Things that make you go hmmm....

Usually other people come up to me with bizarre questions. Recently I had one of my own. I was watching a woman walking in sandals. She was very dark-skinned but her feet were very light. I wondered why this was and made some enquiries. One answer I got was that people are naturally lighter wherever there is no hair--you see it in apes, too. Well, yes, but I wasn't satisfied, so I asked Jeeves. Apparently thick skin has neither melanin nor hair follicules. Want to know more about skin? Try http://www.technion.ac.il/~mdcourse/274203/lect12.html. Nifty. Now I won't be staring at other people's feet quite so hard.

Now if I can just stop checking out African hair. At the risk of sounding like a racist pervert, yes, I have an odd fascination that I can remember having even back in childhood; I was jealous of the girls with their twists and the bands with lots of multicoloured shapes. When my friend Tracy was around I'd pester her for all sorts of secret (well secret from most Caucasians) tricks to making Black hair do various things. Having baby fine hair that won't even stay in a barrette, I've always thought that cornrows, weaves--or for that matter just having hair that would stay put and not 'fly-away'--would be really great. I can comb or brush my hair and five minutes later it looks like I've been riding a roller coaster, even without the wind. But, I had no idea how much trouble goes into to those hairdoes. Maybe I should just learn to appreciate my rather plain hair that I can comb and go without any goop, special conditioners, etc. When I'm on the bus and see a really neat hairstyle, I really want to ask how they did it, but I'm not sure if that's a cultural faux pas. Sigh. Oh well, not that I could duplicate it at all. There is one style that no kid should be made to endure, and you pretty much only find it on little African-American girls. It's the two-balls on top-of-the-head-oh-gee-I-must-be-Minnie-Mouse look. I'm sure someone thinks it's cute, but I think it borders on abuse. The equivalent with Caucasian kids is the one little wisp of hair in a barrette that sticks straight up. Don't do this to your children; you'll only humiliate them by showing them pictures of these to their boyfriends later in life.