Discovery Project

A recent TikTok trend involving white women’s take on black women’s hair has drawn some critiques that have been quickly suffocated by a harsh comment section. The back and forth of this online conversation is a very human story that would be otherwise invisible. The way TikTok users have interacted with this trend reveals itself to be part of a larger conversation around race who is granted a voice.

The past few weeks a trend emerged in which a woman would show “Hairstyles (she) love(s) on black women, as a white woman.” The video would proceed to show a variety of black hairstyles like mermaid braids, bantu knots, afro, or even bald. They tended to include unique styles with African roots. When I first began seeing these videos, although I saw the attempts to spread positivity, something about it struck me as a little bit off. The comments were filled with agreement and appreciation from both white and black women, although mainly white. Many added on expressing their admiration of black women’s hair. 

An example is linked here: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMyBb51X/

A little while after seeing the original posts I saw two videos commenting on it. Both were black women wondering if anyone thought it was weird or if it was just them, no definitive offense taken. On both nearly every comment was disagreeing with them with some saying things like, “You too woke. Go to sleep,” “Just you! Find something else to get offended about,” “Yikes girl you’re the problem here,” and “Do you want us to say it looks bad or what?” When researching further I found a few more videos like this; one commenting on the hypocrisy of the lyrics of the song, “Na$ty” by Kirby, used in the trend: “Is you on our side or is you faking? Is you tryna leak our information? Is you a prophet or is you for profit?” Many of those with an issue with the content cited white paternalism, exoticism, and performative-ness as reason that it was upsetting. Additionally, I found the hate and othering from white women in response to this to be blatant disrespect and racism. The videos of black women (and a few white women) expressing discomfort with the trend seem to be buried in the algorithm, but for every video like that there is a huge backlash about how black women can’t seem to take a compliment. 

Example of counter video: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMykvMsd/

Some more videos following the original trend have been posted, many taking a stance against the “haters” or filtering the comments (deleting the ones that are critical or liking all the ones in support of the TikTok). I have seen more videos from white women, attempting to educate the people who continue to post this trend; explaining the reasons why it is offensive content and that your good intent doesn’t trump the voices of actual black women. There have been black and white women both for and against this trend, although it seems like the black women in support have been amplified, but overall the white women are dominating the conversation. TikTok has also been known to favor white women over people of color in its algorithm.

White woman explainer:   https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTMyBaSto/

Using social storytelling to look into the online conversation around this issue has given me insight into how the people in this situation view it. Being able to use the characters in a story as a primary source can bring more clarity to it, although, there will always be an unseen third party, dictating the way this content is perceived. Social media, specifically TikTok here, and the algorithms at play will always pivot a conflict or a conversation to encourage more interaction or manipulate the story. This is something I noticed in my research on this topic. The voice of black women or people critical of this trend is the missing gap in this controversial content. Objectification of black women is a constant issue but without searching for their story, they would have no story.