Don’t touch our hair: In hilarious online game ‘Hair Nah’, Black folk’s hair is off limits
Art director Momo Pixel (really, that’s her name, not making this up) has created a game based on an all too familiar microaggression that comes along with being Black; dodging the hands of those who wish to have ownership or control of our hair. Pixel created the game after recounting a story of strangers reaching out to stroke or grab her hair to her boss, and while her boss was reenacting the scene with her, Pixel offhandedly remarked that it would make a good game, and an idea was born. Weiden+Kennedy, the firm that Pixel works for, has supported the game, and since Pixel shared it on Twitter, it has received the attention of celebrities like Shonda Rhimes and Deray McKesson.
Pixel says the game is really about addressing personal space violations that are generally excused as curiosity, which is obviously something that Black people are familiar with. The experience even had a moment in pop culture when Solange Knowles recorded a song titled “Don’t Touch My Hair” on her album A Seat at the Table.
The object of Pixel’s game is to navigate your avatar chosen from several different (Black) skin tones and hairstyles from one place to another and to avoid hands reaching for your hair while the owners of the hands are heard saying things like “is it attached to your head?” or “so fluffy” which are actually things that Pixel says were said to her by people on the street.
Pixel also plans to release an app version of the game.