People keep touching my hair when I go out. Seriously! My brothers, too. I-- I'm not a holy person or anything, so it's pretty weird!
See, my brothers and I are half black, and half white. As such, we have really curly hair.
The three of us all wear our hair in a kind of dreadlock-like style. It is very long: for two of us, it's all the way down our backs, in fact.
And people are always, always walking up to us and touching our hair without asking. So far, they have invariably been white and middle-aged or older.

Most recently, this almost happened to me when I was at a pharmacy. I was walking briskly through an aisle, and a guy reached out and started to touch my hair. I was still walking while he did this, so it fell out of his hands, and he kind of nervously said "nice hair." I think I smiled at him and said "oh, thanks!" and went on my way.

But... that was a pretty mild incident. No, the strangest incident by far was at a doctor's office over a year ago.
My mom and I were checking out, making our next appointments, and paying the bill. And out of nowhere, I heard a woman's quiet voice right behind me, almost whispering:

"I have to touch your hair."

My response: "Uh, okay."
My thoughts: "OH MY GOSH I'M GOING TO DIE."
My face: Matching my thoughts.

Not that it mattered that I said anything, though, because she was already touching my hair.
The receptionists and my mom were kind of amused by my reaction, and kind of weirded out by this elderly lady.
This elderly lady who went on in a way I will paraphrase:

"When I was younger, in the 60's, I had friends who were black. And my white friends all said I shouldn't be with them, and I did. In fact, I spent the night with one of them, even though my friends and family didn't approve, because I knew that was wrong."

Mostly, my mom and I smiled and nodded.
And left.

I would be okay, if no old ladies ever told me about their sex life from forty years ago.
And I would be okay if strangers would stop touching my hair without asking. (I'd be fine if they just asked first, really, I would!)

Thank you and goodnight!