# "Is That Your Natural Hair Colour?" "Screw You." **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 28, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518 "2006-08-28T13:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mrs\_Johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Johnson)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/61 "2006-08-29T01:30:42Z")
I’m not a red-head but I’ve had my share of weight related comments. I’m 5’1" and very small framed. In full winter clothing and shoes I just might make it to 101lbs. I’ve always been very small but I think I look healthy. Maintaining my weight is effortless, however I do eat generally healthy and I am active. I’m not scrawny or boney. The “ **I’d love to be as little as you.** ” annoys me. I’ve responded with “Would you like to come shopping with me? No one else has the patience to sit around while I try on 20 pair of jeans and still leave empty handed.” “ **Have you tried shopping in the kids section?** ” - Yes. It doesn’t work for me. I’m not shaped like a prepubescent girl. I’m tiny AND very curvy. “ **How much do you weigh? Can I pick you up?** ” - what the hell is wrong with people? “ **Ohhhhhh! You’re so tiny!!!** ” - makes me want to say “Ohhh, you so fat!” “ **What grade are you in?** ” - :rolleyes: (I’m 21) What pisses me off the most is “ **Do you ever eat?** ” - They usually shut up once they see me put away a footlong sub. 😉 The few therapists/psychs I’ve been to have all quizzed me to find out if I have/had an eating disorder. Am I a defective female for not worrying about my weight and “Does this make me look fat?” No curtains & carpet comments but there have been a few dirty comments from guys about being tiny and tight or light enough to toss around. - “You’ll never get the chance.” ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/62 "2006-08-29T01:44:17Z")
[QUOTE=Mrs Johnson] “ **What grade are you in?** ” - :rolleyes: (I’m 21) [/QUOTE] Heh, I get this too. I respond with, “the sixteenth”. People also ask me what college I want to go to. ---
**Author:** ![Cockatiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cockatiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cockatiel)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/63 "2006-08-29T03:07:50Z")
People have definitely come up to me and asked “Is your hair naturally that color?”, because I have naturally auburnish hair with dark eyebrows, the dark eyebrows coming from my mom’s side and the auburn coming from my dad’s. They, fortunately, do not ask for the same reasons men have asked you. I hate it when others come up to me while I’m eating with a big group of people and ask “Are you really a vegetarian?!” So of course, everyone’s focus is automatically redirected to what I’m eating. Then people start asking me those same questions, like “How do you SURVIVE without meat?” or “Are you _allowed_ to eat this or that”- even after I tell them that I’m a vegetarian by choice, not because of any religious beliefs or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/64 "2006-08-29T03:12:59Z")
[QUOTE=Mrs Johnson] I’m not a red-head but I’ve had my share of weight related comments. I’m 5’1" and very small framed. In full winter clothing and shoes I just might make it to 101lbs. […] The “I’d love to be as little as you.” annoys me. I’ve responded with “Would you like to come shopping with me? No one else has the patience to sit around while I try on 20 pair of jeans and still leave empty handed.” [/QUOTE] Ouff. I can sympathize with that. (I’m 5’3" and 125lbs at my beefiest.) Men’s clothing is even more monstrous. When I go shopping, I look for clothes that a) aren’t horrible and b) are small enough that they can be _altered_ to fit me, without looking absurd. (eg; no breast pockets that are so low on the shirt that they’d be tucked into my trousers, no collars and cuffs that are the same size as shirts three sizes up, trousers that _might_ pass if taken in three inches or less…) Eeesh. I wish I still made enough money to just get my clothes tailored and avoid the frustration. As far as rude people and their comments – nothing they say even fazes me anymore. but _my short stature is not an invitation for strangers or new acquaintances to fecking **touch** me_. Do not touch the top of my head, do not stroke my arms, and keep your freaky hands off the place where my ass would normally be. What the hell is wrong with you people? ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/65 "2006-08-29T03:29:28Z")
People, both family and total strangers, frequently ask me where my middle son got that white-blond hair and those big blue eyes. (My husband and I both have green eyes and dark curly hair.) I can’t tell you how many jokes we’ve had to listen to about that kid being the milkman’s. Terribly funny, the thousandth time you’ve heard it. :rolleyes: On the flip side, several family members have commented on how much my oldest son looks just like my husband. Apparently, they haven’t noticed that kid was born a few years before I ever _met_ my husband. ---
**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/66 "2006-08-29T03:36:41Z")
I have a counter example. My natural hair is a boring dark blonde which is kind of dishwatery in the wrong light, so I do dye it. Plus it’s fun. Right now my hair is a golden brown with blonde streaks and the underneath is pink. I love the pink. But someone actually asked me a while ago if my hair was natural! What the hell? Of _course_ it isn’t. It’s fucking pink and the streaks are pretty obvious. I guess they just wanted to find out what my natural color was? I don’t think I came up with a snappy answer. I think I just said “nope” and moved on. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/67 "2006-08-29T06:12:45Z")
Registrar: You don’t look old enough to have a bachelor’s Me: Well, I am. (Or whatever I said. Mentally: Blow it out your ear. How can you say things like that out loud? Is just because you’re a woman, and you think that looking young is inherently “good”?) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/68 "2006-08-29T12:46:15Z")
My brother’s hair is slightly reddish in the winter; in the summer, it’s more of a dark copper. Back when he was in his teens, people would often ask him “why do you dye your hair?” Not “do you dye your hair” or “is that your natural color” - they assumed it was dyed. They didn’t believe him until he called me to come over and confirm his version. Someone pass me the can of rolleyes, please. What, you think a 16yo guy doesn’t know whether he does or doesn’t dye? We think the reason people have stopped asking is that it’s currently quite common for guys to dye their hair. Since he doesn’t have “only the ends dyed” or pink strands, his non-existant dye job is actually very conservative :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/69 "2006-08-29T12:58:33Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] Worse still, in my view, is the question “Are your boobs real?” [/QUOTE] When Mom was 15, she’d get asked “are those all yours?” Her standard answer: “borrowed half from your Mom!” ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/70 "2006-08-29T13:10:03Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > Worse still, in my view, is the question “Are your boobs real?” Seriously. When I was very thin, an alarming number of women (never men, by the way) asked me if my boobs were real. One woman actually stopped an elevator to ask me “Where did you get those?” Um, they grew there. I’ve also been asked if my curls are “real”, if my teeth(!) are “real”, and if my nails (which aren’t even long!) are “real”. Oddly, no one ever asks about my hair color, which is in fact from a bottle. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/71 "2006-08-29T14:08:19Z")
Here’s a good response to rude questions – “My privacy is more important to me than satisfying your idle curiousity.” ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/72 "2006-08-29T16:19:23Z")
I tend to fall back on an icy look and a polite but firm change of subject, myself. It’s still irritating as hell. And the boob questions are a big part of the reason I rarely wear any top that’s even remotely form-fitting or possessed of anything resembling cleavage. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/73 "2006-08-29T16:48:00Z")
I’m beginning to be glad to be unexceptional in looks. But even then I’ve occasionally gotten the question of, “Are your eyes really that blue?” “No! They’re normally red! I had my irises dyed!” Ironically, my contact lenses are blue-tinted… but only very slightly, to make it easier to find them if I drop them. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/74 "2006-08-29T16:51:01Z")
I once had a girl ask me if I shaved my eyebrows and painted them back on. I was so startled by this odd question that I asked her why she would think that. She shot back, “No one has perfect eyebrows like that for real!” I still don’t know what she was talking about. My eyebrows are just normal eyebrows. I don’t even pluck and shape them like all the beauty tips insist you should. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/75 "2006-08-29T17:21:36Z")
[QUOTE=Mrs Johnson] “ **What grade are you in?** ” - :rolleyes: (I’m 21) [/QUOTE] I still get this one too, then after they find out I’m 24, we have to go through the whole “omg I thought you were in middle school!” then “you might not like it now, but you’ll be grateful when you’re 40” spiel. I don’t mind unless someone is rude about it though, like the few people who’ve believed I was lying. My mother gets the hair thing every once in awhile though. Not because of the color, but because she’s black and her hair is waist length and wavy instead of curly. People want to know what her secret is, then get mad when she won’t share it (she has no secret besides genetics), what race she’s mixed with, or if it’s fake. Once a lady asked if it was real, and when my mother said yes, the lady reached over and started trying to part her hair to look for glued in pieces. Fortunately, people have backed off now that it’s not a rarity around here anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/76 "2006-08-29T17:22:32Z")
I’m on the Casper train. I like my lily white skin just fine, thanks. I grew up on the Mississippi gulf coast with the beach a block away. I practically lived on the sand soaking up rays. My golden tan caused a few traffic accidents, and I am not exaggerating. Sunblock? What was that? We never needed that. Not until my mom had a skin cancer scare. It turned out to be nothing but it set me thinking about sun worshipping. These days I don’t lay out in the sun and I wear a a visor when i’m in the car. Do i get called pasty face and Casper? Oh yeah, and I yell back “talk to me when your face looks like a leather glove”. Okay, I drifted off topic. I don’t recall anyone ever asking me if i was a natural blonde. When I dyed my hair auburn(i’m so jealous of natural redheads) I was asked all the time. I think you should take it as a compliment from non creepy people. ---
**Author:** ![Frelling\_Tralk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecc23a/32.png) [@Frelling\_Tralk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frelling_Tralk)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/77 "2006-08-29T17:49:15Z")
Oh, goodness, the number of things I get. I’m short, so that’s naturally commented on by everyone and their brother. I’m blonde, so I get asked at least once a week if that’s my natural color. I’m also pale as a really pale thing, so I’m frequently told that I need some tan to “look healthy.” When I was married, I got asked all the time if my engagement ring was real. And I also apparently look younger than 33, because I get carded for alcohol and cigarettes all the time and more than once have been accused of having a fake ID and had the manager called. Nothing, though, can compare to being pregnant. Something about having a baby growing inside you makes everyone in the world think that they can comment, advise, tease, and TOUCH. What the heck is with people that makes them think that it’s their right to know all of this information? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/78 "2006-08-30T00:26:54Z")
[QUOTE=InappropriateHumor] The other is: “OMG, you’re so _white_! Have you ever thought about tanning? The spray on tans are really good now!” [/QUOTE] Ooo! Ooo! I get that one, too! One day, wearing a skirt to work, someone came up to me (a woman, if that matters) and said “OMIGAWD! You’re legs are SOOOOO WHITE! _How_ can you show them like that?” I skewered her with a glare and said “I’m Caucasian. Deal with it.” Also muttered something about if I waited for a tan I’d never wear skirts. Funny, no “person of color” has ever whipped that out on me… but then maybe they are less likely to make rude comments about other peoples’ skin color? Or just figure all us whiteys glow in the dark like that, or something. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/79 "2006-08-30T02:23:32Z")
[QUOTE=Broomstick] Funny, no “person of color” has ever whipped that out on me… but then maybe they are less likely to make rude comments about other peoples’ skin color? Or just figure all us whiteys glow in the dark like that, or something. [/QUOTE] I have, by a somewhat drunken group who seemed to take paleness as some sort of personal insult. :dubious: It was strange. I think there’s a difference between someone asking about your hair color which is really intended as a compliment and someone criticizing a lack of tanning, obviously not a compliment. One is awkward, one is rude. People comment on appearences because it’s an easy way to start a conversation and I don’t think most people ask maliciously. As long as it’s not a snide, back-handed compliment, I don’t get myself worked up over comments. But I’m generally pretty easy going and don’t get worked up over much in general.\* \*Unless you criticize fashion magazines. Then, I’d cut you… ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518/80 "2006-08-30T12:40:22Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] I still get this one too, then after they find out I’m 24, we have to go through the whole “omg I thought you were in middle school!” then “you might not like it now, but you’ll be grateful when you’re 40” spiel. I don’t mind unless someone is rude about it though, like the few people who’ve believed I was lying. [/QUOTE] I’m 38. The last time someone asked me “you’ve already graduated from High School, haven’t you? Where are you studying now?” was 3 years ago. It’s one of the neighbors who has the notion that I’m younger than my brothers (6 and 8 years younger than me, both have been out of college for years). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-your-natural-hair-colour-screw-you/370518.md?page=5)