**Elephant Man voice**
“I am NOT an animal!!!!”
Yes, that is literally the way some Black women feel when we encounter folk who are aggressively interested in the texture of our hair, whether it is styled in a bouffant crown of glory or relaxed and laid with some waves.
And looking doesn’t seem to suffice for some of our fellow humans.
Who hasn’t had someone tug their braids, awkwardly pat their ‘fro, or wonder aloud at the presence of “tracks” secreted somewhere on their scalp?
Now finally, there’s a whole dang live exhibit devoted to allowing the curious public into feeling the sensation of African American women’s luscious locks. The event, powered by un-Ruly.com, took place on both June 6 with another showing on June 8 in New York City. Black women essentially form a human gallery bearing signs offering permission to touch their hair. And clearly this invite is overdue in the minds of some. As you’ll read in this post from un-Ruly’s founder, Huffington Post blogger Antonia Opia, the desert thirst to grasp our hair is real.
What’s your experience with this follicular phenomenon? Have you ever had anyone touch, or request to touch, your hair in a way that made you feel like an attraction at a local petting zoo? Or do you instead find it a means for human beings to connect and understand more about each other?
