‘Is It Okay for Me to Use Black Hair Products If I’m Not Black?’

In theory, no matter what hair texture you have or what race or ethnicity you are, you can use whatever hair products you like. In practice, the answer is more complicated, because there’s historical context as well as issues of cultural sensitivity and cultural appropriation you should consider when purchasing products that were designed for communities other than your own. That may seem obvious, but after last week’s Mielle Organics Rosemary Mint hair-oil drama, it’s clear that some people — white women specifically — still need to hear that.

There’s a trailer for Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., and it looks great, and we’re definitely going to cry watching it. On a very different note, here’s what’s going on with President Biden’s classified-documents investigation. The future of abortion rights in Virginia could hinge on one former NFL player and whether he wins a special election. Meanwhile, a legislator there prefiled a bill that would deem a fetus a passenger in a car in HOV lanes. Some 7,000 New York City nurses are headed back to work after a three-day strike. An artist is removing J.K. Rowling’s name from Harry Potter books and reselling them to fans who oppose the author’s vocal anti-trans rhetoric. And fund public libraries. That is all.

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