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African-Americans and head lice--myths vs. facts
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Anonymous
I actually had a woman--who i previously thought of as well informed--say to me, "well black people don't get lice, so at least you don't have to worry about that...I mean they won't stay in curly hair..."  After inwardly choking at this ignorance, I told her that was not true. Here is why: many black hair care products contain a certain amount of oil. Curly hair can be very dry so the lighter oils condition the hair. The oil repels the lice. Ok? That being said, not all black people use these hair products. I do not, and neither do my kids. Their hair is fairly straight or loosely curled at most so it is not necessary. Our kids (and all us, unfortunately had lice 2 years ago. What's the BIG DEAL about this ignorant assumption, you might ask. Well, it was the pseudo-authoritative way that she stated this information--black people do not get lice...as if there were something intrinsically biological about it. Clearly she doesn't really know any black people very well or she would not make such a sweeping statement. climbing down off soapbox...
Mother of biracial children |
zumbamama
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| People make silly assumptions like that all the time...just have to shake it off and enlighten them. A couple times when I've gone to the nail salon, customers think I work there because I'm Asian. More often, people think I am Latina and ask me if I speak English before they ask me for directions, or if I'm my daughter's nanny. I always get asked where I am from, and I say born in DC...I'm American. And they say, "You don't look American." And I say "What does an American look like?" And then they are stumped. I like to politely make people rethink their statements like that so they can realize how stereotypical they are being. |
Anonymous
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Sigh. OP, is there room for two on your soapbox? Because I (and many other folks, too, probably) can relate. But in fairness, there are plenty of "hair myths" and mis-infirmation among members of the black community as well. For example, I just about keeled over in shock when an ex of mine revealed his resistance to trimming his daughter's long (but horribly damaged) hair. He thought that hair grew from the ends, and that cutting it would stop it from growing. When I asked him why, then, his hair hadn't stopped growing despite his twice-monthly haircuts, he had no answer. This guy was a college-educated highly, succesful lawyer; the lack of logic (as well as the just plain silly statement) astounded me.
As for the head lice thing -- using heat to style one's hair also kills the nits (or so I'm told). So anyone who uses a pressing comb or even a really hot blow drier (as some black folks do) would get rid of them that way. Here's to abolishing ignorance, one myth at a time! |
Anonymous
OP here  omg that salon thing really mad me smile and think. I know you are so right. Somedays I can laugh at it--some days not so much--some days I'll just get downright preachy and shrill. It just happens so often--thoughtless racial stereotyping, admittedly of the mild sort --death by a million paper cuts, so to speak, that I find my sense of humor about it all fades completely at times. It just that you know if someone could believe something as baseless as that--that they probably also hold a boatload of other negative perceptions. I mean the whole black hair thing is ....well, a loaded topic, I suppose...
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Meconbear
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| I'm also the mom of a bi-racial child and if I had a buck for the number of times people thought that I was my (light brown hair and pink-skinned) son's nanny, I could retire tomorrow! I try not to let that stuff get to me that much but it does bug me when people not of my race make sweeping generalizations about me or "informs" me of something (like OP's experience) about myself or my peeps. I think one of the problems is that DC is horrifically segregated and people just don't mix that much. I grew up in Houston, which is a majority minority city and people tend to be more used to having all different kinds of people around them (I know, shocking for TX, but it's true!) |
Anonymous
| Actually, the kinkier the hair, the less likely lice can thrive. |
Anonymous
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After a recent lice outbreak in my town, I had a chat with an African-American friend. She said that most of the lice in the US are European lice, and they "like" straighter sleeker hair. She also said that there are African lice (who "like" the kinky hair) but they aren't here. "Like" is in quotations because I'm not ascribing preferences to lice, but rather biological adaptations.
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Anonymous
| I thought the kinkier the hair the more it could grab hold? I am not black--white but I have really kinky hair esp. in the morning!! Anyway, my friend, who is a teacher, told me that my kind of hair is the kind that lice love. Who knows? |
Anonymous
I am not so sure about this - I remember getting lice when I was as kid (one does not forget "nit-picking") and my hair is pretty kinky, some goes my some of my friends in school. I grew up in the Caribbean so maybe there is a differenrt strain of lice in that part of the world. |
Anonymous
Depends on the lice - like all living things they adapt in order to survive. |
Anonymous
op here: this is the kind of ignorance I'm referring to. |
Anonymous
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OP, as someone who is in an interfaith marriage, I completely agree that there are sweeping stereotypes and assumptions made by ignorant people.
However, as someone who had lice a few times as a child and the mother of a dd who has had lice once already, I freely admit that I know very little about lice - I just do what I am told to get rid of it/try to prevent it. My point being - of all the incorrect assumptions/stereotypes in the world, I'm not really all that concerned that people don't have their facts straight about lice. |
Anonymous
omg. do you and your friend also find that the "africanized bees" will only sting white female children because of similar adaptations. An understanding of high school level basic genetics would really clear up any confusion on this whole topic. |
Anonymous
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Oh please! There is no reason that lice would not have a preference for a particular shape of hair shaft. You could easily go to webmd or google and get the answer. Many of the sites that I looked at said that kinky hair is less preferred by lice....so what.
Also, I have very kinky African hair, and to me, there is a difference between wavy, curly, and kinky hair. |
Anonymous
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PP here: A "basic understanding of high school genetics" would suggest that lice might specialize in any number of ways - including hair folicle shape or some other characteristic of the hair or scalp.
How many species of finches are there in the Galapagos? |