Your Hairstyles/Ethnic Confusion

[lovenharmony]

I've always received that confusion, mostly because I lack certain "stereotypical" features of a black person .

I know for a fact though that when my hair gets close to APL, that it will increase.

 

[Sunshine0801]

I always get asked where I'm from. When I respond with the city I live in, they look at me as if I'm silly and they ask with slight annoyance, "No, where are you really from?" So then we go back and forth for awhile, and ultimately they tell me that I look like I am from Africa. I usually ask why, and the most common answer is my hair, which is natural. I suppose some folks have a tough time imagining someone with natural 4B hair being American, and not African.

 

[silvergirl]

i constantly get asked if im mixed, with asian, indian (arab), white. im not sure if its the hair or something else, but im never been able to see what they see. to me i just look black.

 

[aja1121]

People question my ethnicity all the time, I get Middle-Eastern or Indian constantly when my hair is straight. Even in its natural state people still ask.

It's bad when Indian people think I'm Indian.

 

[MissMeWithThatIsh]

You're not. People always think I'm spanish whether my hair is straightened or out curly and loose. They just come up to me and start talkin in spanish. when my hair is in a bun I don't get that as much.

I messed up now, I moved to a mostly dominican neighborhood, so needless to say I haven't heard english since move-in day

LOL You must be in Washington Heights....

But yea, I know what you mean.

 

[MissMeWithThatIsh]

No lie, I thought you were Hispanic before I read you were AA in a post (but it wasn't because of your hair).

I agree...

 

[MissMeWithThatIsh]

Mostly West Indian/Caribbean but some mixed with Indian when my hair is straightened and has jet black coloring. I also think the cheekbones and eyes have something to do with it. I hate to see the response(s) once it gets longer.

With that said, the longer my hair has become, the more black men are convinced that I'm mixed with something and its a total turnoff because its an ignorant assumption that makes my blood boil. And boy do they try their best to figure out what you're mixed with.erplexed This might be a compliment to some ladies but not to me!

As if it makes you "all the more special" right?

 

[CoCoRica]

I get asked if I am mixed with Asian by all people--all the time, especially with a bang...even growing up people wld as where I am from and I say here (as in my city) and they wld be like, no what country. I just tell people I'm black, even though my mother isn't, because I look mainly..black..I guess.I use to get the Native American/Indian with long, jet black hair, not anymore my face is a bit chubby these days...the cheeks bones are covered in a layer of fat

When I have color in my hair, like honey blondes and brown weaves, I've be mistaken for Ethopian and Kenyan, I get the you look like our people speech (i get that since essentially my ancestors come from Africa)and on a few occasions people speak to me in Spanish I know a little bit, but not enough to help ya out.

 

[MissMeWithThatIsh]

I don't think it's the asking alone that's rude. I think it's how people are asking. And the insisting that you're lying and that you're something else that is rude.

Basically.

For those who were offended by the very "asking" of this question in this thread, I personally don't see anything wrong with accepting what/who you are- if you are that. It doesn't detract from your blackness...

However, it is funny on the inside looking out, how so many assumptions about YOU will be made, simply because of a hair style and texture, or length.

For some of us, our facial features, skin tone or other factors will generate the questions... not just the hair.

Now if someone makes it clear they like me because I look what I am not and they consider that a turn on (and in my opinion this is mostly Black guys), then I'm keeping it moving, because that's piping ignorance.

 

[apemay1969]

I get the thing where people think I'm mixed when I'm with my brother because he has dark blond hair and grey/blue eyes and we look a lot alike although my hair is more red than blond. Neither one of us is mixed, not really. Our greatgrandmother was Cree Indian but my mother is so Mississippi black that she cancels all that Indian stuff out.

I'm not too in tune with that anyway. My sister's dad looked like Miles Davis so she looks like Miles Davis and my brother looks like Justin Timberlake .My stepson says I'm light skinned (he calls me Frozen Waffle) but how can I tell when I'm photographed between Ebony and Ivory all of the time. My brother also calls himself a practice Negro. White women want to date him to 'practice' dating a black guy.

I can't wait to upload pictures so you guys can see the rainbow coalition at our house on the holidays. My stepdad's German too - so we're the fried chicken and sauerkraut family all day long.

 

[GOD]

How can one look Dominican? or look Jamaican? I could never understand that. I can see someone saying Hispanic or East/West African (as in one from a region) but a particular country?

I could see a difference between someone from India vs. China or Nigeria vs. Mexico, but to tell someone they look like they are from Costa Rica when they are really from Honduras. ....or that they look like they are from Iraq when they are from Iran. How do you pinpoint it?

The only real way of pinpointing somebody's background would have to come from either coming from the regions or just coming into contact with tons of people from neighboring countries. Even then you could get people's background's wrong, but you'd probably end up being right more often than before.

 

[senimoni]

Well throw stones but I think people can look Dominican :shrug:.

 

[Miss*Tress]

Can someone tell me why it's considered rude for a stranger to ask what ethnicity one is? I know I ask this question to many people, be it black or if they are actually another ethnicity. I don't push the issue if they tell me they are so-in-so when I 'think' they are another ethnicity/race. I don't get offended when one asks me either...unless they tell me I gotta have something in my blood line to have hair like this or due to how I look.

Gotta ask to those who are offended or find these questions funny- did you feel this way before or after finding this forum?

I think it's nosy. Also, in my experience that line of questioning often leads to people implying that I'm not as black or worse, "different" from other black people.

 

[Sui Topi]

when i do wash and goes, or when i used to have a straight 10 in weave, people think im half flip..its the best when im out with my parents in law who are flip...then it really seems so. My husband even thought I was half asian when he met me

 

[glamazon386]

How can one look Dominican? or look Jamaican? I could never understand that. I can see someone saying Hispanic or East/West African (as in one from a region) but a particular country?

How do you pinpoint it?

Girl, IDK. I still don't get it. But this guy I used to date (who was Half Jamaican/Half Guyanese) thought I was Jamaican when he first saw me. And that was why he talked to me in the first place (he generally dates West Indian women). He touched my hair and I wanted to karate chop him. Later on down the road we had a convo about it and he said the hair was what really made him think I was West Indian. I was like huh? He said he was looking at my features but they weren't telling him anything definite. He thought I looked like I was from the islands but he wasn't quite sure where.

I thought it was just the curly weave too but I started getting the same questions even with straight hair sometimes. Like one day I was in the bank and the teller was Ethiopian. She thought I was Ethiopian and asked. And I was like no. But people ask me that all the time. She said she started to say Salaam (sp?) but then she saw my last name on my deposit slip and wasn't so sure. She said she didn't want to feel dumb if she said it and I wasn't Ethiopian so that's why she asked. She said take it as a compliment next time somebody asks. I swear that whole summer people were asking me that left and right. IDK why.

 

[glamazon386]

this thread is so interesting to me. I have so many folks in my family who come in all shades and bone structure so I guess I'm just used to this and know that black, just black, can look so many different ways. I would never look at any of you guys in this thread and think you were anything other than black. I wonder if some people who are non black (and even some black folk) think THEY KNOW what black is supposed to look like and ANY deviation from that intrigues them and has them thinking the person must be something else or mixed with something else. interesting

This is an interesting viewpoint. I never thought of it like that. But I usually have black people ask me.

 

[caribeandiva]

People often ask me if I am Hispanic. Especially, Domincan (I'm Haitian). When I tell them no they usually give me the side ways look. When I'm around Africans I'm often asked if I'm igbo or Fulani...erplexed

I'm actually one of those people who like to ask people where are they from especially if I hear them speaking a different language. I've always been fascinated by different culutures, looks and languages. I guess I should have studied anthropology...

Hey I'm Haitian too! I too love to ask people where they're from. I considered studying anthropology but when i found out they have to dig in the hot sun I changed my mind.

People in the states usually think I'm jamaican cause of my accent. Other Haitians think i'm American. When I was in France, the blacks there thought i was from there too (one of them swore i was Nigerian cause of my features).

 

[tocktick]

I often get confused with being a mix of black and blacker. Its okay .I am.

ha! same here. the only thing time i've been likened to another ethnicity is when someone has commented on me having "chinese" eyes. it doesn't appear so in my photos much but irl, the corner of my eyes slant just a touch. but i've never had anyone take me for another ethnicity at all. clearly, my hair (relaxed, natural or braided) has no bearing on this. btw, there is no asian in my immediate family or ancestry (as far back as anyone can remember that is). i've asked my mother if we have any family in my own and her own ancestry outside of nigeria and the only other country she can think of is senegal.

my brother have got people asking if he was arab or somalian though. generally speaking, his hair texture is somewhat similar to theirs (i think it's like 3c) and he has high cheekbones. he has a similar facial structure to many arab men. he hates when this happens.

 

[tocktick]

I really only get that in the US. It's just not done (that much) in France or the UK.

i can vouch for the uk. i've never got that here. my brother has but looking at him i can see how the mistake could be made.

 

[almondjoi85]

I usually get the you're from the DR? comment. Why ppl assume these types of things or why they even care is beyond me...the craziest part is that they do it based on hair texture!

 

[vpoetic]

I used to get it all the time, I usually wear my hair straight or curly and one time when I was in High school this Asian lady , who was doing my nails didn't believe I was Black she asked me was I Dominican, Puerto Rican or Native American. I also think that people think it's a [SIZE=-1]Complement to be called something other than Black. One time this guy told be that I didn't look Black I looked Latin or Egyptian. Don't ask me how he got those to Groups. [/SIZE]

 

[toniy]

ONLY when I am in braids will folx insist on talking to me in a different language. When I reply in English, I am asked am I an American.

I am so tempted to say no... It's ok w/me...

 

[Lucia]

People often ask me if I am Hispanic. Especially, Domincan (I'm Haitian). When I tell them no they usually give me the side ways look. When I'm around Africans I'm often asked if I'm igbo or Fulani...erplexed

I'm actually one of those people who like to ask people where are they from especially if I hear them speaking a different language. I've always been fascinated by different culutures, looks and languages. I guess I should have studied anthropology...

It's not a big stretch to mistake Haitian for Dominican, Puerto Rican, Brazilian, Cuban, pretty much the same ethnic racial mixtures happened.
Being curious is one thing, but if they're ignorant or rude about it though just keep it moving.

Being mistaken for Italian can totally happen, from southern Rome down to Sicily it's all people you would swear up and pretty much are mixed German/Aryan = northern Italians and Africans, and they come in all shades. They're is a BIG diff. between the look of the people and it's very obvious.

 

[ladylibra]

*sighs* unfortunately i've gotten this all my life.

just today i had a black guy install my cable and Internet in my new duplex, and he asked me if i wanted him to leave the TV settings in Spanish. mind you, i have no kind of accent whatsoever in my voice... unless you count that i'm from the Midwest.

when my hair is straight, it DOES tend to bring out my Native American features... i get called Pocahontas at work.

 

[kweenameena]

I get Ethiopian so much that it's annoying. There's a lady at the 7-11 that only speaks amharic to me and I answer back in amharic (only because my ex taught me). It's to the point that they think I'm an ethiopian in denial. When I eat at ethiopian restaurants they don't like explaining the foods to me. They get irritated like I should already know and I'm just wasting their time. Maybe because there are sooo many ethiopians in the DC area.

Otherwise, I get somalian, sudanese, indian (from india), kenyan, egyptian, eritrean, dominican, or just black american......I never get moroccan...go figure

 

[Kalani]

.
Being mistaken for Italian can totally happen, from southern Rome down to Sicily it's all people you would swear up and pretty much are mixed German/Aryan = northern Italians and Africans, and they come in all shades. They're is a BIG diff. between the look of the people and it's very obvious.

Okay, thats why I mentioned southern Italy. In high school I had a friend of Sicilian(sp?) background whose skin was pretty much the same tone as mine and he had ethnic type features. Then later in my twenties I dated a guy from Torino, Italy and he pretty much looked like he was from Poland.

 

[Tenacious]

Oh gosh.... quite often. Hardly ever have I been guessed my correct ethnicity.

When I straighten my hair, I'm a Puerto Rican
When I leave it in a curly fro, I'm Puerto Rican
When I wear my curls in a ponytail, I'm Dominican
I wore a loosely curled ponytail weave to prom, they thought I was full blooded Mexican
On a regular basis, I'm just plain Panamanian
One girl braided my hair and kept asking my mom if I was Biracial
I was salsa dancing with my hair in a fingerwave/bun and they asked if I was Brazilian

But then you have those people who guess (out of plain ignorance) that I'm Mexican and its funny because I happen to be of Afro/Mexican descent. Sorry, although I have a latin bg, I still fall into the Black category (in my opinion...)

 

[cutebajangirl]

People question my ethnicity all the time, I get Middle-Eastern or Indian constantly when my hair is straight. Even in its natural state people still ask.

It's bad when Indian people think I'm Indian.

It funny because I assumed you were form Baltimore the first time I saw your avatar (if indeed that is you). I went to high school in Maryland and there are alot of girls (in the Baltimore/DC area) who look something like you as in you would think they feature an Indian or middle Eastern.

I also think someone can look Dominican. I can tell a Dominican in a second, lol. Although I find if odd when people think i am Dominican in that I dont think I look it.

 

[Tenacious]

Well, when its in the matter of Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Brazilian and Panamanian people, it's not a matter of us looking like "them", we have to understand their ancestors were also African slaves. Actually, according to a History professor, only 30% of African slaves went to the United States. Like over 50% went to Brazil... and the rest to the Caribes.

So, if someone says you look Dominican, essentially they're saying you look "Black" or "Mixed". But just cause they speak another language and have a different culture, doesn't change their race. Hate to burst some bubbles....

Besides, you can't LOOK like a nationality...you can only LOOK like your race. I hate when ppl confuse my race with a nationality.

Besides, some white people can't tell the difference between a PR, DR or a AA person, they all look Black to them erplexed

 

[SleepyJean]

Well, when its in the matter of Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Brazilian and Panamanian people, it's not a matter of us looking like "them", we have to understand their ancestors were also African slaves. Actually, according to a History professor, only 30% of African slaves went to the United States. Like over 50% went to Brazil... and the rest to the Caribes.

So, if someone says you look Dominican, essentially they're saying you look "Black" or "Mixed". But just cause they speak another language and have a different culture, doesn't change their race. Hate to burst some bubbles....

Besides, you can't LOOK like a nationality...you can only LOOK like your race. I hate when ppl confuse my race with a nationality.

Besides, some white people can't tell the difference between a PR, DR or a AA person, they all look Black to them erplexed

For real!!! Yes, to the section bolded in red.

Are Dominican people descendants of African slaves, too? I noticed you didn't mention them.

I forgot to say that people think I'm Dominican, too. Most people think I'm Nigerian though. It's weird. People think my father is Kenyan, they think my mother is Ethiopian, and they think I'm Nigerian. I'm just Black people! I have a great grandmother that's Cherokee, but I don't think that even counts!