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Woman Makes Game Telling Folks ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’

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Unwanted hair touching is an unfortunate experience many Black women can relate to. It turns out one Black woman became so sick of it she decided to use her skills to make a computer game out of it. “Hair Nah” launched Wednesday, Nov. 15 and after Momo Pixel tweeted out the link to play it, it swiftly went viral.

Gamers can pick a skin tone and hairstyle as they travel as women through Havana; Osaka, Japan, and California’s Santa Monica Pier. Throughout, they’ll have to swat away grabby hands eager to touch their tresses.

hair nah game

Momo Pixel, a Portland, Oregon art director, said she had sleepless nights working on “Hair Nah.”

“I’ll be walking, and a woman will reach her hands into my head,” Pixel, an art director at marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy, told “On She Goes” Wednesday. “I’m talking to a teammate, and a co-worker I just met is holding my hair in his hand. I’m in the checkout line, and the cashier will reach across to caress my braids. I shudder thinking about it. It’s so creepy. And it sucks because I know a lot of women have had this issue their whole life. But for me, it all came at once! And I’m like, ‘WTF is this? I didn’t sign up for this. Who told you that you can do that? Where are your manners? Guard!'”

Pixel, who moved to Portland, Ore. last year, said she experienced increased hair touching after graduating from college in 2015, but it’s been even more rampant since she arrived in Oregon’s largest city.

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“It’s very off-putting and it pisses me off because it’s hard to be yourself when everyone is claiming a piece of it,” she said. “I find myself at least in Portland being very guarded, and the moment someone mentions my hair, I grab it to claim ownership.”

She can also firmly claim ownership of “Hair Nah,” which she co-published with her agency. Although Pixel does a little coding, in a tweet she said it was a team of six other people who helped make the game a reality.

The game has filled Pixel’s mentions like crazy, with many applauding her for shedding a light on the struggle in a fun and creative way.

Others are just soaking up the retro graphics.

As for where “Hair Nah” will go in the future, Pixel told “On She Goes” she’s working on some merchandise. But anything else will depend on public demand.

“I’m open to all the blessings,” Pixel said. “But ‘Hair Nah’ could go anywhere! We’ll just have to see.”

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