If you’re like me, you’ve probably experienced on more than one occasion a friend or maybe even a complete stranger invade your personal space to touch your hair. If not, you’re probably white and/or the offender. Momo Pixel, creator of the viral game, “Hair Nah,” wanted to educate people on just how frustrating and infuriating this experience is for black women. I feel like I've had this exact conversation so many times now, yet I still have to bob and weave away from white people that don't understand the physics of a personal bubble. It is why the accuracy of this game is hilarious.
Momo Pixel was super tired of people making unwanted advances towards her hair. I'm sure you can relate even if you're not black but a woman that's met our president or any man for that matter. She was trying to explain this experience to her white boss. Her boss trying to imagine what this was like for us "was dodging and ducking. He looked so silly." She then said to herself, "this would make a hilarious game." Hair Nah, which is a play on the phrase "hell nah" was born.
Gamers have a choice of going to Japan, Cuba, or the Santa Monica Pier in California. You can edit your characters looks by changing up her skin tone and picking from an array of different hairstyles such as fros, curls, braids, bantu knots, and etc. As you make your way to the airport to catch your flight you must swat away the hands that reach out in all directions to touch your hair. A narrator avatar, based on Momo Pixel, guides you through it giving you some much needed words of encouragement. I played the game for a little bit last night and let me tell you it was needed. Momo wants people to know "how much of an invasion of privacy and personal space this is." The game was purposely made difficult so that it will create a sense of anxiety. For me, halfway through playing I felt like it was triggering my PTSD or something.
I've always had an interesting perspective and understanding on not just the power of my hair, but hair in general. Before I decide to go natural and do a big chop this past May, for as long as I can remember I was addicted to the creamy crack. I had my hair chemically straightened or "relaxed" from a super young age because according to my mother, my hair was hard to manage. I went to a technical high school were I studied Cosmetology. I started wearing clip in hair extensions my junior year and then throughout college. I struggled with my self esteem like many do in high school. I was like 1 of 30 black kids and the majority of my friends were white. All I wanted was to fit in so when I first put in those extensions there was not turning back. I was a new woman.
I remember very vividly the first time a stranger grabbed a fist full of my and just carassed it. The summer before my junior year of college was the very first time I ever decided to try box braids, because I wanted to give my hair a break. As I said before, prior to this all I had known was relaxers and extensions. No one in my family at this time besides maybe my oldest sister had worn their hair this way, so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I had noticed that people were treating me a little different and making weird comments here and there but it wasn't anything I really thought twice about. I was working in my hair salon one day and I had a client come in, yes, she was white. As she goes to sit down she asks if she can touch my hair BUT, before I could respond or even react her hands were already feeling up my braids.
Honestly, I'm not even trying to sound dramatic but it felt as though I had been molested. I get her curiosity but it made me feel abnormal when at the time all I wanted to do was blend in. My hair was a big part of my confidence, which is why I cut it because after a while the relaxer and extentions made me feel fake and like I could never be happy with just being me. Going natural wasn't so much about just trying something new but embracing the woman that God designed and knowing that she is beautiful. My hair is something that I've embraced and learned to love. Black hair is complicated but it's also magical. This game is a great reminder of that fact.
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