don't touch my hair; I don't know where your hands have been.
12/07/09
It's really disturbing! It really bothers me that these men see me, not as a normal human being just like them, but as a "type" in their sick genre book of women to jack off to.
12/07/09
I typically dislike the people that grope my hair, but I was in a good mood last week and didn't really mind. When they do annoy me, however, I find discussing the last time I shampooed will make them stop quickly. (I am a firm believer in only shampooing my hair when it is oily, which is about once every 2 weeks).
12/07/09
I find no one wants to touch dreadlocks. It's fabulous for me. They assume I never wash or comb my hair, which is, in fact, not true! I like your method, though. If I ever cut these things off (and I probably will one day), I will borrow this.
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But I did find out that my current BF has a thing for redheads. He told me after we had been dating for over a year. I told him that he is lucky he didn't say anything earlier, as I probably would've dumped him based on that alone.
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I get crap from people who say I should "embrace my natural hair" and not straighten/curl it, but it just does not look attractive when it's left to air-dry. It looks like I've been rolling in a gutter. If there's a non-horrible way to permanently straighten my hair, I'll take it.
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I've finally come to realize that I LOVE my curly hair, even if it is a huge hassle (esp since I love swimming at the beach too) and I get tons of compliments on it now that curly hair is starting to come back into fashion, but every day I continue to see media that tells me that curly hair is ugly or dirty and needs to be "cured" with expensive devices or damaging treatments or that women with curly hair are somehow more crazy or messy or less organized.
I'm really starting to wonder if a lot of the scorn directed at those with curly hair is an effort to shame them for daring to show that they are any ethnicity other than white or, if they are considered "white," to shame them for being "the wrong kind of white" or "not white enough."
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I recently went off birth control (about a month and a half ago), and just noticed that I've got wavy hair underneath at the base of my head! (I don't know if I just hadn't noticed before? - but that's highly unlikely - I look at my hair everyday when I blowdry it - it's ALWAYS been perfectly straight)
If I move away all my straight hair from the top of my head, underneath, it's wavy. I can pet my hair and feel all the waves underneath. It's fucking annoying as hell, because it's not like it's wavy all over, so I can't do anything with it. I don't want to buy a straightner just for the back of my damn head.
What gives? Is it the hormones? Why now?
I hate it. It's given me a lot of aggravation because I keep trying to comb the shit out of it and blowdry when it's wet - and it helps some - but still, it's there.
Any ideas? I mean, I thought you either get straight hair, curly hair, or wavy hair - not this weird mess I have now.
12/07/09
I also have a giant clump of curlier hair at the bottom half of my head that's under a much straighter layer. Annoying!
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I don't have any particular good advice except -- if it's "underneath" your hair, why worry about it? I have a remarkably laissez-faire attitude toward hair care myself.
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And, as you can see, I'm a a wee bit anal about perfection. It's underneath, but I know it's there. And if I don't do anything about it (i.e try to blowdry the shit out of it), then it looks super goofy. I've got a humpback. Lol.
12/07/09
I barely knew what to do with my straight hair...I'm the most incompetent person to deal with unruly hair.
And, I'm avoiding the hairdresser/stylist, because I've got a lack of funds right now. Which stinks, because they usually know what to do. You know how they instantaneously make hair look better? I want that.
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I call it "Poodle Perm Dysphoria Syndrome."
12/07/09
Hair - we all lose!
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There's a lot of money in "actual health issues" as well.
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The funding structure of scientific research can be extremely frustrating. As you point out, many companies (particularly the big drug companies) do put a lot of money into research that's relevant to serious illnesses. But, of course, even there, the drug companies' priorities are influencing the direction of the research -- when serious illnesses are exactly the areas of research that should be most free from bias.
That said, my boyfriend works in grants administration at the National Institutes of Health, so I know very well that a whole damn lot of money also goes to research that is determined to be good and valuable by teams of Ph.D. scientists.
In our capitalist society, it's inevitable that a staggering amount of money will go to research that seems pretty silly. But even silly science is extensively peer-reviewed, and may end up contributing to the greater body of scientific knowledge in ways we can't predict (as well as ways we can, such as this finding's potential forensic application).
In any case, I'm so glad you decided to expand on your earlier comment, because what you've said here makes a lot of sense.
12/07/09
And could we-the-commenters maybe stop bringing up cancer and AIDS every time we read about some more frivolous application of science? It seems to me like all genetic research contributes to the greater body of important scientific knowledge -- and as for partnering with a major cosmetics company, how exactly do people think all this research gets paid for?
What's more, it's absurd to imply that every scientist ought to devote her life to curing deadly diseases. Science has innumerable applications, and it's as ludicrous to hold all scientists responsible for solving the world's ten biggest problems (as determined by who?) as it would be to mandate that I study science instead of English because I'm good at both and science is more important.
Geez.
12/07/09
Says the person whose thesis changed 12 times in the course of 2 years.
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But, should I get the urge to have smooth hair for a few days, I turn to my trusty flatiron. It works wonders, even on my corkscrew curls.
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