Cultural appropriation

Okay so after the last few Coachella's and the events of celebrities being slammed for the inappropriate use of sacred cultural symbols, we are aware of what is known as 'cultural appropriation'.

Of course we know that we shouldn't prance around in Native American headdresses, or sexualise the sacred clothing of a religion and so on, but is this going a little too far?

With that, I am not saying people shouldn't protect their cultures and I'm also not saying that calling someone out for cultural appropriation is wrong. What I am saying is that you can't go crazy at someone for sporting a certain item that related to a really specific group of people that they may never have heard of, not due to ignorance, but due to the fact they've just never heard of this small group of people that were around thousands of years ago? It can happen.

You can't expect that everyone knows the ins and outs of the history of every society, culture or religion. Someone could paint their nails in a pattern they've just come up with, out of the blue. But coincidentally, it could be the same or similar to a pattern used by a small religion or culture that was around once. Don't freak out at them.

Yes, we need to be aware of these issues, we need to be sensitive towards other cultures and we need to protect and honour sacred elements of cultures, but we can't be over the top about it.

Additional thought: if I wear a kimono at the beach to go over my bikini because it is useful and ideal for that kind of situation is that cultural appropriation? I'm not saying anything to change the origins, I'm not talking rubbish that I don't actually know about the culture. I mean it's not like living in England, a cold, rainy country, we would have any traditional garments for a beach, so to what extent can I use a kimono without it being cultural appropriation?

Going purple

In this day and age I'm a bit of an anomaly, I've never properly dyed my hair. I dip-dyed the ends aqua/teal when I was 16 but that's it. I've been thinking about dying my hair for a while but I'm the most indecisive person in the world and haven't been able to decide on a colour. That's  also why I've never gotten a tattoo.

BUT I've decided to go from dark brown to...

 

So I'll be going blonde then having lilac toner put on. The hairdresser said I can do it in two sittings but that means I'll have to walk around blonde, in which case I'd look like a fucking idiot because I'm really dark haired and have a dark skin tone. So, I'm having it done in one sitting which means 5 hours in the salon woo. But at least I won't be going around looking like a drag act.

I'll be getting it done some time next month. I'm just hoping I'll be allowed it for work. I'm only a waitress so surely it wouldn't be a problem.

I'M SO EXCITED TO BE A MERMAID.