What is Asian hair?

Could someone please define "Asian hair"?

In the U.K where I live, Asians are people with their racial origins in Pakistan and India.
Arabs are classed as Middle-Eastern and those of far eastern racial origins, i.e Japan, China, Korea etc are not included in the "Asian" category.

I believe in the U.S and in Australia, the term "Asian" refers to those who originate from Japan, China, Korea, etc.

I guess if the term "Asian" is inclusive than it would refer to the UK and US definitions of "Asian". However, people from India & Pakistan do not always have poker-straight hair - they may have very curly hair (like my sister) or wavy hair (like me).

However the hair is predominantly black, straight and thick. In terms of care, it requires the same treatment and responds well to the traditional regimes of the indigineous areas.

Anyone got any comments on this?

Geographicaly Asian hair is actually hair that is on peoples head who lives in the continent of Asia. So Russia is included??
But really I think the best definition is the US or Australia definition. Asian hair is on Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Mynamar.... I could got on forever but I forgot the reast of Asia. Asian hair either jet black, dark brown, or even light brown. Although most of them have poker straight hair, some were naturally born with curly, or wavy hair. Kinda like a mutation way ( no offense to people with curly hair, I'm Malay and have curly hair ) India, Pakistan, and courties nearby plus middle eastern country do not count as asian hair. This is because they are caucasian decendent. You know they have white pinkish skin, and some are born with hazel, green, honey or light brown eyes. Asians only have dark brown to black eyes, unless they have mixed parentage. Most of them have yellow tinted skin Asian hair is also different because our hair is thicker than the caucasian or African hair. Not all asian have small eyes, Asians of malay decendent have big eyes. But there have been so many mixed marriges over the centauries, some asian have caucasian features. I suggest you search the internet for chinese muslims because their mixed parentage with the arabic people or nepal people where they look like chinese but speak indian. The best country in Asia to see a claypot of Asian is China, asian from all shapes and sizes can be seen there. People should open their eyes and minds and do not streotype Asians with straight hair and squinty eyes ( sorry for the last word, could not find a suitable word to replace squintness= small eyes )

In the U.S. most Asians are from East Asia,(China, Japan, vietnam, Korea,etc.). They list themselves as Asian.

Some of the people from India and Pakistan list themselves as Asian in the U.S. but others from India or Pakistan list themselves in the "white" or Caucasion category.

Still others list themselves in the "other" category meaning neither black, white, Asian or NativeAmerican.

So I guess there is no typical Asian, although it seems to me that most Asians have black or dark brown hair and most, but not all, Asians have straight hair.

Thanks for your responses.

Err - I have pale skin (and freckles) but my eyes and hair are black. My hair is thicker and coarser than my Chinese friends.
I have origins in the North of Pakistan and Arabia. Some people in my family have semi-mongoloid eyes.
I am not caucasian.
My hair is not caucasian hair - I have never met or seen a white person with hair as black, thick or coarse as mine.
I guess I would self-define myself as South Asian / Middle-eastern combination.
In the UK people who look like me are not classed as "white".
Oh well - if the hair type fits the "Asian" definition and the rest of the racial characteristics don't, it is enough.
Loads of people are mixed-race these days anyway.

Cheers

Uzma

You have interesting ideas Uzma.

I am of Latin American heritage. I also have jet black hair although my hair is not that thick and it is very straight.
I had waist length hair but one of the reasons I cut it short was that it was thin and scraggly looking no matter what shampoos or conditioners I used. I just didn't have the right type of hair for super long hair.
Now I have it the other extreme, a short pixie and I like it better this way although it took an adjustment at first to get used to having it this short.

You are right too about race, who is "white" and who isn't varies from country to country.
In the U.S. all people from the Mediterranean lands including Arabs are listed as "white". Even 1/2 of Latin Americans list themselves as "white" even though many of us are a European-Native Indian mix.
And oddly people who are a black/white mix are usually considered "black' even ones with skin color the same as "whites".
There are some "whites from places like Greece or southern Italy that sometimes actually have darker skin than some of the mixed race people that call themselves "black"! That doesn't even make sense does it!
That's why it is really time to get rid of racial categories, they are no longer even accurate and just divide people artificially from each other.

My fiancee is a fair haired German-American and I'm a dark haired tan complected Latina, yet we are both patriotic Americans who believe in Human Rights for ALL PEOPLE, so what does it matter what ethnic group we are from, we are compatible.

3 cheers to lady maria. totally agree with your statement. Afeter the 9/11 attack, racism in america and the rest of the world has risen even more. I read many stories about Singh who is mistaken as an Arabic decendant because of their Turban or Japanese man mistaken for a Korean. Even people from my country in Malaysia who is from Indian decendant who put A/L in their name ( stands for "son of"in malay) got mistaken with Osama bin Laden. My god even women who wears hijab to cover their hair gets attacked by these racism people, even though these women are not even form the middle east. At least I am proude to be a Malaysian, a country where everybody is mixed. You can no longer tell who is who just from their skin colour now. I guess it goes to the rest of the world now.

hey,,,Claribuzz,

i'm asian (chinese), and i'm not so sure about your "all asians have dark brown to black eyes" statement. i have Amberish colored eyes....kinda light brownish/reddish tints....and have dark brown hair...that looks brown sometimes. plus i have light skin, and my hair isn't thick and coarse....well its medium thick, but not that much... i mean, does this mean, i have mixed descent, in my background? both my parents are chinese. My dad has the normal dark brown eyes, and my mom has reddish/a tiny bit light brownish eyes. I only know, about my descent as far, as my grandma, and her mother, and thats it. Seeing that they originated from china. any ideas?

[QUOTE=AmberEyedAzn2004] hey,,,Claribuzz,

i'm asian (chinese), and i'm not so sure about your "all asians have dark brown to black eyes" statement. i have Amberish colored eyes....kinda light brownish/reddish tints....and have dark brown hair...that looks brown sometimes. plus i have light skin, and my hair isn't thick and coarse....well its medium thick, but not that much... i mean, does this mean, i have mixed descent, in my background? both my parents are chinese. My dad has the normal dark brown eyes, and my mom has reddish/a tiny bit light brownish eyes. I only know, about my descent as far, as my grandma, and her mother, and thats it. Seeing that they originated from china. any ideas?
[/QUOTE]
yes i admit it is my mistake by saying all asians (oriental )have dark to black coloured eyes. i should say some. i have a friends whose father has dark green eyes. totally weird for a malay but it is possible. i think further below your family tree you have relatives that have the same features as you do. your features is recessive which means it doe snot show up easily. as you know when you have dominant genes the dominat genes will always shows it feature. in your family i guess the typical chinese look is dominant and yours is recessive. you might want to look upon genetics too see why your family loook like the loo. i could go on and on about this genetic thing and bored everyone to death.
i also have a friend who has amber colour eyes and brown hair. i thought he dyed it but i see no black roots.

hey claribuzz,
sorry for the ten day pause....lol...

just wondering,,,could it really be that someone in my ancestry could, be caucasion? or some other race that might have amberish colored eyes, and dark brown hair (looks lightish brown sometimes). i haven't the slightest glimmer of how to find out my ancestry past. I have asked my Mom but, she only for sure, knows up to her grandma. Plus when i was born i had porcelain colored skin, and it stayed that way till i was in sixth grade or fifth grade. Its similar now, but slightly tanned since i swam alot for awhile...but hmm...my face has stayed pale so i don't know...so confused!

hey there,
dont be confused amber. i dont think your ancestor are caucasian...but it could be possible, since you are still not sure about your family tree. but be sure you find your relatives that is blood related to you to find out if they have the same features. i just think its pretty normal for you to have. some asian have naturally porcelain skin and amber coloured eyes. like i said, its all genetics. maybe you could ask around your realtives instead of just your mum for the information regarding on you ancestor. it could be one cool project if you decide to pursue. i am sorry, i also have absolutely no idea how to find out how my past relatives look like

i thought asian was a general term used by white culture to define those with premominantly straight black hair and slanted eyes (some with no double eyelid fold). i think it is not meant to be an accurate term or name because there are really too many groups of people to accurately classify. it's just a general term. i think of asians as people with very straight hair with large strong hair strands instead of wispy flyaway/fuzzy strands.

people from india and arab countries are also considered caucasian. i see them as persians or arab types but they have their own local names for themselves. these people have more european shaped faces (nose, lips, bone structure), straight or wavy hair that is not so coarse/large-stranded, and less slanted eyes (sometimes large bulging shaped eyes).

there are some asians in the melanesian islands that have nappy afro type hair. i am african and their hair is a lot like mine. i will look for a picture to post...

ok here is one (click links)

http://www.pngembassy.org/images/location2.jpg

here is another

http://www.maxbradford.co.nz/images/websize/max_melanesians.jpg

skin color varies from caramel to chocolate colored there...

Before ya'll get too confused lets take a closer look at the term "Caucasian." Cauc-Asian, see there's asian in it! Why? Becuz *drumrolls* believe it or not Europe and Asia are geographically the same continent!!! Oh and did u know Alaska and Russia are somwht connected? Interesting...

I think the word "Caucasian" is derived from "Caucasus", as in the Eurasian mountains... Don't worry, "Caucasian" sounded weird to me too.

Anais