Normal Skin Findings and Cultural Practices in Pediatric Patients with Skin of Color

“Our Hair, Our Strength, Our Identity”: Native American reflections and what dermatologists can learn

“…[7][8][9][10] Importantly, children were forced to cut their hair, considered by many Native peoples as a personal signifier of family and tribal identity and an extension of the soul that should only be manipulated at significant occasions (while mourning, to send on to a loved one's spirit, or in ceremony). 11 This demonstration of violence has occurred even within recent memory: in Albuquerque, NM, there is ongoing litigation involving a teacher alleged to have forcibly cut the braid of a Native student with scissors and called another a "bloody Indian." 12 "Snipping," biopsying the scalp, or even the simple act of touching hair should be considered through this lens.…”