Hair Nah, a game for the black sistas!
Hair. It’s one of the many ways of self-expression. You can cut it, dye it, put it in a ponytail, braid it. You get the idea. When deciding what hairstyle to wear, we sometimes don’t have to factor in too much, other than the fact that we look and feel good.
But sometimes for black women the experience when it comes to hair is completely different.
Sometimes as a black women, you have to be particular about the hairstyles you choose. One of the reasons is to avoid white people touching your hair. This may not seem like a valid reason, but some black women would beg to differ. “When people touch your hair, it’s not funny. You often don’t get to do anything about it,” Momo Pixel, the creator of the game says.
Inspired by her own experience as a black women, and many similar stories other black women have when it comes to their hair, Momo came up with the idea to create a game, and thus Hair Nah came to life.
The game follows Aeva, who is traveling and going to meet up with her friends at a certain location. As she is on her way to her final destination, Aeva encounters many white hands trying to touch her hair. The challenge of the game is to stop as many hands from touching Aeva’s hair before the timer runs out.
Before you actually begin the process of playing the game you are given the opportunity to chose from different black skin tones, several black hairstyles, and 3 destinations, of which the player must chose which destination they would like to travel to.
There are 4 levels in the game; apartment lobby, the car, the airport, and the plane. As you advance to the next level, the amount of hands trying to touch Aeva’s hair grows which increases the difficulty level of the game.
As your blocking all the hands from touching Aeva’s hair, certain comments can be heard such as “Is it really attached to your hair?” These comments are actually a reflection of the comments that are made by white people just as they’re about to touch a black women’s hair.
“I made it to be more for black women. I wanted them to be able to play this game and have fun, and also use it as a type of therapy. I don’t think we really get opportunities of joy. We don’t have many video games with that kind of protagonist.” Momo says through a phone interview with GamesBeat.
Momo came to the realization that the narrative that involved a black women as a the main character was missing within the game world. Because of this, Momo was able to use some of her daily life tribulations and turn it into a game that is filled with humour but can still act as a teachable lesson and spark some self-analyzation among individuals.
And most importantly, the game gives black women a virtual voice to say ‘Nah’ to all the hair invaders.
The goofy-ness and connotation of the game is very fun and adds personality. Player’s are able to get a smile and a lesson all while having an enjoyable time. If you would like to play Hair Nah click this link here.
Credits/Work Cited:
Chan, Stephanie. “Hair Nah shows you part of what black women have to deal with every day.” VentureBeat, VentureBeat, 27 Nov. 2017, venturebeat.com/2017/11/27/hair-nah-shows-you-part-of-what-black-women-have-to-deal-with-every-day/.
Pixel, Momo. “Click to play!” Hair Nah, hairnah.com/.
