# African hair/features when someone is half African and half Caucasian (or half Asian)



## ktee (Jan 22, 2013)

One of my characters is half African and either half Caucasian or half Asian. 

It is a fantasy novel and the character is male, about 30 and from a rural farming community (think England in the 1500's). 

The questions I have are:

- what would be the skin colour range?
- what be the eye colour range?
- hair texture: would it remain as tight and frizzy as African hair or relax a bit?
- what hairstyles would be feasible in a less advanced agricultural society for men: could he keep his hair short or would dreadlocks be easier?
- what needs to be done to take care of the above hair in terms of products and combing?
- what would a man's beard would look like when he couldn't shave for a few weeks?
- what male body hair would be like: the texture, and how hairy his arms, legs and chest would be. 

And no, this is not a romance book so I don't need any other info than the above


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## Lewdog (Jan 22, 2013)

Anyone that is half black and half white can pretty much have any characteristic of a white person and a black person.


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## ktee (Jan 22, 2013)

Lewdog said:


> Anyone that is half black and half white can pretty much have any characteristic of a white person and a black person.



I doubt someone with a dad who has pasty skin, blond hair and blue eyes, and an African mum, could have a pasty kid with blond hair and blue eyes.

I know pasty skin with blond hair and blue eyes, that's me and most of my family. I don't have African friends I'm close enough to to ask about male body hair texture...


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## Lewdog (Jan 22, 2013)

ktee said:


> I doubt someone with a dad who has pasty skin, blond hair and blue eyes, and an African mum, could have a pasty kid with blond hair and blue eyes.
> 
> I know pasty skin with blond hair and blue eyes, that's me and most of my family. I don't have African friends I'm close enough to to ask about male body hair texture...



I have seen mixed race children be pretty fair skinned.  There are all kinds of things you can get.  You can get an albino, or there is a disease where mixed children look like a dalmatian where they have spots of brown and white all over their body.


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## ktee (Jan 23, 2013)

Very valid point. 

The tricky part for me is that the character I'm writing needs to be identifiable as having African descent by his features, so I need to know the practicalities of what that means, especially for his hair. A similar look to Obama, maybe fairer, I'm not sure yet.


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## Akoya (Jan 23, 2013)

ktee said:


> The questions I have are:
> 
> - what would be the skin colour range?
> - what be the eye colour range?
> ...



You are in so much luck right now.  I'm having a small group for college class at my house.  5 causation, 3 Asian(1 Korean, 2 Japanese), and 1 black guy.  I would normally say African American (to avoid angry people) but he glared as I typed it in so, 1 black guy.  Here is what the consensus is: (AKA what they agree I need to type)

IF ASIAN parent:
- what would be the skin color range?  (an argument has broken out about this.  I'll share the two views and let you decide) The black guy: "You underestimate our blackability. That baby is going to to be a chocolate bar."  Everyone else: "A mid tone range, like a dark caramel."

- what be the eye color range? Brown is a Very dominate eye color in both cultures.

- hair texture: would it remain as tight and frizzy as African hair or relax a bit?  Coarse but calm, like...  I'm not typing that.

- what hairstyles would be feasible in a less advanced agricultural  society for men: could he keep his hair short or would dreadlocks be  easier?  We all agree that you should look up any movie based in the period.  Although "Dude, nobody had time to get all those hair cuts back then.  Look at Aragon, he is HOT."

- what needs to be done to take care of the above hair in terms of products and combing?  Wash and finger comb on occasion.

- what would a man's beard would look like when he couldn't shave for a few weeks?
Depends on how fast he can grow it. Could be just over 1/2" about be 2 or three.  If he is related to one of the guys here, he would also be immensely proud and stroke it in thought.

- what male body hair would be like: the texture, and how hairy his arms, legs and chest would be.
Again depends on the parents.  Either is what ever you want but we say coarse.

IF CAUCASIAN parent:
- what would be the skin color range?  "light chocolate milk, like the kind you would drink if you were on a diet and could only use like 2/3rds."

- what be the eye color range? Again Brown is a Very dominate color. If they bother have Blue, still only a 1/4 chance they will get blue eyes.  Agreed here, Brown. 

- hair texture: would it remain as tight and frizzy as African hair or relax a bit?
Can go either direction so just pick one and go with it.

- what hairstyles would be feasible in a less advanced agricultural  society for men: could he keep his hair short or would dreadlocks be  easier?  Depends on what type hair you choose, however we still agree they are not likely to have dreds.

- what needs to be done to take care of the above hair in terms of products and combing?
The occasional wash.

- what would a man's beard would look like when he couldn't shave for a few weeks?
Same as the Asian mix.  Depends on the parent genetics whether the hair will grow fast or slow.

- what male body hair would be like: the texture, and how hairy his arms, legs and chest would be.
Not much, if any, different from the texture of hair you choose for his head. Everything else is still up to you and can be believable in either direction.


Thank you for this question, I have now seen the bare chests of my male classmates. And their legs.  Although I will note that it appears that the hair grows fairly thick on their arms and legs and doesn't matter if it is coarse or not.

Another thing to Note would be facial features. Wide nose, particular shaped eyes, thick lips will all be tell tale signs to African heritage.  Just keep those in mind.

Good luck writing your character.


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## ktee (Jan 23, 2013)

Akoya said:


> You are in so much luck right now.  I'm having a small group for college class at my house.  5 causation, 3 Asian(1 Korean, 2 Japanese), and 1 black guy.  I would normally say African American (to avoid angry people) but he glared as I typed it in so, 1 black guy.  Here is what the consensus is: (AKA what they agree I need to type)
> 
> IF ASIAN parent:
> - what would be the skin color range?  (an argument has broken out about this.  I'll share the two views and let you decide) The black guy: "You underestimate our blackability. That baby is going to to be a chocolate bar."  Everyone else: "A mid tone range, like a dark caramel."
> ...




Akoya, thank you so much! And thanks to your group, you're all legends. 

This is unbelievale helpful and I got a good laugh.  "You underestimate our blackability" - just awesome. This phrase should be made into t-shirts


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## shadowwalker (Jan 23, 2013)

Akoya said:


> Another thing to Note would be facial features. Wide nose, particular shaped eyes, thick lips will all be tell tale signs to African heritage.  Just keep those in mind.



Umm, no. Those would be stereotypical features of blacks. Just as one example of that not being a universal trait - we have a large contingency of Somalis in our area and most of them have neither the wide nose nor the thick lips. (I also have known some whites who have wide noses, or thick lips, and they have absolutely no black heritage.)

Personally, and only because I've seen these sorts of things blow up in the author's face, I would go with telling the reader that the character is mixed race, and only if absolutely necessary, give a hint of what the character looks like. Let the reader take it from there.


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## Akoya (Jan 23, 2013)

shadowwalker said:


> Umm, no. Those would be stereotypical features of blacks. Just as one example of that not being a universal trait - we have a large contingency of Somalis in our area and most of them have neither the wide nose nor the thick lips. (I also have known some whites who have wide noses, or thick lips, and they have absolutely no black heritage.)
> 
> Personally, and only because I've seen these sorts of things blow up in the author's face, I would go with telling the reader that the character is mixed race, and only if absolutely necessary, give a hint of what the character looks like. Let the reader take it from there.



That's true that those features are a stereotype but if Ktee is aiming for the character to be recognized easily as the decent it may be OK to go with a stereotype that will help the reader realize this.  A better way, so we don't have to go down that junction, as shadowwalker said, is to suggest it mildly.  

As you describe him say something about his origins.  "He had thick black hair and a skin tone that showed off an African ancestry."  Or perhaps in conversation he can mention his parents loosely. "Yeah, you think that's funny you should have met my dad. He wasn't from around here."

Personally I would always chose to tell the reader something that they need to know vs letting them guess.  A confused reader is one who stops reading.  The question to ask yourself is how important it is to the story that the reader know the characters ancestry.  If it is dire, semi-dire, or mildly important you should seriously consider having it come up in conversation or adding it to his description.


I will tell them you said thank you.  Believe me, this was THE best English class project. It actually helped us get to know each other better and frankly I think the actual project should be fun now that we are not so nervous around each other. Anyway, good luck.


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## shadowwalker (Jan 23, 2013)

Definitely, if the character's racial background is important to the story, the reader needs to know. This is a case where tell would be better than show, IMO, just to stay away from accusations/bad feelings based on perceived stereotyping. I wouldn't want my descriptions to become the focal point instead of the story.


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## ktee (Jan 23, 2013)

His looks are representative of his community in the book, which is made up of outcasts from general society who over centuries have made a life from farming. The group includes all ethnicities and this fact is key to the fantasy world (and becomes very important later on in the book). 

I definitely want to steer clear of stereotypes, so I appreciate that suggestion. But he's also the 2nd main character so I don't know how little of his physical description I can get away with. 

I like the idea of pointing out African heritage rather than relying on descriptions that could offend. 

Thanks for everyone's information and suggestions


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## Lewdog (Jan 23, 2013)

ktee said:


> His looks are representative of his community in the book, which is made up of outcasts from general society who over centuries have made a life from farming. The group includes all ethnicities and this fact is key to the fantasy world (and becomes very important later on in the book).
> 
> I definitely want to steer clear of stereotypes, so I appreciate that suggestion. But he's also the 2nd main character so I don't know how little of his physical description I can get away with.
> 
> ...



I think hair style and skin tone are fine, but when you start talking about the type of nose, type of lips, or things like that, you may lose your reader.  Shadowwalker is right.


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## AtlanshiaSpirit (Jun 10, 2013)

I have a friend who's mother is Caucasian, and father is African - she is a pale skin tone, porcelain almost. and her hair is frizzy dark brown curls, yet it still has some hints of copper in from her mothers side. She tans beautifully in the summer too.


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## Staff Deployment (Jun 10, 2013)

Akoya said:


> The black guy: "You underestimate our blackability. That baby is going to to be a chocolate bar."



I know Atlanshia brought this thread up from beyond the grave, but I am very glad because it brought the word "Blackability" to my attention.


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## philistine (Jun 10, 2013)

Google Images > 'Mulatto' > Write according to what you see.


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## Lewdog (Jun 10, 2013)

philistine said:


> Google Images > 'Mulatto' > Write according to what you see.



I prefer Milano cookies from Pepperidge Farm instead.


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## philistine (Jun 10, 2013)

Lewdog said:


> I prefer Milano cookies from Pepperidge Farm instead.



Oh, you.

On the topic of Milano cookies, isn't there a long-running joke from the 'Muricans that they resemble the mons pubis, or mound of Venus?


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## Lewdog (Jun 10, 2013)

philistine said:


> Oh, you.
> 
> On the topic of Milano cookies, isn't there a long-running joke from the 'Muricans that they resemble the mons pubis, or mound of Venus?



I've not heard that one, but there are some crazy ways you can fold a piece of bologna that would make you do a double take!

:surprise:


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## philistine (Jun 10, 2013)

Lewdog said:


> I've not heard that one, but there are some crazy ways you can fold a piece of bologna that would make you do a double take!
> 
> :surprise:



God bless America!


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